D.C. Council wants city to hire ex-convicts “The bill’s backers believe that not asking about criminal history on government job applications will make it easier for ex-convicts to get city jobs. They say hiring ex-offenders will keep them from returning to prison. Critics say the legislation will worsen problems the city has with weeding out dangerous job applicants…The District is home to about 60,000 ex-felons, nearly 10 percent of the population, the ACLU estimates.” (Washington Examiner )

MeFites who know DC: Please talk to me about Bloomingdale. “I am considering a move to the Bloomingdale neighborhood in DC. You know, the little one east of LeDroit Park, west of Eckington, and just north of Shaw…? I’m a 29 year old woman. I love the apartments I’ve seen, and they fit my budget… I have some concerns about safety in that area, moreso than other places I’ve lived (Cole Valley in San Francisco, Mt. Pleasant and North Dupont in DC, if that helps for comparison). I consider myself pretty city-savvy, and I know there are generally no guarantees of safety anywhere, but I’m not sure what to expect.” (ask.metafilter.com)

Concrete Bungle: How Immigration Divided a D.C. Union: A campaign to organize D.C. concrete workers hit a wall To talk to people who worked on the UCW organizing effort is to learn that its near-collapse is not the usual sad labor story of valiant unionists against perfidious management. Rather, it’s the story of union advocates turning on one another—in large part over the polarizing politics of immigration. For generations, the labor movement has periodically warred with itself over how to view newcomers, from the Italian-speakers a century ago to Spanish-speakers like Lemos. Are they a wage-depressing threat to be kept out of the job market? Or should they be embraced, on the logic that a unified labor force is the only way to secure better working conditions? (Washington City Paper)

Zombies in Washington “Before he was fending off zombies as sheriff’s-deputy-turned-survivalist Shane Walsh on AMC’s new hit zombie series, The Walking Dead, Washington native Jon Bernthal hung out on U Street and starred on the baseball and football teams at Sidwell Friends high school. Two episodes into its first season, The Walking Dead is winning impressive ratings—pulling in about 5 million viewers per episode—and the series was just renewed for a second season.” (Washingtonian.com)

The Latest on the Closing of Social in Columbia Heights “The security guard was not happy. He wanted to know who the restaurateur was talking to. “It’s none of your business,” the restaurateur said. The security man asked again. “I have a First Amendment right to talk to whoever I want,” the restaurateur responded. “I’ve got a First Amendment right to punch you in the f—— face,” the security man retorted. The restaurateur laughed and walked away.” (Washington City Paper)

Fenty’s Freudian slip “When introducing Gray to the crowd of several hundred, Fenty said, “I couldn’t be happier to turn the government over to…,” then he cut himself short. The crowd laughed and he started over. “I couldn’t be happier to turn the podium over to Mayor-elect Vince Gray.” The slip was one of several lighter moments for Fenty, who was better known for being stiff at public appearances. Since losing the Democratic Primary in September, however, the outgoing mayor has been more relaxed in his public appearances. Almost as if he “couldn’t be happier to turn the government over.” (Washington Examiner )

An accident foretold “The fact that no agency officials saw fit to mention the report’s main conclusions to the Metro Board – even after two dangerous accidents – is an appalling violation of public trust. Officials could have done so either at a Metro board meeting on Oct. 14 or at one last Thursday, after the mishaps occurred. Instead, officials referred to the report but danced around the fact that it warned specifically about the escalators’ braking and maintenance problems.” (The Washington Post)

Beyond Bread: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back “…I often hear the old saying, “One step forward and two steps back.” There are a lot of reasons why using the safety net can feel that way. One is that people spend time in transit between different service providers, only to wait in long lines for assistance, as you saw in our post last week about utility assistance. Another comes from eligibility requirements that suddenly remove people from programs as their income increases. Imagine making another 50 cents an hour and suddenly losing your health insurance and having to pay out of pocket.” (breadforthecity.blogspot.com)

As for TODAY, “Metro to operate on Saturday schedule…but with normal opening time” “Metro spokesperson Reggie Woodruff just told us that Metro will be opening at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning but operating on a Saturday schedule in observance of Veterans Day tomorrow. What that boils down to: The same weekday hours but with less frequent trains. They should be pulling out of the ends of the lines around every 12 minutes or so during the day.” (tbd.com)

