Podcasts about no child left behind

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt — the popular Republican who has won all three of his mayoral elections with at least 60% of the vote — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make an impassioned and deeply substantive case for pluralism as the foundation of the entire American experiment. Holt, who recently gave a notable speech on the subject, argues that the American system was fundamentally built on the acceptance of pluralism and the idea that compromise should produce something "good enough" rather than perfect for any single faction — and that the founders gave us a pretty good system specifically designed to channel disagreement away from political violence. The problem, Holt argues, is that the system is now actively making compromise harder. He points to closed partisan primaries as a central culprit: because he faces all voters rather than a narrow partisan base, he's incentivized to build consensus, but most candidates today are forced to pass bizarre litmus tests with base voters and campaign on culture-war messaging rather than the bread-and-butter issues people actually care about. The conversation broadens into the structural and cultural threats Holt sees to a pluralistic society. He argues this era has revealed the long-ignored flaws in American democracy — that we've all taken the system for granted — and makes the case that getting rid of closed partisan primaries, sometimes through ballot initiatives, is one of the most important reforms available, provided it's done in a way that doesn't simply flip parties or states for partisan advantage but instead empowers minority-party voters to act as genuine swing votes. Holt is sharp on education's role in all of this: he worries that the voucherization of schools and the explosion of private schools risk teaching kids in ideological monocultures, and laments the erosion of civics education over the past two decades, noting that public schools deliberately deemphasized social studies after No Child Left Behind. He and Chuck dig into whether pluralism can even be taught or whether it has to be lived in a genuinely diverse place, the difficulty of having a nuanced public conversation about AI data centers, and the housing crisis that Holt argues is not getting nearly enough attention from either the national media or Washington — closing with a concrete look at what a federal housing bill would actually mean for a fast-growing city like Oklahoma City. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Mayor David Holt joins the Chuck ToddCast 00:45 Was the city in mourning after the OKC Thunder lost? 02:30 Are San Antonio and OKC set to become rival cities? 04:30 The mayor gave a speech about the importance of pluralism 05:15 The American experiment is based on the acceptance of pluralism 06:00 Compromise should result in “good enough”, not perfect for anybody 07:30 The founders gave us a pretty good system to avoid political violence 09:45 Nowadays, the system is making compromise harder 10:30 OKC’s politics mirror the country, went 49-48 for Trump in ‘24 12:00 Won all three mayoral elections with at least 60% of the vote 12:45 Mayor faces all voters rather than closed partisan primaries 14:00 Electoral system needs to incentivize consensus building 15:45 Candidates used to campaign on their ability to work across the aisle 17:15 Messaging from gubernatorial candidates are not bread & butter issues 18:30 Candidates are forced to pass bizarre litmus tests with base voters 20:30 Can you teach pluralism, or do you have to live in a diverse place? 22:15 There are always opposing views that exist even in highly red/blue areas 24:30 This era has revealed the flaws/weaknesses of our democracy 25:30 We’ve all taken our system for granted 26:00 We have to get away from closed partisan primaries 28:00 How do you convince parties in power to open up primaries to more voters? 29:00 Some states can get rid of partisan primaries via ballot initiatives 30:45 The process shouldn’t flip parties or states 32:30 Voters in the minority should act as swing votes 34:45 Voucherization of schools can lead kids to learning in a monoculture 36:15 There’s been explosion in the creation of private schools 38:00 There’s been an erosion in civics education the past two decades 39:30 Public schools deemphasized social studies after No Child Left Behind 41:45 Can the electorate have a nuanced conversation around AI data centers? 43:30 Hard for elected officials to go against the NIMBY crowd 44:00 Politicians have to argue for the positive trade offs 45:15 Bringing in tech and investment used to be good politics, it’s not with data centers 45:45 Housing is the issue that’s not getting enough attention from media & DC 46:45 What would the housing bill do for you in OKC?