President Obama speaks to students at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD, a school that has substantially closed its achievement gap. (photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Newscom)

As American Promise heats up on Kickstarter, the urgency of our film and campaign was thrown into sharp relief Tuesday as the New York Times reported that black students, especially boys, face much harsher discipline in public schools than other students. “The undeniable truth is that the everyday education experience for too many students of color violates the principle of equity at the heart of the AMERICAN PROMISE,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters.

Elsewhere in education news, the Supreme Court will again look at affirmative action in an upcoming case involving admissions to the University of Texas. Washington State announced that it will focus its No Child Left Behind waivers on a new strategy to close achievement gaps there. The CNN In America blog wonders whether black male teachers are becoming extinct. Meanwhile, studies from Stanford and the University of Michigan assert that class is a bigger factor in achievement gaps than race.