All of the Above Podcast

Increasingly, educators are pointing to the need to decolonize the classroom and the school system in order to truly meet the needs of Indigenous, Black, and other marginalized students. Although there is a clear need to rethink how we educate our students, there isn’t always much clarity about what it actually means to decolonize education or what that looks like. To help us explore this issue we...

This Week: the tiny hamlet of Central York, PA is making news this week as community activists were able to successfully pressure the school board to rescind their temporary ban on just about every book, essay, film, and website that ever said anything about racism, or people of color, or women, or LGBTQ+ people, or really just anything that the rabid “anti CRT'' crowd of fanatics has been led to...

Conversations around equity in education too often leave out the voices and experiences of Arab and Muslim students whose identities don’t always fit into the rigid social constructs of race in America. This week we’re joined by educator and scholar extraordinaire Dr. Sawsan Jaber to learn about how educators should understand the identities of the Muslim and Arab students they serve, and how thes...

This Week: Huge, earth shattering news this week out of the nation’s second largest school district. Los Angeles Unified becomes the first major district in the country to issue a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students, which will effectively require all students 12 and over to be fully vaccinated by the end of the fall semester, in order to attend in-person school. LAUSD already has among the nati...

The concept of culturally sustaining pedagogies is resonating with a growing number of educators, but what does it look like in practice? And with so much vitriol being directed at educators who #TeachTruth and lean into curriculum that challenges racism, how does one embrace culturally sustaining practices in the face of the racist backlash? Lorena Germán, who is an educator extraordinaire, a co-...

This Week: In solidarity with the Zinn Education Project and educators across the nation who are pledging to teach the truthful history our students deserve to know, and resist the white nationalist push to enshrine white supremacist mythology in the curriculum, Manuel and Jeff share historical sites that highlight the importance of teaching truth in the classroom.  Jeff shares his experience...

This Week: The 2021-22 school year is officially in session in many parts of America, and the mass biological experiment has begun. We’ve got governors going full homicidal maniac in states like Texas and Florida with ICUs full, policies banning mask mandates, and threats to withhold salary from superintendents who follow public health science and impose masking requirements. And at the same time...

With the sweeping passage of bills aiming to ban truthful teaching of America’s history and legacy of racism, educators across the USA are grappling with the spectre of being fired over something as simple as assigning a children’s book about integration . What’s really at stake when politicians strip away learning standards that uplift MLK and criticize the KKK ? To help us understand the present...

This Week: About half of the adult population in the United States is now fully vaccinated, but the curve is again moving in a worrisome direction.  With daily cases and hospitalizations beginning to mirror what we saw this time one year ago - despite the fact that tens of millions of people are vaccinated - are we heading for another wave of the pandemic among the unvaccinated?  And wha...

The schooling experiences of native youth are so often left out of conversations about educational equity despite the fact that indigenous youth are among the most marginalized and underserved groups in our school system. This week we have the great honor of learning from the super-dope Dr. Valeriah Big Eagle about the experiences of native youth and about what needs to be done to better serve thi...

This Week: It’s summer time, and the livin is easy. Kids are jumpin, and the humidity is high… and questions abound regarding the future of school next fall. Specifically, given the relatively low interest expressed in returning to in-person learning last year among Black and AAPI families, questions are being raised about what it would mean if a significant number of families opt out of tradition...

Being a school leader is hard enough, but doing so in the midst of a pandemic and from the epicenter of a national reckoning around race and police violence makes the work doubly challenging and important. This week we’re joined by Yusuf Abdullah, principal of Patrick Henry High School in North Minneapolis, to discuss his experience leading in the wake of multiple traumas. Henry High School is con...

This Week: A heartwarming story of youth activism out of West Contra Costa Unified School District has resulted in a name change to a local middle school. Say goodbye Juan Crespi Middle School, and hello Betty Reid Soskin Middle School. Crespi, a Franciscan missionary who helped lay the foundation of California’s oppressive and genocidal mission system, will be replaced by Soskin, a community acti...