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd breaks down a seismic primary night in New York, where Mamdani-backed Democratic Socialist candidates swept their races — and argues the DSA may be on the verge of becoming the far-left equivalent of the Freedom Caucus, a small but disciplined faction capable of making the establishment's life genuinely miserable. The most stunning data point: Chuck argues Chuck Schumer likely couldn't win a Democratic primary anywhere in New York right now, that Dan Goldman lost his primary handily, and that while Schumer clearly shouldn't run again, politicians rarely walk away on their own. It was also a quietly bad night for Hakeem Jeffries, and Chuck raises the genuinely open question of whether Jeffries would even survive a primary challenge — and whether he still has a clear path to the speakership if Democrats take the House. The strategic lesson the left has internalized, Chuck argues, is that the smaller the Democratic majority, the more leverage a committed progressive bloc can apply, which means Democrats may have to govern in a fundamentally different way than their leadership wants. But Chuck repeatedly returns to the central tension: this brand of far-left politics plays beautifully in coastal cities but the socialist label simply doesn't travel well elsewhere, the rise of far-left politics has become uncomfortably intertwined with rising antisemitism, pro-Israel Democrats may soon find themselves politically homeless, and the real test will be whether progressives can win anywhere outside their urban strongholds. It all amounts, Chuck says, to a genuine fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. He closes with a heartfelt remembrance of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who passed away at 100 — recalling a man who always grounded his opinions in data, and what a personal treat it was to have known him. Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt — the popular Republican who has won all three of his mayoral elections with at least 60% of the vote — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make an impassioned and deeply substantive case for pluralism as the foundation of the entire American experiment. Holt, who recently gave a notable speech on the subject, argues that the American system was fundamentally built on the acceptance of pluralism and the idea that compromise should produce something "good enough" rather than perfect for any single faction — and that the founders gave us a pretty good system specifically designed to channel disagreement away from political violence. The problem, Holt argues, is that the system is now actively making compromise harder. He points to closed partisan primaries as a central culprit: because he faces all voters rather than a narrow partisan base, he's incentivized to build consensus, but most candidates today are forced to pass bizarre litmus tests with base voters and campaign on culture-war messaging rather than the bread-and-butter issues people actually care about. The conversation broadens into the structural and cultural threats Holt sees to a pluralistic society. He argues this era has revealed the long-ignored flaws in American democracy — that we've all taken the system for granted — and makes the case that getting rid of closed partisan primaries, sometimes through ballot initiatives, is one of the most important reforms available, provided it's done in a way that doesn't simply flip parties or states for partisan advantage but instead empowers minority-party voters to act as genuine swing votes. Holt is sharp on education's role in all of this: he worries that the voucherization of schools and the explosion of private schools risk teaching kids in ideological monocultures, and laments the erosion of civics education over the past two decades, noting that public schools deliberately deemphasized social studies after No Child Left Behind. He and Chuck dig into whether pluralism can even be taught or whether it has to be lived in a genuinely diverse place, the difficulty of having a nuanced public conversation about AI data centers, and the housing crisis that Holt argues is not getting nearly enough attention from either the national media or Washington — closing with a concrete look at what a federal housing bill would actually mean for a fast-growing city like Oklahoma City. Finally, skip the reflecting pool… Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of his favorite Washington D.C. monuments & answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Mamdani backed DSA candidates sweep in NY primaries 06:00 Democratic socialists could become the far left equivalent of Freedom Caucus? 