All of the Above Podcast

Today on AOTA Shorts: As America turns 250 years old, the cold ripple effect of the right wing ascension in American politics is being felt in classrooms across the country, with more than 6 in 10 teachers worrying about the possible ramifications of teaching the truth about American history . Despite this hostile climate, and the potential threats they face, educators persist with bringing the im...

Today on AOTA Shorts: For those in the AOTA family with kids, this comes as no surprise, but the process of finding good summer care for children can be cumbersome to navigate, unnecessarily complex, and insanely expensive. A new piece in the 19th profiles American moms who handle these complex arrangements for their children, and the real costs of providing summer care. It reveals the extent to w...

This Week: In what can only be understood as a shocker, new survey data shows the vast majority of Americans of nearly all demographic groups support undocumented students having access to public education . With some variation across groups, this goes for all ages, races, and even religious groups. In fact the only group that had less than 50% agreement with this idea was Trump voters, which I me...

This Week: The UC system mulls joining a number of elite universities around the country that have brought back the SAT/ACT testing requirements that went by the wayside during the pandemic. Citing examples of professors having to reteach middle school level math to undergrads, regardless of where you stand on testing, this feels like a canary in the mine shaft kind of moment. At the same time, AI...

Today on AOTA Shorts: Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on much these days.  Except, apparently, what it means to be a good teacher. Researchers at Arizona State and CSU East Bay have published fascinating new data showing that actually, Ds and Rs show striking alignment on the features of a good teacher , including caring about students, making learning relevant, and helping students with sup...

Today on AOTA Shorts: Gov. Ron Desantis is at it again, ensuring his state continues to lead the way on the most draconian and fascist education policies on the books. Florida has now unleashed its new suite of accelerated courses known as FACT - Florida Advanced Courses and Tests. The US History course aspires to challenge the College Board’s AP US History course, by pushing a decidedly biased cu...

Today on AOTA Shorts: The learning loss hawks are back, maybe, and this time with new data. Almost everywhere in America students are performing worse than their peers were 10 years ago according to new data from the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford. From 2015-2025 the trend holds for nearly all demographic groups. Wealthy and poor districts, racial groups, students with special needs....

Today on AOTA Shorts: A ⁠new study⁠ from researchers at Stanford, Duke, Michigan, and Penn that analyzes data from Yondr, the makers of cell phone pouches used in many districts with new phone restrictions, shows mixed results, depending on how you look at the data. Big picture, the bans work to dramatically reduce phone usage during the school day. But data regarding improvements in discipline, s...

This Week: As the cost of living skyrockets in America, the dissatisfaction with the American-Israeli wars in Palestine and Iran grows. But what doesn’t get discussed is the effect of these wars on their children and schools. In Gaza a scholasticide has resulted in the obliteration of nearly every school, the deaths of 17,000+ students, and over 700 teachers and faculty. In Iran, many students are...

This Week: The board of the nation’s 2nd largest school district unanimously approved a resolution to place strong limits on screen time for students starting in the 26-27 school year. Citing extensive research showing the negative consequences of too much screen time on everything from vision, to engagement, to mental health, the district’s policy will have a sliding scale of maximum screen time,...

This Week: In what could be a landscape shifting class action lawsuit, parents sue Curriculum Associates, maker of iReady , alleging privacy concerns, lack of parental consent for collection and use of data, and potentially scandalous use of student data profiles for profit. Sounds scary, and to be clear, we should treat ed tech with deep scrutiny. But, but does the case hold water? Plus, in the l...

This Week: In a stunning 8-1 decision this week the US Supreme Court overturns a Colorado law banning conversion therapy for minors . Using the first amendment as a shield for hateful, Christian nationalist bigotry against LGBTQ people, the court says the state can no longer regulate a licensed mental health provider’s “free speech” by providing talk-based conversion therapy. Only Justice Jackson...

This Week: The legacy of Cesar Chavez is forever tarnished following the revelation of rape and sexual abuse allegations. As communities quickly (and rightly) pivot to centering the farmworkers movement instead of Chavez, there are at least 40 schools across CA named in his honor, along with numerous statues, murals, and awards bearing his legacy. Where do schools go from here? Plus, we weave toge...