As educators crawl out of this historically unprecedented, hot mess of a school year, what lasting lessons and changes should they be sure to carry on with them? This week we bring back EIGHT of the dopest educators and past AOTA guests to share their key takeaways from this wild school year. Hear from Julia E. Torres, Dr. Betina Hsieh, Larry Ferlazzo, Geneviève DeBose, Leo Glazé, Kevin Adams, Ger...

This Week: 21 states across the country have introduced legislation or enacted into law measures that restrict the teaching of truth about America’s history of racism, colonialism, and white supremacy. And meanwhile, videos of white fragility tears flowing at school board meetings with baseless claims of the teaching of “critical race theory” as the new boogeyman are flooding social media. How sho...

Bilingual dopeness in the building! After years of attacks and bans on bilingual education, so-called “dual language immersion” programs have become a hot ticket. How can we ensure that language minoritized children get access to quality bilingual education, and what should such education look like? This week we’re joined by Dr. Carla España and Dr. Luz Yadira Herrera, co-founders of the En Comuni...

This Week: The white-lash is in full swing across America with states attempting--and some passing--bills to restrict the teaching of truth and the moral righteousness of racial justice. In the face of these trumped up claims against the 1619 Project and “Critical Race Theory,” wouldn’t you know it’s the white nationalists who are infiltrating schools and clandestinely working to pass on their hat...

What role does racial literacy play in helping educators develop the capacity to respond to the  inequities that plague our educational system? And how should educators, school systems, and policymakers respond to the recent partisan backlash over racial justice efforts? To help us explore these questions, we’re joined by the phenomenally-dope Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz!! Dr. Sealey-Ruiz is an a...

This Week: The pandemic hit the SAT and ACT with a hook to the temple, and now with a massive legal settlement in a case brought by California students, community groups and Compton Unified School District, the nation’s unofficial college entrance standardized tests are on the ropes. But does this mean they’re down for the count?  The settlement commits the University of California system - h...

One thing that teachers and athletes certainly have in common is the tired notion that they’re each supposed to be “apolitical” and avoid speaking out against injustice. Welp, we’re certainly not going to “shut up and dribble” today! This week we combine forces with writer, editor, sports journalist, and “Edge of Sports” host Dave Zirin to explore the intersections of sports, education, politics,...

This Week: As schools all over CA moved back to some version of in-person instruction, Manuel and Jeff take on a fascinating and troubling story out of Florida where a teacher was suspended after protesting the removal of a Black Lives Matter flag displayed in her classroom. Amy Donofrio, being represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a teacher at Robert E. Lee high school in Jacksonvill...

The shift to pandemic pedagogy was especially tough for arts and music educators who suddenly found themselves orchestrating bands and directing ceramics lessons through Zoom. As campuses reopen and the school system turns its attention to so-called “learning loss,” what’s the future of our already underfunded and understaffed arts education programs? This week we’re joined by Benwar Shepard, a ve...

This Week: Lt. Nazario in Virginia, Daunte Wright in Minneapolis, Adam Toledo in Chicago, a teacher calling a student the N word in Oklahoma, kids in Texas make a slave trading game for their black classmates, 4 members of the Sikh community killed at work in Indianapolis, and the list goes on. This week was a hard one, in so many ways. Manuel and Jeff process a week of repeated traumas, and discu...

Last summer’s uprisings for racial justice spurred a flurry of activity and discussion among educators about how to work towards creating a truly equitable and just school system. Not surprisingly, that energy has largely faded away as schools shifted their attention towards reopening and a return to “normal.” This week we’re joined by principal and racial equity coach Joe Truss to reflect back on...

This Week: A year ago, the idea that nearly every student would have a laptop or tablet and attend school virtually seemed preposterous. Now, it’s just another day of school.  With news about promising vaccine efficacy among children, what role might cameras play in the future of school?  Drawing on an article in The 74 , Manuel and Jeff explore some of the provocative questions about th...