Ethical Schools

We talk with Lesley Koplow of the Center for Emotionally Responsive Practice at Bank Street College and Allison Demas , an instructional coordinator in the NYC Dept. of Education about the recent struggle in NYC to save social worker and IC positions and why these roles are so important for children’s emotional and academic development. Overview 00:00-00:42 Intros 00:42-03:12 NYC DOE excesses 360...

Guest interviewer Lev Moscow joins Jon in conversation with Santiago Taveras , principal of Charter High School for Computer Engineering and Innovation and former deputy chancellor of the NYC Department of Education. Santi talks about false assumptions that school systems make about teachers, students, and parents. He discusses why so much professional development wastes teachers’ time, why colleg...

We speak with Dr. Justin Reich , director of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, and host of the TeachLab podcast, about education technology. Hailed by some as the great equalizer, the beneficiaries of ed tech tend to be white and affluent. Focused on equity by design, Dr. Reich observes that when teachers learn, they have insufficient opportunities to practice. So he and his colleagues are creating di...

We speak with Dr. Kevin Kumashiro, a founder of Education Deans for Justice and Equity and organizer of the International Conferences on Education and Justice. Dr. Kumashiro describes how education scholars across the country are forming professional communities, both to build their capacity and to speak collectively on issues of public policy, leveraging their research to promote justice and equi...

We speak with Dr. Leigh Wedenoja of the Rockefeller Institute of Government about the benefits to students of having a teacher for more than one year. Test scores improve, behavior problems subside, absenteeism decreases. Very few schools have intentional looping policies, but many students have a teacher more than once, especially in middle and high school. Overview 00:00-00:41 Intros 00:41-01:43...

We speak with Dr. Cecelia Traugh and Dr. Cara Furman, co-authors of “ Descriptive Inquiry in Teacher Practice: Cultivating Practical Wisdom to Create Democratic Schools .” Descriptive inquiry is a structured, collaborative process in which teachers share and get practical feedback on classroom challenges. Breaking down teachers’ isolation, descriptive inquiry encourages non-confrontational convers...

We speak with Dr. Linda Nathan of the Center for Artistry and Scholarship and the Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership about her experience in creating progressive schools. Dr. Nathan says all teachers, no matter their subject areas, should have expertise in teaching reading and students with moderate disabilities. The arts are central to her educational vision. Dr. Nathan talks about h...

We speak with Dr. David Fine , school superintendent in Dover, a mostly white small  town in rural Dutchess County,  NY, where longtime residents have been joined  by other families to create a more diverse and integrated demographic base. Dr. Fine emphasizes inclusivity,  building close relationships with families, and  encouraging  student  engagement  in conversations across divides .  As there...

We speak with Hedy N. Chang of Attendance Works, who describes the long-term impact on student success of chronic absence in all grades.  Framing chronic absence as a truancy issue can increase alienation from school. Distinctions between excused and unexcused absences can unfairly penalize low-income students and students of color. Chronic absence rates may hit 40% this year. Ms. Chang discusses...

We speak with University of South Carolina law professor  Derek Black  about the history of education as a core government service and the current wave of voucher laws in red states. Professor Black argues that these will permanently reduce education funding levels and threaten the very existence of public schools. We also talk about the #RedforEd resistance and the need to substantially increase...

We speak with Dr. Cecilia Espinosa and Dr. Laura Ascenzi-Moreno , co-authors of “Rooted in Strength: Using Translanguaging to Grow Multilingual Readers and Writers.” Traditionally, teachers have brought language to students rather than accepting and acknowledging children’s entire linguistic repertoires. Communities and families often have fluid language practices; when teachers impose strict sepa...

We speak with Hillary Davis, who runs the New Voices program at the Student Press Law Center, and Sara  Fajardo , who experienced censorship firsthand at her high school. School administrators frequently prevent students from publishing articles or posts that might make parents nervous or  “ damage the school’s reputation. “  New Voices laws, which students shepherd through state legislatures,  ai...