About that “Residency Requirement” Tommy Wells is Proposing for the Homeless “(the bill)…Eliminates the longstanding health and safety protections for families with minor children by removing the requirement in the winter that family shelter be “apartment-style.” Removes any limit on the number of families that can be placed together in one room with communal sleeping, eating, and bathroom facilities.” (Washington City Paper)

Nail Salons Move to Avoid Using Toxic Chemicals “Cora Roelofs, an occupational health researcher at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, who conducted a health survey of Vietnamese-American nail salon workers, said prolonged exposure to chemicals was often exacerbated by poor ventilation. Her study, published in 2007, suggested a greater prevalence of respiratory and skin problems and headaches compared with the general population. Nail technicians, she noted, “are generally young immigrant women, a vulnerable population. Rarely is attention paid to the experience of new immigrants and the jobs they hold.” (The New York Times)

DC Cabbies Don’t Like Competition “Basically if you think it’s too easy and convenient to hail a cab in Washington, you’ll love an artificial regulatory restriction on the supply of taxis. In particular, if you think the city’s peripheral neighborhoods are too well-served by cab drivers and that we need to shift to a dynamic where you can only hail a cab in the downtown core, you’ll love this plan…If Gray is smart, he’ll recognize that this is change we don’t need. But I worry that Gray will think the lesson of his victory is that city government should always bow to interest-group pressure.” (Matthew Yglesias)

After Perry’s ‘Colored Girls,’ there’s plenty of bashing to go around “Jeepers creepers. For decades, Hollywood has been waving the same dirty drawers in the black man’s face, one black-man-bashing movie after another – including last year’s “Precious” and now Perry’s “For Colored Girls.” So where is the movie “For White Girls,” bashing white men? Stories of white men kidnapping and abusing white girls are in the news. And maybe the Lifetime channel will make one of them into a TV crime drama. But be assured that if it does, the show will feature more than enough good white men to make that one evildoer come off as an aberration.” (The Washington Post)

Encourage better conditions for restaurant workers in D.C. As restaurant goers, there are a couple simple things we can do to help support restaurant workers. First, leave your tip in cash. Since credit card tips must be processed, it can take longer for waiters to actually receive their wages, while some never receive their credit card tips at all. Restaurant employees and advocates are working to change tip processing, but for the time being the best way to ensure that your tips reach workers is to leave cash. (Greater Greater Washington)

The Twinkie Diet “But Haub didn’t just lose weight: he got healthier. During the two-month junk food feast, his bad cholesterol fell by 20% while his good cholesterol increased by the same amount. His triclycerides fell by 39%…All this led me to wonder, if he could actually get healthier in two months simply by eating less, would that be possible for people who have to shop at conveience stores? Is portion size to blame for obesity in low-income urban neighborhoods, rather than the quality of food available?” (Mother Jones)

If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the GOP Kitchen “One of the National Republican Club of Capitol Hill’s former administrators, Kim Crawford, is already suing the private GOP outpost for treating her badly. Now you can add a pissed-off chef to the list: Jamaican-American Trevor Burt wants $2 million from the Republican hangout, according to a lawsuit filed recently. Burt, who is black, wants that money because he believes he was in line for an executive chef position, but was shoved aside because of skin color.” (Washington City Paper)

Sorry I missed your funeral, here’s a D.C. Council resolution “Mayor-elect Vince Gray took a shot at making up for missing the funeral of a fallen D.C. police officer last week by getting the D.C. Council to unanimously approve a resolution in Officer Paul Dittamo’s memory. Gray was lunching with Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown while the District’s police department was parading through the city to memorialize and bury Dittamo on Thursday.” (Washington Examiner )

Black Caucus mum on Tea Party Republican who wants to join “I plan on joining, I’m not gonna ask for permission or whatever, I’m gonna find out when they meet and I will be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus,” West, one of two black Republicans elected to Congress last Tuesday, told WOR radio. “I meet all of the criteria, and it’s so important that we break down this monolithic voice that continues to talk about victimization and dependency in the black communit (thehill.com)

