Ethical Schools

We speak with Dr. Richard Price , associate professor of political science at Weber State University, about recent attempts to ban books, especially those about GLBTQIA+ people and people of color, from classrooms and school libraries across the country. (Spoiler alert: it’s not only in red states). Dr. Price offers strategies for teachers, principals, and school districts for responding to book c...

We continue our conversation with  LaToya Baldwin Clark  of UCLA School of Law. Dr. Baldwin Clark explains how the special education system advantages White middle class families. Poor families and families of color tend to lack cultural capital to navigate the system and advocate effectively for their children. While resources flow to White children with special needs, Black children tend to be s...

We speak with  Dr. LaToya Baldwin Clark , assistant professor at UCLA School of Law. Dr. Baldwin Clark explains how school boundaries are used for racial exclusion. In many cases, schools don’t just reflect, but cause, segregated neighborhoods. Dr. Baldwin Clark argues that closing the education gap isn’t just about bringing up the bottom, but bringing down the top as well. Parents, teachers, and...

We speak with Dr. Deb L. Morrison, research scientist at the University of Washington School of Education, about centering climate science throughout the K-12 curriculum. Dr. Morrison talks about ClimeTime, a Washington State-funded program that teaches how to engage in climate science and climate justice education across disciplines, and describes nationally-available resources. She emphasizes th...

We speak with Katie Worth , investigative journalist and author of Miseducation: How Climate Change is Taught in America. Ms. Worth explores what children across the country are taught, or not taught, about climate change. In 24 states, oil and gas company representatives teach children about the wonders of fossil fuels, downplaying or denying their climate impacts. With an eye on sales in Texas, ...

We speak with Dr. Daniel Schugurensky and Tara Bartlett of Arizona State University and Madison Rock of the Center for the Future of Arizona about school participatory budgeting in Arizona and worldwide. Students, and sometimes parents and school staff, determine how a pool of money will be spent. By participating in democratic, meaningful decision-making, students become acclimated to civic engag...

We speak with high school science teachers and trans men, Sam Long and Lewis Maday-Travis, who have developed resources and trainings to help biology teachers develop gender-inclusive curricula. Science tells us that sexual and gender diversity is both normal and positive.   References To know more about Lewis and Sam’s projects, please go to sam-long.weebly.com , fishyteaching.com and transeducat...

We continue our conversation with Dr. David Osher of the American Institutes for Research, delving deeper into the CBAM approach to school culture change. Dr Osher describes a study he and colleagues conducted, following every student who had been suspended in New York City over ten years. The study confirmed that exclusionary suspension has damaging impacts throughout a student’s academic career...

We speak with Dr. David Osher of the American Institutes for Research. Dr. Osher explains his view of robust equity, that all people deserve to thrive, and that thriving occurs holistically over the course of a lifetime, and even intergenerationally. People thrive in concert with others.  We discuss the conditions in a school that foster both individual and group thriving, and those that don’t, in...

We speak with Anna Allanbrook, longtime principal of Brooklyn New School (BNS). Learning at BNS is inquiry-based and cross-disciplinary. As well, BNS is known as the “opt-out school” because 95% of families opt out of standardized testing. The school offers no test preparation. References Find more about the Brooklyn New School on  bns146.org Overview 00:05-01:11 Intros 01:12- 01:58 Key principles...

We continue our conversation with Dr. Carlos Alberto Torres , Distinguished Professor at UCLA and Founding Director of the Paulo Freire Institute. Dr. Torres speaks about Freire’s contention that communities should define the work that goes on in schools. He explains Freire’s emphasis on dialogue as integral to education. Whereas Dewey focused on children and the tools to instill democratic values...

We speak with Carlos Alberto Torres , Distinguished Professor at UCLA. Dr. Torres worked closely with Paulo Freire and now directs the UCLA Paulo Freire Institute. He argues that we need to create a model of ethics education that combines social justice and natural justice, or sustainability. Freire viewed the planet as an oppressed entity. We talk about creating a political culture in our schools...