We speak with Melissa Svigelj-Smith, graduate fellow at University of California at Santa Cruz, about her experience teaching high school students awaiting case outcomes at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center. Meaningful communication with students’ schools about records and students’ social emotional needs was often very difficult. Ms. Svigelj-Smith talks about the ethical dilemma of wa...

We speak with students Eugenia Bamfo, Alexandra Rouvinetis, and Mukilan Muthukumar, members of the NYC Youth Agenda. Using citywide student survey data, Youth Agenda teams aggregated young people’s needs to make recommendations to policymakers in five areas — housing security, food justice, mental health support, economic mobility, and leadership and civic engagement. Among the findings: large num...

We speak with Dr. Brian Jones , director of the New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools, which provides all sorts of free resources to teachers and school administrators. Public schools, for all their flaws, are centers of power and potential for teachers and parents. As a historian, Dr. Jones draws parallels between Booker T.  Washington and Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Childr...

Dr. Alan Singer, Dr. Pablo Muriel, and Gates Millennium Scholar Dennis Belen-Morales , three generations of teachers, describe how they center student activism in their project-based social studies and history classes while giving students the tools to pass the NYS Regents exams. Dr. Singer was Dr. Muriel’s professor in college, and Dr. Muriel was Mr. Belen-Morales’ high school teacher and college...

We speak with Swarthmore’s  Dr. Edwin Mayorga , who explains how abolitionist classrooms and schools create “freedom as a place” in contrast to racial capitalism. Dr. Mayorga encourages educators to center joy and healing. We also discuss the corporatization of schools that reduces students to their test scores. Schools, as “localized nodes of political power,” should adopt democratic processes th...

We speak with Dr. Elizabeth J. Meyer of the University of Colorado about ensuring that K-12 schools are welcoming and safe for students with non-normative gender identities and expressions. Dr. Meyer found that these students thrive in schools that center student-directed learning and interdisciplinary exploration as opposed to schools that replicate society’s toxic hierarchies. Generally, student...

Sherry Johnson , tribal education director for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, an Oceti Sakowin treaty tribe, talks about the efforts to have South Dakota’s students learn about Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota history and culture. South Dakota’s right wing governor and her appointees have rejected state standards that include critical thinking and accurate state history, sparking strong resistance. Overvi...

We speak with middle school teachers, Debbie Holecko and Claudia Bestor, and their former student, Rafel Alshakergi , about a student-led research project that led to ethical civic engagement. Rafel explains how the experience emboldened her to ask questions and “speak [her] mind.” The project, which got national attention, cut against Ohio’s high-stakes test orientation; many teachers are afraid...

We speak with  Brittany McBride , Associate Director, Sexuality Education at Advocates for Youth, who partners with schools to provide the complete sex education that all students deserve. Though parents, students, and teachers largely agree on sex ed’s importance, few  teachers (other than health teachers and PE coaches) have any formal training, and many parents haven’t had sex ed themselves. Ov...

We speak with Dr. John Pascarella , Chief Academic Officer of K-12 Professional Learning at USC Race and Equity Center. The Center works with schools to identify disparate outcomes for students and strategies to eliminate them. Dr. Pascarella discusses the need for educators to stand up against systemic bias as it occurs in daily school life. He points out that we need to be aware that we are all...

We speak with Al Kurland , longtime leader of out-of-school-time programs in Upper Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Mr. Kurland founded youth  programs that help teens to “rewrite their stories” with the support of adult and peer mentors. He collaborated with other local youth organizations, creating a cluster of empowering and horizon-broadening experiences for students, helping many expand “tunne...

We speak with independent journalist Audrey Watters , author of “Teaching machines: The history of personalized learning,” about the origins of teaching machines and the pedagogies that incorporate mechanical devices for teaching and learning. Ms. Watters explains how BF Skinner’s emphasis on behaviorism, in combination with commercial opportunism, has led in some cases to the supplanting of teach...

We speak with Dr. Rosa Rivera-McCutchen , associate professor of leadership studies at Lehman College, CUNY, about the importance of school leaders and teachers practicing radical care, including listening with intent and addressing skill gaps with honesty. Dr. Rivera-McCutchen talks about the importance of teachers getting to know the life of the neighborhoods around their schools. Overview  00:0...