Rich Private High School Football Team Puts Uppity Reporter in His Place “These are the children of presidents, Mr. McKenna, sir. Are we clear? In case we’re not, Sidwell students (or, to be fair, people claiming to be Sidwell students) flocked to the story online to point out that while McKenna is a mere salaryman writing squibs for a common newspaper, they will inherit the earth because their parents paid $32,000 a year to keep them away from all the black kids in D.C. public schools…” (gawker.com)

Homeless seeking shelter in D.C. might need to prove District ties “As the economy has floundered and the unemployment rate has soared, a growing number of homeless families from outside the District have migrated into the city in search of shelter, burdening an already-strained social services network. Over the summer, D.C. officials say, 10 percent of the families most in need of shelter came from outside the city. Since 2008, officials say, the number of homeless families migrating into the District has tripled.” (The Washington Post)

Cautionary Lessons in Planning Transit-Oriented Development: Avoiding Gentrification and Displacement “…one of its primary findings is that the opening of a new transit station often leads to higher rents, increased home values, and increased rates of auto ownership, and thus primarily benefits wealthier households who are not as reliant on transit and do not utilize it as frequently.” (reconnectingamerica.org)

Our Banana Republic “Here’s their explanation: When inequality rises, the richest rake in their winnings and buy even bigger mansions and fancier cars. Those a notch below then try to catch up, and end up depleting their savings or taking on more debt, making a financial crisis more likely. Another consequence the scholars found: Rising inequality also led to more divorces, presumably a byproduct of the strains of financial distress. Maybe I’m overly sentimental or romantic, but that pierces me. It’s a reminder that inequality isn’t just an economic issue but also a question of human dignity and happiness.” (The New York Times)

Report: Black, Latino kids see more fast food ads “There is considerable evidence that exposure to marketing for fast food is even higher among African American and Hispanic youth. African American youth view almost 50% more TV advertisements for fast food than do white children and adolescents. Although differences in advertising exposure can be attributed in large part to the greater amount of time that African American and Hispanic youth spend watching television, fast food restaurants appear to disproportionately target African Americans and Hispanics with their marketing efforts.” (multiamerican.scpr.org)

Beyond Bread: A Wild Goose Chase for Utility Assistance “The Social Services Department here at Bread for the City is consistently returning phone calls and meeting with clients that are on the verge of being disconnected, with very few resources to protect them and their family from living without utilities this winter. We see this as a most pressing issue. In our Northwest Center, my colleagues and I fielded 126 phone calls this September and October, before the most high-cost winter months. This is an increase of 34% since last year.” (breadforthecity.blogspot.com)

Some Advocates For Homeless Say Residency Requirements Could Backfire “Some advocates for the homeless, however, say they’re concerned the plan will backfire. Nassim Moshiree, an attorney with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, doesn’t mince words. “My main concern is that people will die of hypothermia on the streets when they can’t get any services,” says Moshiree.” (wamu.org)

DC Teacher Arrest Sheds Light On School Problems “I understand they both were wrong,” said Rayshad Anderson. “At the same time, Mr. Coleman is not the type of man to do something like that. So I think something needs to be done at the school to prevent these types of things. Tthis school is out of control. It has no structure whatsoever.” Volunteers Byron Ezell and Taria Nelson agree. They run a non-profit called Come Back to Give Back. This past year, they’ve spent Tuesdays and Thursdays working with Rock Creek students, who have a variety of disabilities. They said they believe an assault was “bound to happen.” (WUSA Washington, DC)

Looking Back: National War College “The conspirators of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination were hanged at Fort McNair. Mary Surratt, one of those hanged, was the first woman ever executed under federal orders. So the next time someone mentions this huge, old-school building they saw across the Anacostia you’ll know about Roosevelt Hall, of the National War College.” (DCist)

Extended school days under consideration in District public system “It is also a response, she said, to complaints from public school parents that the time committed to preparation for standardized reading and math tests has squeezed art, foreign language and physical education to the margins. “What we should do is think about a longer day,” Cheh said.” (The Washington Post)

Meanwhile, over in Georgetown… “It seems to be that time of the year when all those stores of Wisconsin Ave. start having those fake “going out of business” sales. As far as GM knows, only Commander Salamander is actually going out of business. Although last year Hardwear actually went out of business after throwing a going out of business sale, so who knows.” (georgetownmetropolitan.com)