06:45 Chuck Schumer likely couldn’t win any Democratic primary in New York 07:30 Dan Goldman lost his primary handily 09:45 Schumer shouldn’t run again, but politicians rarely walk away 10:30 It was a bad night for Hakeem Jeffries, would he survive a primary? 13:30 The left has learned that you can make life miserable for the establishment 15:00 The smaller the Dems majority, the more pressure the left can apply in Congress 15:45 Hakeem Jeffries may not have a clear path to the speakership 17:00 Democrats will have to govern differently if the majority is narrow 19:00 The far left politics play on the coasts, but can it win elsewhere? 21:45 The socialist label doesn’t travel well outside the left leaning cities 23:30 Far-left politics has become intertwined with rise of antisemitism 24:45 Pro-Israel Democrats could become politically homeless 25:45 Big test will be if progressive can win elsewhere 27:45 There’s a real fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic party29:00 Alan Greenspan passes away at the age of 100 30:30 Greenspan always grounded his opinions in data 33:15 It was a treat to know Alan Greenspan personally 41:45 Mayor David Holt joins the Chuck ToddCast 42:30 Was the city in mourning after the OKC Thunder lost? 44:15 Are San Antonio and OKC set to become rival cities? 46:15 The mayor gave a speech about the importance of pluralism 47:00 The American experiment is based on the acceptance of pluralism 47:45 Compromise should result in “good enough”, not perfect for anybody 49:15 The founders gave us a pretty good system to avoid political violence 51:30 Nowadays, the system is making compromise harder 52:15 OKC’s politics mirror the country, went 49-48 for Trump in ‘24 53:45 Won all three mayoral elections with at least 60% of the vote 54:30 Mayor faces all voters rather than closed partisan primaries 55:45 Electoral system needs to incentivize consensus building 57:30 Candidates used to campaign on their ability to work across the aisle 59:00 Messaging from gubernatorial candidates are not bread & butter issues 01:00:15 Candidates are forced to pass bizarre litmus tests with base voters 01:02:15 Can you teach pluralism, or do you have to live in a diverse place? 01:04:00 There are always opposing views that exist even in highly red/blue areas 01:06:15 This era has revealed the flaws/weaknesses of our democracy 01:07:15 We’ve all taken our system for granted 01:07:45 We have to get away from closed partisan primaries 01:09:45 How do you convince parties in power to open up primaries to more voters? 01:10:45 Some states can get rid of partisan primaries via ballot initiatives 01:12:30 The process shouldn’t flip parties or states 01:14:15 Voters in the minority should act as swing votes 01:16:30 Voucherization of schools can lead kids to learning in a monoculture 01:18:00 There’s been explosion in the creation of private schools 01:19:45 There’s been an erosion in civics education the past two decades 01:21:15 Public schools deemphasized social studies after No Child Left Behind 01:23:30 Can the electorate have a nuanced conversation around AI data centers? 01:25:15 Hard for elected officials to go against the NIMBY crowd 01:25:45 Politicians have to argue for the positive trade offs 01:27:00 Bringing in tech and investment used to be good politics, it’s not with data centers 01:27:30 Housing is the issue that’s not getting enough attention from media & DC 01:28:30 What would the housing bill do for you in OKC? 01:29:45 Chuck’s thoughts on the interview with Mayor David Holt 01:32:00 ToddCast Top 5 list 01:33:30 Top 5 historical attractions in Washington DC 01:35:45 Honorable Mention - Mount Vernon 01:37:15 #5 The World War I Memorial 01:38:45 #4 Albert Einstein Memorial 01:40:30 #3 Arlington National Cemetery 01:43:00 #2 Korean War Memorial 01:44:15 #1 Vietnam Veterans Memorial 01:47:15 Ask Chuck 01:47:30 Thoughts on the predictions Trump might not finish his term? 01:56:15 Do leaders rise due to the political moment, or do they make the history? 02:03:00 Does George W Bush’s “go shopping” mindset say something about boomers? 02:09:15 Where would you rank the Iran war amongst top presidential blunders? 02:18:45 Why can’t the country ever deal with long term crises in advance? 02:23:15 How do you manage to juggle your busy schedule? 02:27:15 Does Trump’s leadership style hurt the ability to make peace?