Today on AOTA Shorts: The State of Oregon is one of just a few in the country that doesn't mandate a specific number of school days each year, and over ⅓ of their school districts have gone down to a 4 day school week. Proponents of mandating more school for Oregon youth argue this is the driving force behind Oregon’s dismal performance on the most recent NAEP .  And, they argue, that the aggr...

Today on AOTA Shorts: A new paper from researchers at Oregon State University and the University of Chicago shows evidence that parents place greater credibility in what their children’s grades say about their academic performance than they do test scores. But the researchers raise concerns that this could be inadvertently resulting in parents missing key data about their student’s struggles in sc...

Today on AOTA Shorts: On March 2nd, the Supreme Court issued a ruling, ostensibly from the Court’s 6 conservative justices, that overturns a California policy which prevented educators from outing trans students , or students exploring their gender identity to their families without the student’s consent. The case is admittedly complex, pitting parents’ rights to be informed about their child, the...

This Week: First, bombshell news out of LAUSD this week as Supt Alberto Carvalho was placed on paid leave after his home and office were raided by the FBI. Not much has been made public yet, but speculation is that the raid may be tied to Carvalho’s role in the failed investment in an AI chatbot during his time as head of schools in both LA and Miami. Then, our main story today tackles the growing...

This Week: We got a lot to cover this week! Students across the country are seizing the moment by engaging in the democratic process and walking out of school in protest of DHS terrorism. But the pushback is here. In LA the cops are telling kids to get back on campus , and in Texas the governor is going as far as threatening districts with state takeover where kids walk out. Also, the cartoon vill...

This Week: First, we have some updates on Liam Ramos and some of his classmates who were used as bait, kidnapped, and sent to a concentration camp in Texas where there’s now a measles outbreak. Thankfully a f ederal judge issued a scathing ruling against the fascist Trump regime and freed Liam and his father, though some of his classmates still remain imprisoned.  And we discuss Manuel’s students...

Please Join us in supporting one of Manuel's students whose world was turned upside down this week when her father was detained by ICE. Click here for the GoFundMe .  This Week: While the harm has, to a significant extent, already been done, there was an important legal victory in the fight against the white supremacist, fascist effort to destroy public education. A lawsuit brought by the AFT...

This Week: With the tragic murder of Renee Nicole Good by masked ICE agents in Minneapolis this week, and the chaotic, violent confrontation between Border Patrol and students and educators outside Roosevelt High School, it has been quite a week in the city of lakes. The Minneapolis Public Schools closed schools for the remainder of the week , and are now allowing families to opt into remote learn...

Today on AOTA Shorts: In what can only be described as silicon valley’s educational wet dream, the Alpha School expands its footprint across the nation. The private school, which packs a $75K/year price tag, touts its ability to have kids learn twice as much in just 2 hours of AI based “instruction” per day. And contrary to what you might expect, the school claims its guides (the adults who work t...

Today on AOTA Shorts: Fulfilling her mandate as cartoon villain Attorney General, Pam Bondi effectively gutted what little civil rights infrastructure remains in the United States declaring that the use of data to prove discriminatory impact of policy is now a violation of federal law. Claiming that the long-standing rule which allowed the federal government to hold states, cities, and private ent...

This Week: One one hand, it is shocking to think about, and on the other hand it’s just a continuation of America's long-standing tradition of white folks in power hurting themselves in the never ending effort to oppress others even more. The latest casualty of the anti DEI hysteria is stacking up to be men , and in particular white men. Women now occupy around 60% of all seats in college, and...

This Week: We’re diving into two higher ed topics this week.  First, the University of Alabama suspends and cuts funding for two student magazines, one called Nineteen Fifty-Six , which centers Black voices and experience, and the other called Alice , which is a fashion and wellness magazine that focuses on women. Citing the Trump admin’s anti DEI hysteria and Alabama’s anti DEI law , the Universi...