UDC President Sessoms has D.C. Mayor-elect Gray’s support in recharging campus “Sessoms preserved the heritage of open access in the new Community College of the District of Columbia, with no entry requirements and flat $3,000 tuition. Four-year and graduate study is now housed in a separate “flagship” institution, with entry standards and higher tuition. The community college is effectively a branch of UDC. The president’s plan sparked protests last year, with students and some elected officials decrying the tuition increases and accusing Sessoms of trying to destroy a tradition of service to low-income African Americans.” (The Washington Post)

Mayor-elect Gray’s absence at police officer’s funeral blamed on staff oversight “Fenty’s behavior is not a surprise,’ Baumann wrote in an e-mail to TBD. “Fenty has made it clear that he has no respect for police officers and their sacrifices. The fact that the Council did not show is disheartening. Today the elected officials of the District made it clear they have little or no regard for those that keep the city safe and risk their lives everyday. There were more police officers and officials from Maryland and Virginia than District officials or politicians. Unfortunately, the message sent today was only the police care about the police.” (tbd.com)

Gray transition: bold innovators or a return to Barry? “Which would you rather have running Mayor-elect Vincent Gray’s transportation transition team? A former City Administrator under Marion Barry, who was running the city during the famous episode where Barry flippantly dismissed snow plowing failures while he was at the Super Bowl? Or a former CEO of Amtrak, head of UMD’s smart growth center, and occasional blogger who wrote excitedly about the return of streetcars, the value of high-speed rail, and the need for a federal transportation reauthorization? What if they’re the same guy?” (Greater Greater Washington)

Another Fenty Campaign Worker Gets City Job Despite Hiring Freeze “The previously mentioned campaign aides/new city employees started the jobs right before the hiring freeze (though not before everyone knew how bad the city’s finances are). But Pamela Whiting, who campaign records show worked on Fenty’s campaign for months, was hired Oct. 26, payroll records show. The hiring freeze went into effect Oct. 4. If you don’t have your calendar handy, that means she was hired three weeks after the freeze.” (Washington City Paper)

The District Curmudgeon: Say nice things about the Current Newspapers! “At last night’s ANC 4C meeting, someone raised the question of why ANC 4C’s monthly newsletter is inserted in the Northwest Current as opposed to other small newspapers. Answer: Other papers have not bothered covering ANC 4C’s meetings on a monthly basis. We asked the Northwest Current to be distributed to all ten, single-member districts. The Current agreed. We asked the Current to consider including the monthly, ANC 4C newsletter in its first, monthly, weekly edition. The Northwest Current agreed. No other small newspaper offered itself as a vehicle for getting our monthly newsletter to all ten, single member district.” (distcurm.blogspot.com)

D.C. gets $3 million to build Sustainable Communities in SE Washington “Although this work will encompass the Congress Heights, Anacostia, and St. Elizabeths areas, an emphasis will be placed on Historic Anacostia, ensuring that neighborhood residents benefit from the 11th Street bridge redevelopment, the proposed streetcar line in Historic Anacostia, and the new federal job center at St. Elizabeths.” (regionforward.org)

Paraplegic dog finds adoptive home; more pets remain in need “Buddy is a five and half year old dachshund. A spinal problem cost him the use of his hind legs, but his tail still wags. Despite buddy’s problems his life is good, thanks to the care of his owner. “I love him so much it is not tough on me at all,” said Janet Harris. “He is a very happy little boy he bounces, bounces up and down and play.” Harris has had health problems, she lost her job, is losing her home, and now has to give up her dog. “I can barely stand. I am kind of not trying to think about it because he is like my baby. He IS my baby,” shared Harris.” (tbd.com)

Fenty Write-In Campaign Drives Mayoral Write-Ins To Nearly 23 Percent the committed movement to write-in Mayor Adrian Fenty was the driving force behind the casting of 27,828 write-in votes in “…yesterday’s general election, nearly 23 percent of the approximately 125,000 votes cast. The vote total is all the more impressive when one considers that the movement to write-in Fenty was working with almost no money and lacked the support of the candidate it sought to elect.” (DCist)