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a brutal verdict on the emerging Iran "deal": it's just a worse version of the Obama agreement Trump once tore up, Iran has effectively avoided every stated goal Trump and Israel set out to achieve, and Tehran retains control of the Strait of Hormuz — meaning this is unambiguously a loss for the United States, no matter how the administration tries to spin it. He argues Trump bit off far more than he could chew, that Bibi Netanyahu put his faith into Donald Trump (which never ends well), and that America's standing has been diminished in ways that will reverberate for years. Iran's regime won't be able to repress its own people forever, He notes, but the window to actually topple it during the protests was missed — and Gulf state allies will now be dealing with the Iranians for much longer than they bargained for, having quietly hoped the U.S. and Israel would do their dirty work for them. The political damage at home is just as severe. He cites the Wall Street Journal christening the past seven days as "the week that broke Trump's hold on Congress," with the president now underwater on every single issue, consumer confidence unlikely to recover before the midterms, the Senate unable to fund DHS through reconciliation because Trump makes bipartisan solutions impossible, and his January 6th slush fund producing a backlash that won't go away — with Republican senators visibly wavering. Chuck's verdict on the lame duck arriving early: this is a failed first two years of the Trump presidency, and the stronger his grip on the party, the weaker that party becomes in general elections. He blasts Todd Blanche for turning the DOJ into Trump's personal legal team (Blanche should be impeached, Todd argues, and nothing coming out of this DOJ can be trusted), tears into the long-awaited DNC autopsy of the 2024 loss as paralyzed, tone-deaf, and poorly thought-out — naming Ken Martin as the wrong person to lead the DNC and noting that the simple truth Democrats can't bring themselves to face is that the party is perceived as too liberal in a country with more conservatives than progressives. He flags Mike Duggan dropping out of the Michigan governor's race after his hoped-for contentious Democratic primary never materialized, and Tulsi Gabbard's resignation as DNI proving that the position itself was never really necessary Then, former Marine sniper AJ Pasciuti — author of the new book Dark Horse and host of the Combat Story podcast — joins the Chuck Toddcast for one of the most riveting and clear-eyed conversations about military service, leadership, and the realities of modern war. Pasciuti was 16 years old on September 11th, enlisted at 17, and eventually became the Marine who led the team that killed "Juba" — the notorious Iraqi sniper who uploaded videos of his American kills to the internet to taunt the U.S. military. He walks listeners through the entire hunt: how Marines studied Juba's uploaded footage to identify his patterns, how the team set a trap, how Pasciuti spotted Juba in his hide by catching the glint off the lens of a Sony Handycam, and how he knew within minutes that they'd gotten him — while emphasizing that he may have pulled the trigger but it was an entire team that brought Juba down. Pasciuti reflects on the strange experience of fighting enemies who saw themselves as freedom fighters rather than terrorists, why attention to detail is the trait that weeds out most sniper candidates, and how snipers are ultimately meant to combat the enemy emotionally as much as physically. The conversation broadens into a sweeping meditation on what military service teaches you about America — and where Pasciuti worries the country is heading. He calls the military one of the last bastions of the American dream, where opportunity is real but has to be earned, and argues that a culture promoting service to the greater good over the accumulation of wealth would make America measurably healthier.. Pasciuti is openly worried about political leadership infecting the values of the military, makes the case that empathy must be viewed as a strength rather than a weakness in military leadership, and insists his book is political but not partisan — it's about values. He offers a vital warning that the Taliban proved asymmetrical warfare can defeat a stronger foe, that drone warfare is dangerously dehumanizing combat by reducing casualties to dollars and cents, and that the most important thing any soldier carries home is their soul intact — something he says becomes harder every year as the social contract between America and its veterans erodes. Pasciuti describes seeing fear rather than hatred in the eyes of a dying enemy combatant, a moment that has stayed with him, and explains why he can't support any politician who describes a political opponent as an enemy. He shares his experience running for city council and personally knocking on thousands of doors, his frustration with the financial barriers to entry in modern politics, and his belief that current discourse simply doesn't allow for real dialogue. He closes with the most powerful observation of the episode, made for Memorial Day: the holiday isn't about those who came home — it's about those who didn't — and anyone calling for war should be required to first sit down and have a conversation with a Gold Star family. