Common Ground

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss Biden's recent announcement on student loan forgiveness. They consider how the plan might affect tuition inflation, who actually benefits from loan forgiveness, and how greater financial literacy may help. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

In the last episode before their summer hiatus, Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss their favorite education themed movies and tv shows, including Stand and Deliver, Remember the Titans, and Lean on Me. They also explore how pop culture influences what we come to expect from teachers and students. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations about the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.”

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss the rights and responsibilities parents have when it comes to advocating for their children's education, and how they think about whether those rights infringe upon the role of the educator or the rights of other children. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and speak more broadly on how to think about the role of current events in civics education. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations about the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss how schools should teach about Martin Luther King, Jr., the events of January 6, and voting rights. The two converse about how teachers can avoid teaching kids what to think, whether the way MLK is taught in schools distorts who he really was, and more. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations about the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera tackle the topic of school sports in today's episode. Their conversation covers whether K-12 sports are helpful or harmful for kids, how to balance academics and athletics, whether college football coaches are paid too much compared to professors, what U.S. sports can learn from New Zealand rugby players, and much more. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations about the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera talk over the role of parents in education, focusing on the relationship between parents, schools, and school boards. They discuss why so many parents nowadays feel frustrated with their school leaders, as well as strategies for superintendents and school boards to help those parents feel like their needs are being heard, and more. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's recent book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

School boards are facing recalls at historic levels, even as large numbers of superintendents choose to leave their roles. What's going on? AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera (who used to serve on a school board) dig in. Their discussion includes how the polarization we see in other aspects of the country influences this, whether education is (or should be) political, whether school boards are driven by local interests, and how to train superintendents well. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's recent book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss the challenges schools face as they return to yet another school year with COVID-19 still present. The two strive to transcend the red-blue divides that often appear on questions of mask and vaccine mandates, school closures, social distancing, and more. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's recent book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss anti-racism and Critical Race Theory in schools. As of the recording of this podcast, four state legislatures (Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Tennessee) had passed laws colloquially termed "Critical Race Theory bans," and over a dozen other state legislatures had introduced similar bills. Rick and Pedro wade into these bans, conversing about what Critical Race Theory and anti-racism actually mean, recommendations for making schools safer and better for all kids, book banning, the complexity of identity, and more. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's new book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education. The Common Ground Podcast is taking a brief summer hiatus and will return in September.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss President Biden's first 100 days in office and how he's done on education. The two get into Biden's plans for education spending, retrospectively grade his performance in office so far (spoiler: Pedro gives him an A, Rick a solid gentleman's D), then dive into a conversation on the culture wars and transgender issues. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's new book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss COVID-19 and the return to school. They cover federal COVID aid and how schools should use it, the new CDC guidance on distancing and how schools are responding, how schools should approach the inequities exposed by the pandemic, how to deal with learning loss, and the role unions have been playing in reopening. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's new book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

At a time of bitter national polarization, we need to push past empty posturing in favor of a healthy, constructive competition of ideas. Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera, who tend to fall on opposing sides of the ideological aisle, candidly explore their differences on some of the toughest issues in K–12 education in their new book, https://www.tcpress.com/a-search-for-common-ground-9780807765166 (“A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K–12 Education.”) The two wrestle with important disagreements regarding issues such as school choice, for-profit provision, civics, and anti-racism, in a manner that yields understanding and a sense of shared purpose. In this bonus episode conversation with The College Board's Stefanie Sanford, they discuss where 21st-century schooling needs to go and how to foster the kind of public discourse that will get us there. Watch the full event https://www.aei.org/events/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (here).

Rick Hess, director of AEI's education policy studies, and Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, kick off their new podcast with a reflection on the value of reasonable, civil debate with people you disagree with and on what prevents such debates from happening more often nowadays. Their discussion covers high-stakes testing, school reopening, accountability, personal responsibility, and more. https://www.aei.org/research-products/book/a-search-for-common-ground-conversations-about-the-toughest-questions-in-k-12-education/ (Learn more) about Rick and Pedro's new book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.