Claire D'Silva is an intern at Teach For America.

Five links that made us think this week.

Approximately 40% of our public school buildings are in “bad to poor condition.” Is there anything that communities can do to improve the infrastructure? Here are two success stories where communities took matters into their own hands. (Pass the Chalk’s Janiceia Adams covered this topic back in June.)

“Call Me Maybe” is unstoppable! First the Harvard baseball team sang along, then the US Olympic Swim Team joined in, and now... high school teachers are taking part in the fun.

Every day, the NYPD makes four arrests and issues seven summons in New York City public schools. More than 95% of the people involved are black or Latino. After reviewing the data, the New York City Department of Education is changing its discipline code to focus on counseling rather than suspensions.

How do you keep high school students engaged in science, engineering, and math?  In Detroit, you give them the opportunity to build robots and compete in international robotics competitions.

Just how important is early childhood education? Mississippi regularly lands on or near the bottom among the fifty states in academic rankings, and is one of 11 states in the nation that doesn’t fund any pre-k programs. The Hechinger Report and Time magazine takes a closer look at the state, and convincingly shows that when young kids start behind, they risk being left behind.

Have a great weekend.

Claire D'Silva is an intern at Teach For America. She will be a freshman at Boston College this fall.