The Learning Curve

In this episode of The Learning Curve , we celebrate Black History Mont h as co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with A’Lelia Bundles , an accomplished journalist, television producer, and biographer of Madam C. J. Walker, about the life, legacy, and enduring significance of her remarkable great-great-grandmother. Ms. Bundles traces Wal...

On this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Great Hearts Academies’  Dr. Helen Baxendale speak with Jay Tolson , editor of The Hedgehog Review and author of  Pilgrim in the Ruins: A Life of Walker Percy . Tolson delves into the literary legacy of Walker Percy, the celebrated 20th-century Southern Catholic novelist. He explores how Percy’s many personal hard...

To commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, The Learning Curve guest host Andrea Silbert, President of the Eos Foundation, speaks with Ruth Franklin, former editor of The New Republic and author of The Many Lives of Anne Frank . Ms. Franklin reflects on the enduring literary significance of Anne Frank’s diary while providing an overview of her life and the wider historical context of World War II an...

In this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Public Schools speak with Dr. Lerone Martin , Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor at Stanford University, and Dr. Jason Miller, Distinguished Professor of English at North Carolina State University. They explore the religious, literary, and historical f...

In this week's episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy and Great Hearts Academies’ Dr. Helen Baxendale interview award-winning author and biographer Dr. Jung Chang , whose international bestsellers have illuminated three generations of her family's experiences across 20th- and 21st-century China. Dr. Chang reflects on the powerful lessons drawn from...

In this week's episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy discuss state and national K-12 education reform with Katherine Haley , Founder and Partner of the Oak Rose Group and President of the Arizona State Board of Education. Haley shares her remarkable career journey from Capitol Hill—where she served as chief policy...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Public Schools speak with Julie Young , Julie Petersen , and Kay Johnson , co-editors of Pioneer Institute’s new book, Virtual Schools, Actual Learning: Digital Education in America . They explore the evolution of online education in the U.S., from the founding of Florida Virtual Sc...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Ark. Professor Albert Cheng and American Federation for Children’s Shaka Mitchell speak with Erika Donalds , America First Policy Institute’s Chair of Education Opportunity and Chair of the AFPI-Florida State Chapter. A nationally recognized education policy expert, Ms. Donalds shares the formative educational experiences that shaped her pa...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Ark. Professor Albert Cheng and  Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy  speak with Sean Geraghty & Mike Goldstein , authors of I’ll Do It Later: Surviving School (and Renewing the Love) with Your ADHD Son . Geraghty and Goldstein reflected on the academic and personal experiences that fueled their passion to research ADHD and...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts  U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and  Dr. Helen Baxendale of Great Hearts Academies  speak with Paul Andrew Hutton , Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at the University of New Mexico and author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West . Prof. Hutton discusses the cen...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Great Heart Academies’ Dr. Helen Baxendale and American Federation for Children’s Shaka Mitchell speak with Mike Miles , superintendent of the Houston Independent School District. Miles has devoted his life to public service, starting as a soldier, then as a diplomat in Poland and Russia during the Cold War before moving into K-12 education r...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy speak with Sir Hew Strachan , Professor of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and recipient of the 2016 Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. Prof. Sir Hew, author of numerous award-winning books,...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy and American Federation for Children’s Walter Blanks interview Kelley Brown , an award-winning civics and government teacher at Easthampton High School and former Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Ms. Brown discusses her background as an educator, her work with the “We the People": The Citizen...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Great Hearts Academies’ Dr. Helen Baxendale interview Leo Damrosch , Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature Emeritus at Harvard University, and acclaimed biographer of some of the world's greatest literary figures. Prof. Damrosch discusses his newest book Storyteller: The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson . He...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Center for Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy interview Dr. Anna Lembke, MD , professor of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic, and author of the NYT bestselling book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence . Dr...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Center for Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy interview Jack Johnson Pannell , founder and head of Trinity Arch Preparatory School for Boys in Phoenix. Mr. Pannell discusses his career as an educational leader, including founding a nationally recognized charter school in Baltimore, and shares how his background in...

In this week’s episode of  The Learning Curve , co-hosts  U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng  and  Walter Blanks of the American Federation for Children interview Prof. Robert Maranto and Sean Woytek co-authors of the Education Next piece, “ Why Academically Intensive Charter Schools Deserve Our Attention .” They explore how rigorous charter school networks like BASIS Ed have achieved exceptional outco...

In this week’s episode of  The Learning Curve , co-hosts  U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng  and  Center for Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy  interview  Randall Woods , John A. Cooper Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, and author of  John Quincy Adams: A Man for the Whole People . Prof. Woods shares the life and career of American statesman John Quincy Adams, the “first so...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and the Center for Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy interview Kerry McDonald , Senior Education Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), host of the LiberatED podcast, and author of Joyful Learning: How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling (2025 ) . As a leading advocat...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Eos Foundation’s Andrea Silbert interview Dr. Gil Troy , senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, Distinguished Scholar in North American History at McGill University, and editor of Theodor Herzl: The Collected Zionist Writings and Addresses of Israel's Founder . He offers an overview of Herzl’s u...

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Great Hearts Academies’ Dr. Helen Baxendale interview Dr. Kathryn Hughes , academic historian and award-winning author of George Eliot: The Last Victorian . Dr. Hughes discusses the significance of 19th-century novelist Mary Ann Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, in shaping British literature a...

In this week’s episode of  The Learning Curve , co-hosts  U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng  and  American Federation for Children Senior Fellow Shaka Mitchell  interview John Kirtley , Managing Partner and co-founder of Keswick Partners, and founder and Chairman of Step Up For Students, a nonprofit that manages Florida’s state-funded K-12 scholarship programs serving over half a million students. Kir...

In this week’s episode of  The Learning Curve , co-hosts  U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng  and  Pioneer Senior Fellow Charlie Chieppo  interview award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author  Jane Leavy . Ms. Leavy discusses her lifelong love of baseball, and her forthcoming book,  Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It , which comes out in Septemb...

This week on  The Learning Curve , co-hosts  U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng  and  Ret. MN Supreme Court Justice Barry Anderson  interview  Prof. Keith Hylton , William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and Professor of Law at Boston University. Prof. Hylton shares insights from his academic career and the book   Laws of Creation: Property Rights in the World of Ideas , which he co-authored....

This week on  The Learning Curve , co-hosts  U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng  and  Ret. MN Supreme Court Justice Barry Anderson  interview Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Pepperdine Law’s, Prof. Edward Larson . Prof. Larson marks the 100th anniversary of the Scopes “Monkey Trial,” a landmark case in America’s long-running debate over science, religion, and public education. Drawing on his accla...