Dr. Don Siler , a researcher and inservice teacher educator, himself a former high school dropout, discusses how art classrooms invite students to be themselves, to explore their lived experiences, and to work on projects that mean something to them. Student engagement in the art classroom can be leveraged across subject areas by incorporating both the arts and art-based pedagogy throughout the cu...

We continue our conversation with Dr. Terri Bucci of the Mathematics Literacy Initiative at OSU’s Mansfield campus. Dr. Bucci observes that we rarely ask children how they learn best. MLI’s implementation of the Algebra Project changes the classroom culture, giving agency to even the youngest students. “We have to get rid of  ‘sharecropper education.'” Dr. Bucci talks about the constitutional amen...

We speak with Dr. Terri Bucci of the Mathematics Literacy Initiative at Ohio State University, Mansfield. Beginning in kindergarten, the MLI builds on Bob Moses’s Algebra Project. Like reading and writing literacies, students need to understand the language of math to succeed in today’s world. Through shared experiences and reflections, the MLI makes math accessible and fun.  This is Part One of a...

We welcome back Stephanie Carnes , a school social worker who has worked extensively with Central American immigrant students and their families. School systems are designed for homogenous student populations, rather than the diverse reality.  Despite new immigrants’ high motivation levels, they often fail for lack of support. School social workers could help design asset-based programs but often...

Bob Schaeffer , Executive Director of FairTest, talks about high-stakes standardized tests as barriers to equal opportunity. Fairer college admissions criteria are increasing admissions diversity, but well-funded supporters of high-stakes tests are still resisting replacement of the tests in elementary and secondary schools. Many schools eliminated high-stakes testing during the pandemic, and Fair...

We continue our conversation with Dr. Garrett Broad of Fordham University, talking about high school and college students’ experiences working with non-profits and about what students know/should learn about food and food justice.  Students often join non-profits with unrealistic expectations. There are tensions between keeping the organization afloat and pursuing radical change. There are no silv...

Part One of a two-part interview. We speak with Dr. Garrett Broad of Fordham University about social media and how it informs student outlooks. One of Dr. Broad’s key objectives is to help students to be comfortable with the messiness–the fluidity and complexity–of identity and to resist the pressure to be fully formed, branded. High school teachers can help students to understand the factors that...

We speak with Dr. Marsha Ellison and Evelyn Frankford about assisting students with serious mental health challenges make transitions from high school. These students often don’t receive the supports they want and need, especially finding work or navigating college disability accommodations. Long-term relationships with a knowledgeable adult and positive youth development strategies can make a dif...

We speak with Dr. Joanne Golann of Vanderbilt University, author of “Scripting the Moves: Culture and Control in a No Excuses Charter School.” Corporate-run charter networks instill obedience and conformity above all else, leaving nothing to chance (or creativity). We look at the academic and social outcomes of “no excuses” schools, and the reasons for their lavish funding.  Overview 00:00-00:51 I...

We speak with Keith Catone , executive director of CYCLE, the Center for Youth & Community Leadership in Education at Roger Williams University. CYCLE helps students, those who are most affected by school policies, to destabilize systemic power hierarchies, and encourages teachers to adopt an “organizing disposition.” Through trainings and ongoing support, CYCLE helps community youth organizat...

We speak with Drs. Isabel Nuñez and Jason Goulah , editors of “Hope and Joy in Education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda across curriculum and context.” According to Ikeda, the internationally-famous Buddhist philosopher, education should first and foremost engender happiness and instill habits of global citizenship. Drs. Nuñez and Goulah talk about implications for teachers’ classroom practice. Overview...

Bob Moses died this week. In memoriam, we repost our interview with him from February 2020. The Algebra Project founder and president–and lead organizer of the famous 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer voting rights campaign–talked about math literacy as an organizing tool to guarantee quality public school education for all children. He described the Algebra Project’s strategies to connect math to s...

Zahava Stadler , Policy Director of EdBuild, explains how housing discrimination and state funding policies disadvantage Black and low-income districts. EdBuild has reported on funding schemes throughout the country, documenting a $23 billion annual funding gap between White districts and districts of color. Ms. Stadler describes how states could allocate education dollars more equitably, benefitt...