In 2021, at least 31 U.S. states reported rising high-school dropout rates, over twice that in the previous year. That wouldn’t be as tragic if it weren’t for the fact that graduates are likelier than ...

After seeing the trailer for "Freedom Writers," about an idealistic young teacher in an inner-city school, "people might think, 'I've seen this genre before,' " says Erin Gruwell, "but I think it's ...

When COVID-19 caused Long Beach schools to close, Erin Gruwell experienced a familiar discomfort. She said she was gripped by the same feeling that overtook her in 1994, when she first became a ...

Educator and writer Erin Gruwell, the author of a book that inspired the academy award-winning movie, “Freedom Writers,” aims to be a catalyst for change. She will share her experiences as a teacher ...

In this moving follow-up to 1999’s The Freedom Writers Diary, educator Gruwell takes a vivid look at the issues facing teenagers today. In 1994, Gruwell drew on the example of Anne Frank’s Holocaust ...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Students in Amy Sitton's English classes at Egyptian High School in Tamms know well the story of Erin Gruwell and her students. They've read her book. They watched Hilary Swank portray ...

Tory Villamonte was a freshman in Paul Smith’s English class at Crete High School when she first learned about the Freedom Writers. The class was doing a unit on “The Freedom Writers Diary,” the 1999 ...

A group of young, international writers were treated like literary rock stars earlier this week in Long Beach. A couple of hundred people gathered outside the Hotel Maya for the book launch of “Dear ...

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Seven students’ stories went from the classroom to the “Dear Freedom Writer: Stories of Hardship and Hope from the Next Generation” — a book that is distributed worldwide.