Sidwell Friends’ Football Futility: The Obama Kids’ School Football Team is Losing Worse than Dad’s Party “Sidwell bashers: “Sidwell is a girls school that happens to have boys.’” “At other schools, excellence in the classroom and athletic fields are not mutually exclusive.” “Maybe Sidwell should consider a flag football league. Or just games where boys tickle each other with feathers.” Sidwell sympathizers: “Come tell some of the real male athletes (yes, there are a few) at Sidwell that they’re ‘girls’ and they’ll sort you out.” “Sidwell just isn’t a meathead school. Hey, if you want a meathead school, head to Landon.” “Landon athletes will have plenty of time to lift weights in prison.” (Washington City Paper)

Trans athlete will test NCAA “A transgender female-to-male basketball player at George Washington University is about to put the NCAA to the test. Kye Allums has been on the school’s women’s basketball team since 2008, but when the season starts later this month, the 20-year-old is premiering as a man. It will be the first time an openly transgender player has played Division 1 basketbal…Luckily, Allums’ coach and teammates are supportive of his transition — but it will be interesting to see how the NCAA handles the situation. It has no official policy on transgender athletes…” (Salon)

Vince Gray gets lunch invite from Obama “Gray disclosed the invitation, which he said he received from a White House staffer Tuesday, during a news conference to announce his transition team. Gray began his speech by immediately addressing the city’s divides. He said the election revealed that they still exist, but “it also became clear that there is much that unites us as a city.” (voices.washingtonpost.com)

A New Coffee Joint from the Man Behind Ray’s Hell Burger “I just this second hung up the phone with Michael Landrum, the iconoclastic restaurateur who operates Ray’s the Steaks and Ray’s Hell Burger. Landrum has big news on this chilly Election Day morning: an announcement of a new coffeehouse venture…”The first Ryse is a prototype to work out the operating model, which we will then seed throughout the city where most needed. Our goal in this is to not only provide services, but employment opportunities in neighborhoods where people live. And further, to allow for employees to become economic stakeholders — even part-owners — or earn the right to become franchise holders.”
(Washingtonian.com)

On Forcing Myself to Vote “Hey, I’m a 27 year old Independent voter, and I’m not bummed – I’m pissed. I’m pissed that Democrats and the party faithful seem to have forgotten that the folks who elected Barack Obama weren’t always part of the base. That many of us were Independents, right-wingers for change, first time voters, and newly enfranchised. We aren’t post-racial, and may not ever want to see those days. (I’m personally still waiting for post-racism. Keep the heritage, drop the hate.)…We weren’t dropped – more like taken for granted.” (Racialicious)

D.C. Election Day drama: Scuffle at Shaw voting precinct “Witnesses described what began as a verbal confrontation between the elderly Brooks and Convention Center Community Association president Martin Moulton. The two apparently started getting into it over Moulton’s recent disparaging postings to the Shaw neighborhood e-mail list about oft-controversial neighborhood activist Leroy Thorpe. What happened next is less clear.” (tbd.com)

Straight Dope: Do Those Breast Cancer Pink Ribbons Actually Do Anything? Off-topic, but on so many of our minds: “We’re constantly bombarded with fundraisers and retail products sporting pink ribbons to raise money to “fight breast cancer.” Do pink ribbon campaigns do any good, or are they mainly a way for corporations to fleece consumers by leveraging their fear and sympathy over breast cancer? Where is all the money raised by pink ribbon campaigns going?” (Washington City Paper)

Spanish speaker faced obstacles to voting “When I went to vote at Bell Multicultural High School, the polling place for Mt. Pleasant, there was a woman in front of me who did not speak English. Instead of offering her Spanish translation as required by law in a neighborhood with such a large number of Spanish speakers, the poll workers just pointed to the next table after checking her in.” (Greater Greater Washington)

D.C. Wire – Board of Elections struggles with reporting again “The slow-pace count at the board of elections on Tuesday night is reminiscent of the Sept. 14 primary vote, when the employees at the board of elections did not come up with a final tally for city contests until well after midnight. Meanwhile, voting officials in Virginia had managed to tabulate almost 2 million votes.” (voices.washingtonpost.com)

D.C. Rolls Out New Anacostia River-Themed License Plate “The new plate features the silhouettes of two kayakers and what looks like a heron or an egret holding a fish in its beak. It bears the letters “ENV” above the standard “Taxation Without Representation” tag line. An early version of the plate, pictured here, featured Canada Geese instead of the herons; those were likely removed due to the city’s longstanding feud with the messy birds. Oddly, the word “Anacostia” doesn’t appear anywhere on the plate.” (DCist)

