Beyond the Margins: The Podcast

What happens when students finally understand WHY they're learning what they're learning? For too many young people, education feels disconnected from their interests, abilities, and aspirations. We ask them to complete assignments, pass assessments, and prepare for graduation, but how often do we help them see where their education can actually take them? In this episode of Beyond The Margins: Th...

What distinguishes a school that enrolls Black students from one intentionally designed to help Black students thrive? In this thought-provoking episode of Beyond The Margins , Dr. Sohn A. Butts welcomes educator and researcher Dr. Jaleel Howard for an examination of student engagement, identity, educational equity, and the social conditions shaping the experiences of Black students. Drawing from...

What happens when students discover that their educational opportunities extend far beyond the communities and circumstances they know? In this episode of Beyond The Margins , Dr. Sohn A. Butts welcomes Mr. Franklyn Paris of Bridge Across Education for an engaging conversation about international education, cultural exposure, and expanding postsecondary opportunities for Black students. A Morehous...

Senator Cory McCray on Second Chances, Apprenticeship, and the Power of Exposure What happens when the opportunity that could change your life has been right around the corner all along, but nobody ever showed you where to look? Before becoming a Maryland State Senator, Cory McCray was a young man navigating school removals, juvenile detention, incarceration, and an uncertain future. At 17, he tol...

What happens when one of the most difficult moments of your career becomes the beginning of your transformation? Dr. De’Shawn Washington's first year of teaching was so challenging that school leaders eventually took over his classroom. He was left watching from the sidelines. But that wasn't the end of his story. It became the beginning. Years later, Dr. Washington would become the 2024 Massachus...

What does it mean to lead close to the margin? Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with veteran educational leader and The Middle School Master author Dr. Mark E. King for a powerful conversation about middle school education, student engagement, innovation, leadership, and creating conditions where students can thrive. Dr. King traces his journey back to age 12, when encountering Black male teachers and...

What does it really mean for a student to belong? In this episode of Beyond The Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with educator, author, speaker, and Leading Equity founder Dr. Sheldon Eakins for a powerful conversation about belonging, identity, equity, and the conditions that shape student engagement. Dr. Eakins challenges educators to look beyond compliance and reconsider how our expectation...

What happens when we stop seeing the charge and start seeing the student? In this episode of Beyond the Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with Byron Goodwin, President and CEO of Travis Hill NOLA, an organization providing education inside juvenile and adult correctional facilities in New Orleans. Their conversation goes beyond the walls of juvenile justice to examine what makes student engagem...

Black boys grow up. And some Black men become educators. In Season 2 of Beyond the Margins, we are putting Black men in education at the center of the conversation. What happens when the Black boys who once navigated our schools become the men standing at the front of classrooms, leading schools, teaching in colleges, developing programs, mentoring students, and transforming educational systems? T...

As Beyond The Margins: The Podcast concludes its inaugural season, Dr. Sohn A. Butts reflects on the conversations, lessons, and community that have defined the journey. In this heartfelt season finale, he expresses gratitude to the educators, school leaders, researchers, advocates, and listeners who have helped make the podcast more than a series of conversations—it has become a movement committe...

In this compelling and deeply human conversation, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits with educator, professor, and prison higher education scholar Dr. Mark Cornelius Booker to examine the transformative power of education beyond prison walls. Drawing on decades of teaching in correctional institutions, Booker challenges listeners to move beyond public perceptions of incarceration and instead view incarcerated...

In this inspiring and practical conversation, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits with educational leader, author, and mentor Tyrone Richardson to explore how authentic leadership transforms schools, classrooms, and communities. Reflecting on his journey from a challenging childhood in Hartford, Connecticut—marked by poverty, educational setbacks, and the absence of his father—to serving as a teacher, principa...

What happens when students finally see themselves reflected in the educators who teach them, the leaders who guide them, and the advocates who believe in them? In this episode of Beyond the Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with educator and multilingual learning advocate Nitza Rivera for a powerful conversation about representation, identity, belonging, and the conditions that make authentic s...

In this episode of Beyond the Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with veteran educator and Pupil Personnel Worker Gary Hughes for an honest conversation about chronic absenteeism, student disengagement, and the importance of rebuilding trust between schools, families, and communities. Drawing on more than 25 years of educational experience, Hughes shares powerful insights into the barriers that...

In this episode of Beyond the Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with nationally recognized educator, speaker, and trainer Stephen Boyd to explore one of education's most pressing challenges: student engagement. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience, Boyd shares why engagement is not about compliance or control, but about creating learning experiences that students genuinely want to be par...

What happens when we stop viewing student support as an add-on and start treating it as the foundation of student success? In this powerful episode of Beyond the Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with educator, school leader, social worker, and systems architect Sherann Alkins to explore what meaningful student support looks like in today's schools. Drawing from decades of experience in alterna...

What if education is one of the most powerful public health interventions in America? In this powerful episode of Beyond the Margins , Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with public health policy strategist and author Dr. Okey Enyia to unpack the deep and often overlooked relationship between education, health outcomes, civic engagement, and systemic inequity. Together, they explore how schools shape not...

In this episode of Beyond the Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts welcomes Philip Wilkerson III of George Mason University for a powerful conversation on mentorship, belonging, and the importance of culturally grounded support for Black students and Black men. Together, they explore the difference between simply having access to educational spaces and truly feeling seen, valued, and connected within them....

In this episode of Beyond the Margins , Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits with educator, content creator, and author Khadisha Powell to explore the transformative power of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and student voice. Powell shares her journey from Missouri to Washington, D.C., describing how a last-minute opportunity launched her career in education and shaped her approach to teaching media, film,...

In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits with Ms. Carynne Conover, Newark’s Director of Social Studies Education and veteran educator, to explore the power of curriculum to liberate young minds. Ms. Conover reflects on her journey from a private Catholic school upbringing to advocating for equity and exposure in public education, framing teaching as a tool to empower students, not...

In this episode, Dr. Sohn A. Butts talks with Ms. Shauna King, brain science expert and school culture consultant, about how neuroscience can inform student motivation and engagement. Drawing on her experience from substitute teacher to principal and national consultant, Ms. King emphasizes that effective teaching starts with understanding how the brain works; particularly how predictability, rele...

In this rich and expansive dialogue, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits with educator, scholar, and thought partner Dr. Keith Brooks to examine deficit thinking and its origins, how it shows up in schools, and why it continues to undermine marginalized students and communities. Drawing from his upbringing in South Central Los Angeles and a pivotal awakening through a Stanford summer program, Dr. Brooks reflec...

In this deeply affirming and practice-rooted conversation, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits with educator, behavior specialist, and consultant Laronica Maurer to explore what happens when schools intentionally center love, not as sentiment, but as strategy. Drawing from her own journey through special education, stigma, and low expectations, Maurer transformed limitations into fuel for a career dedicated to...

In this deeply intimate and generational conversation, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits with his mother, veteran educator and educational elder Dr. Marionette Butts, for a masterclass on leadership, vision, and the moral responsibility of schooling. Spanning more than three decades as a teacher, guidance counselor, administrator, and professor, Dr. M. Butts traces her journey from an “incidental educator” t...

In this high-energy, deeply practical conversation, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits with educator, principal, author, and culture architect Mr. Lamar "Coach" Thomas to explore one of education’s most misunderstood yet powerful forces: school culture. Drawing from his experiences as a coach and leader of alternative and non-traditional schools, Coach Thomas reframes culture as a system, not a slogan, descri...