16:1 - Education, Teaching, & Learning

This episode features the story of how a group of more than 700 pioneering women in the UK smashed through barriers to higher education and claimed degrees from Trinity College Dublin. Denied their degrees at Oxford and Cambridge because of their gender despite successfully completing their exams, the “Steamboat ladies” made use of an early 1900s loophole to earn official recognition by making a t...

This week’s news headline roundup covers the following stories: Proposed Ohio Senate Bill 1 higher education legislation targets DEI initiatives, faculty rights, and funding, sparking fierce debates across campuses. New research warns that leaning on generative artificial intelligence tools might be eroding our cognitive muscles, raising questions about AI tools in educational contexts. A NY Clima...

Explore the life and work of Jerome Bruner, a pioneering psychologist, multidisciplinarian, and educator who transformed the study of learning.  Discover how Bruner’s early experiences, including his corrective surgery for cataracts and his upbringing in New York City, influenced his path in education and cognitive psychology. Learn about Bruner’s role in moving psychology beyond rigid behaviorist...

This week in education news headlines, we cover: Australia has banned teenagers under 16 from using social media apps, with a one-year grace period for platforms to implement age verification measures. Disgraced college admissions advisor Rick Singer tries to stage a comeback with a new consulting venture. To boost incoming class sizes in a difficult economy, institutions like the University of Pr...

Confronting Educational Censorship & Securing Academic Freedom: A Conversation with Jeremy C. Young of PEN America In our first episode of 2025, we’re talking with special guest Jeremy C. Young, the director of state and higher education policy at PEN America, a nonprofit organization that unites writers and their allies to defend the freedom of expression nationwide. He oversees PEN America’s sta...

In our final episode of 2024, the 16:1 hosts share reflections and takeaways from the 2024 NCTE National Conference held in Boston, Massachusetts. The event was inspiring and energizing, featuring notable figures such as Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, comedienne Kate McKinnon, social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson, and beloved authors such as Jo Knowles. Though exhausting, the conf...

What Could a Trump 2.0 Administration Mean for Teachers and Students Across the Country? This week we’re taking a hard look at the potential implications of a second term for former President Donald Trump on education in the United States. From funding overhauls to student safety, we explore how changes at the federal level could impact teachers, students, and educational institutions nationwide....

Voices in Teaching: A Conversation with Educator Megan Helberg This week we are very excited to kick off a new 16:1 series called Voices in Teaching, where we will interview educators who have been recognized for innovation and excellence in their craft. Our first featured educator is Megan Helberg, who hails from rural Loup County, Nebraska, where she taught 8th-12th grade English for 15 years. I...

Charters Closures Leave Students Scrambling New research from the National Center for Charter School Accountability and the Network for Public Education reveals troubling patterns in charter school longevity. Analyzing over 2 million Department of Education records, researchers found that 55% of charter schools fail by their 20th year, with a quarter closing within just five years of opening. Thes...

Confronting Misinformation: Lessons from the Classroom Election season is upon the U.S., and with it comes a tidal wave of information—some enlightening, some misleading. In our latest episode, we explore the impact of misinformation and disinformation on schools and communities of learning. As educators, part of our mission is to help our students become informed citizens. But what happens when t...

Scandals, Subpoenas, and Student Loan Shakeups - Edu News for September 2024 Here’s the 16:1 Education News Headline Roundup for September, 2024. Don’t forget to sign up for the 16:1 podcast email newsletter for the latest news, resources, workshop offerings, and more! We start with a touch of chaos in Columbus, where the State Teacher Retirement System continues its rocky 2024 trajectory. A contr...

Student Well-Being: Why Mental Health Must Come First [00:02:22] Student well-being and strong mental health are essential for effective learning. This episode explores the growing mental health challenges faced by K-12 and college students globally. Rates of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues have surged, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research from the...

Education News Headline Roundup [00:08:10] The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is once again majorly delayed. On August 7th the U.S. Department of Education announced a rollout process for the 2025-2026 form that includes an October 1st date for limited testing, with the application set to open to all students on December 1 2024, two months later than the typical release date for the appl...

Education News Headline Roundup Last week brought news of a long-simmering conflict within OpenAI , a dominant player in the generative artificial intelligence space, over whether or not the company should release to the public a watermarking tool that would leave a secret trail of encoded breadcrumbs in textual output from ChatGPT. Updates from ongoing literacy reform initiatives across the count...

Education News Headline Roundup [00:05:22] University of Florida President Ben Sasse announced his resignation from his presidential position effective July 31, 2024, citing the need to focus on his wife's health and family responsibilities.  ACT Education Corp has announced changes to the ACT format and length as the company transitions from a non-profit to a for-profit entity and grapples with t...

Education News Headline Roundup [00:02:24] Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced a $1 billion donation to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This generous gift aims to cover tuition for a majority of students, addressing the financial barriers to medical education. Dr. Elena Aydarova's recent work critiques Science of Reading reforms, arguing they often disguise motives of standardizati...

Education News Headline Roundup Book bannings and classroom content updates from around the U.S.: From the Guardian : In Florida, a children's book titled "Ban This Book" by Alan Gratz, which ironically addresses the issue of book banning, was itself banned by the Indian River county school board. From the AP : In Oklahoma, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously that local school boards, not th...

The hosts are on summer break, which means the return of an annual tradition: the 16:1 year in review, where Katie and Chelsea kick back and share about their year of learning. Education news headlines will return next episode. Sources & Resources: Reported birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone park fulfills Lakota prophecy | AP News Bison Bellows: The birth of a white buffalo calf (U.S....

Education News Headline Roundup Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has leveled criticism at the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision just days after the 70th anniversary of the ruling. In his concurring opinion on a decision allowing South Carolina to keep using a congressional map that critics say discriminated against Black voters, Thomas this month argued that the Brown decision too...

Education News Headline Roundup Over the past few weeks, there have been significant developments at the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio). On May 15, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost initiated an investigation into the allegations of a hostile takeover attempt of the $90 billion pension fund , which serves thousands of educators, by QED Systematic Solutions. Academic publishing...

Education News Headlines: In Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee signed a controversial law that would allow some teachers and staff to carry concealed handguns on school grounds . The legislation has sparked significant debate and criticism, particularly from educational and activist groups who argue it could increase risks rather than improve safety. Baltimore, Maryland - In January of 2024 a recording...

Education News Headlines Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden, have sent a letter to the CEO of General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) condemning the FAFSA rollout the writers describe as a "near-total failure" that has created a "crisis of credibility" for the Education Department . The FAFSA rollout has been plagued by technical difficulties, delays, and last-minute...

Education Headline Roundup This week in the roundup of latest news and headlines impacting education: Ohio is set to increase the prices for teacher licensing fees in order to prevent the Ohio Board of Education from having a $3.5 million budget shortfall next year. In response to a growing literacy crisis, Oregon has so far distributed about $28 million in grants aimed at bolstering reading educa...

Education Headline Roundup: This week's stories: The Biden-Harris Administration recently greenlit an additional $5.8 billion in student debt relief for 78,000 public service workers . The U.S. Education Department has announced there’s a new error wreacking havoc on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid; up to 200,000 additional applicants may be impacted. We talked about Houston ISD last...

Education Headline Roundup This week's stories: Liberty University, a large evangelical Christian university in Virginia, was fined a hefty $14 million by the U.S. Department of Education. The fine stemmed from the university's failure to comply with the Clery Act, a federal law regarding campus safety. Lawmakers in Greece’s parliament have voted effectively to end a state monopoly on university e...