The Learning Curve

In this episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of The Ohio State University and Pioneer Senior Fellow Steven Wilson , speak with Dr. Peter Berkowitz , a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and author of Reclaiming Liberal Education in America . Berkowitz reflects on the education that led him from Swarthmore College to the study of philosophy, politi...

In this episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Prof. Albert Cheng of The Ohio State University speak with Dr. Jocelyn Chadwick , a nationally recognized Mark Twain scholar and author of The Jim Dilemma: Reading Race in Huckleberry Finn . Jocelyn reflects on her more than forty years as an English teacher, including her work at the Harvard...

In this episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Prof. Albert Cheng of The Ohio State University speak with Tim Murray , president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and former mayor of Worcester and lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. Murray reflects on his Worcester upbringing, public-school education, and path from l...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University speak with Lincoln Tamayo , Chief Operating Officer of Academy Prep Foundation and Head of School at Academy Prep Center of Tampa. Tamayo reflects on the formative experiences and educational principles that have guided his work across public...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University speak with Dr. Patrick Graff , senior fellow at the American Federation for Children. Dr. Graff discusses his journey from teaching third grade in Florida to working as an education researcher and policy advocate, and how seeing students bene...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of Center for Strong Public Schools and Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University speak with  Owen Stearns , CEO of Excel Academy Charter Schools. Stearns discusses his more than two decades of experience in charter school leadership and education reform. He shares how his formative educational experiences and background in st...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of Center for Strong Public Schools and retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Barry Anderson speak with historian and legal scholar Edward Larson , author of Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters . He explores how the thirteen colonies moved from resistance to British rule to the Declaration of Independence. Prof. Larson ex...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of Center for Strong Public Schools and retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Barry Anderson speak with Ilan Wurman , Julius E. Davis Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, about constitutional originalism, textualism, and the enduring principles of the U.S. Constitution. Prof. Wurman discusses his new boo...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University and Katie Everett of the Lynch Foundation, speak with Arne Duncan , former United States Secretary of Education for President Barack Obama and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, about the current state of urban education and the federal school choice program. Sec. Duncan explains the politics beh...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University and Walter Blanks , Policy and Advocacy Director of EdChoice speak with  Carole Boston Weatherford , a New York Times best-selling author of more than 80 children’s books and a leading voice in African American children’s literature. Weatherford discusses her career writing poetry and history for yo...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Chen g of Ohio State University and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with Julie Young, a pioneering leader in virtual education, author of Say Yes!: How Virtual Became Reality , and coeditor of Virtual Schools, Actual Learning: Digital Education in America . They discuss Young’s more than three decades...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with Bob Nasson , Editor of The Concord Review and Executive Director of the National History Club. They discuss the importance of rigorous history education and students' essay writing in developing academic excellence. Since 1987, The...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice  Barry Anderson and Massachusetts state champion U.S. history and civics teacher Kelley Brown  speak with Alison LaCroix , the Newton Reid Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, about the constitutional foundations of American federalism. Drawing on her book, The Ideological Origins of American...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University and Pioneer Senior Fellow Charlie Chieppo speak with NYT -bestselling author Jane Leavy about Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. She traces his journey from a Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn to becoming one of baseball’s most dominant players and one of the 20th century’s most principled public figure...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy and Dr. Helen Baxendale of Great Hearts Academies interview Dr. David Steiner , Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and former New York State Commissioner of Education. Dr. Steiner discusses the importance of an academic content-rich, liberal arts education roo...

As America marks the 250th anniversary of the Revolution, a key question still deserves our attention: how did a loose collection of North American colonies defeat the most powerful empire on earth? In this special episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University and Massachusetts state champion U.S. history and civics teacher Kelley Brown explore that question...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of Strong Public Schools for Students and retired Milwaukee County Court Commissioner, Lindsey Draper , speak with Dr. Lerone Martin , Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University and author of Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King, Jr . Drawing on his new book, Dr. Marti...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with Doug Tuthill , a longtime Florida K-12 education reform leader whose career in teaching and school choice policy spans nearly five decades. Beginning as a classroom teacher in 1977, Mr. Tuthill has been a college professor, newspap...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of Ohio State University and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with Dr. Suzanne Marrs , Professor Emerita of English at Millsaps College and acclaimed biographer of Eudora Welty, about the life, works, and enduring legacy of one of America’s greatest Southern writers. Prof. Marrs explores how Welty’...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Jake Tawney of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education speak with Dr. Snezana Lawrence , an independent scholar affiliated with Middlesex University London, about the origins and development of mathematics across human civilizations. Dr. Lawrence reflects on her work, including he...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of the University of Arkansas and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with Leslie Hiner , Senior Advisor for Legal Policy at EdChoice, about the constitutional foundations and future of educational freedom in America. Hiner reflects on her distinguished career in law and public policy before examinin...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of the University of Arkansas and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with Andrew Hadfield , Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Sussex and British Academy Fellow, about the life, works, and legacy of the great poet Edmund Spenser. Prof. Hadfield explains how Edmund Spenser’s uncertain...

On this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Mary Tamer of MassPotential speak with Rachel Canter , Director of Education Policy for the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America’s Schools project and founder of Mississippi First, about Mississippi’s remarkable rise in K–12 student achievement and the policy reforms that...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and retired MN Supreme Court Justice Barry Anderson speak with Prof. Kevin Gutzman , Professor and former Chairman of the Department of History at Western Connecticut State University, and New York Times best selling author of  The Jeffersonians: The Visionary Presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe . Prof. Gut...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of the University of Arkansas and the Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy speak with Julie Young , edupreneur, innovator, and author of Say Yes! How Virtual Became Reality . She reflects on the pivotal moment in 1997 when she said “yes” to launching Florida Virtual School, sharing what it meant to build a new mo...