ANCs aren’t perfect. Here’s how to make them better. “ANC issues are apparently too small to attract the notice of the city’s paper of record (the most the Post could muster this time around was a generic piece that said nothing of use about ANCs except that those running wanted to “improve their communities”). But neighborhood representative bodies can be perfectly paired with the burgeoning crop of blogs that have been covering them in a fair amount of depth. Some of the healthier and better-run ANCs are in places where blogs…communicate to the broader public what happened at each meeting.” (Washington City Paper)

DC9 liquor license hearing: Board continues suspension of club’s license for 30 days “…not previously released audio recording of an ambulance crew radioing ahead to Howard University Hospital. A male EMT can be heard on the tape saying that he was bringing a 45-year-old male in apparent cardiac arrest to the hospital after what he described as a “bar fight.” He also tells the hospital that the victim only became unconscious after police arrived on the scene, contradicting an affidavit filed in court…” (tbd.com)

Boutique buds: Growing and selling marijuana Q: “…in DC they are only permitting no more than eight growing centers, each with 95 plants: How odd. Why 95 instead of a nice round number like 100? I suppose it’s all arbitrary anyway.” A: “Whitney Shefte: Under federal law, if an individual is growing more than 100 plants, they can face about five years in prison. The 95 rule is an attempt to keep the federal government uninvolved and licensed growers out of jail.” (The Washington Post)

Immigrants bouncing back from recession faster than native-born workers “…immigrants–legal and illegal–are more flexible during an economic downturn because they are more willing to move to where jobs are…Because illegal immigrants don’t qualify for unemployment insurance, they often have no choice but to get another job, even if it’s very low paid, part time or otherwise undesirable. Immigrants “tend to respond more quickly to mismatches in the economy” than native workers do, Terrazas says…Recessions also tend to hit immigrants before they hit native-born workers, so job losses fell on the immigrant community as early as 2007.” (Yahoo News: Business)

In D.C., many angling for public office on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions “I’m tired of Ward 8 being considered the worst ward with all the problems that people think we can’t solve on our own,” said Janasha Thomas, 30, who had worked as an administrative assistant for the Fenty administration until recently. In the mayor’s office, she fielded residents’ complaints. A District native, she’s running for a seat near Skyland Mall, where she’s lived for 12 years. “You don’t have to move neighborhoods to make a change in your surroundings.” (The Washington Post)

Jon Stewart Rally: Transcripts and quotes “I think you know that the success or failure of a rally is judged by only two criteria: the intellectual coherence of the content and its correlation to the engagement – I’m just kidding. It’s color and size. I can’t even believe this has happened. It is a perfect demographic sampling of the American people. (laughter) Because as you know, if you have too many white people at a rally, then you’re cause is racist. But if you have too many people of color at a rally, well then you just must be asking for something, special rights like eating in restaurants or piggy-back rides.” — John Stewart (tbd.com)

The District’s Homophobic Bullies Part Two: It’s All About The Jeans “Shane Salter, the Executive Director of D.C.’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), recalls a case: “One foster parent put a kid out for creasing his jeans. He was a little too prim and proper. It was a conflict around the boy wanting a crease in his jeans—as if that was the end of the world.” Salter remembers another case, a transgender youth who ended up in the D.C. Jail. “He was put out, his father didn’t want him. His father beat him at one point. He dressed like a girl.” (Washington City Paper)

One Woman’s Costume Is Another Woman’s Nightmare “Consider the “Chiquita Banana” stereotypes of Latinas, oversexed black Jezebels, or the seemingly pliant and sexually subversive Japanese geisha. All of those stereotypical costumes correlate with a tame, sexually pure image of white women, like the European colonist with her full-length skirt, the Scarlett O’Hara on the plantation. Of course, there are also sexy stereotypes for white women, but most aren’t ethnicity-specific and most people don’t routinely lump all white women into one category.” (womensrights.change.org)

Black, Hispanic students dwindle at elite Va. public school “Like other public schools with competitive admissions, TJ screens applicants through grades and test scores. A key requirement is that students take Algebra 1 by eighth grade. Many disadvantaged students don’t clear that threshold, which presents a national challenge for science and math instruction.” (The Washington Post)