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine for a thoughtful Memorial Day reflection on how countries honor their war dead — and how the rituals they choose reveal who they understand themselves to be. He traces Memorial Day back to its actual origins in the Civil War and its 600,000 American dead, including the powerful and often-forgotten story of formerly enslaved people who reburied Union soldiers from a mass grave to give them the dignified resting place their country had failed to provide. He explains that the date was chosen not because of a specific battle but because of when flowers bloom, that Southern states kept parallel remembrance traditions for the Confederacy, and that Memorial Day's secondary role as the unofficial start of summer has always made it a uniquely American hybrid of grief and gathering — which, Chuck argues, is actually one of its virtues, because coming together is how communities find common ground. He surveys how other nations approach the same task: WWI created a uniquely Canadian identity around remembrance, Russia centers its V-Day celebrations on WWII triumph as the foundation of national identity, Germany approaches its war dead cautiously and somberly with a deep awareness of historical responsibility, and Japan frames remembrance through loss, peace, and explicit anti-war reflection. His larger argument is that the story and tone of a country's remembrance day reveals exactly how it understands itself — what it celebrates, what it confronts, and what it would rather not look at. He closes with the smallest but most important reminder of the day: you don't say "Happy Memorial Day." He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Pending Iran deal looks like a worse version of Obama’s deal 04:45 Iran looks to have avoided all of Trump + Israel’s stated goals 05:15 Iran retains control of Strait, that means this is a loss for Trump 06:15 Trump is capitulating, and this diminishes America’s standing 07:15 Administration hoping to sweep Iran under the rug in time for the midterms 08:00 Normally, America would be leading Ebola response. Trump destroyed USAID 08:45 Helping with disease outbreaks was about protecting us at home 10:00 Unlikely the Iranian regime will be able to repress their people forever 11:00 Trump bit off more than he could chew and needs an offramp 11:45 Bibi put his faith into Donald Trump, which never goes well 13:00 Trump hires flawed people that could only work for him. Makes them loyal 14:15 Politics infects every decision Trump makes 15:45 Gulf state allies will have to deal with Iran for much longer now 16:30 Missed the window to topple the regime during the protests 18:00 Gulf states were hoping U.S. and Israel would do their dirty work 18:30 Trump was worst possible commander in chief for this moment 19:30 It’s a big loss for Trump, but he had no choice but to end the war 22:00 New polling shows Trump approval tanking, huge generic Dem advantage 23:45 WSJ dubs the past week, “The week the broke Trump’s hold on Congress” 25:00 Trump is underwater on every issue 26:00 It’s highly unlikely consumer confidence will rise before the midterms 27:00 Trump is directly responsible for higher inflation and cost of living 28:00 Senate cannot find way to fund DHS through reconciliation 29:30 Trump makes any bipartisan solution impossible 30:15 Todd Banche is making DOJ Trump’s personal attorneys 31:45 Can’t trust anything this DOJ says. Blanche should be impeached* 33:15 Trump’s J6 slush fund is likely illegal and has GOP senators wavering 34:15 Backlash to slush fund isn’t going away 35:45 The stronger Trump grips the party, the weaker it is in general elections 36:30 The lame duck is here. This a failed first two years of Trump’s presidency 37:15 DNC finally releases autopsy of 2024 election loss 37:45 Ken Martin is the wrong person for the DNC chair. In over his head 38:15 The simple fact of the matter is the party is perceived as too liberal 40:45 There are more conservatives than progressives, need to win the moderates 42:00 Autopsy offering gubernatorial wins as a counterpoint is tone deaf 43:45 Trump’s electoral strength doesn’t translate when he isn’t on ballot 44:30 DNC was in a no-win situation with the autopsy 45:15 Seems like the autopsy was just going through motions, poorly thought out 46:30 DNC is paralyzed, in need of new leadership 48:30 Mike Duggan drops out as independent in MI governor’s race 50:00 Duggan counted on contentious primary & that didn’t happen 52:00 Duggan didn’t want a Republican elected and dropped out 52:30 Tulsi Gabbard resigns. DNI post shown to not be necessary 53:00 The CIA has won the “turf battle” amongst intel agencies 54:30 Gabbard isn’t the first DNI that’s been marginalized. 55:15 It’s easy to eye roll Don Jr & Hunter Biden… Their fathers screwed them up 1:03:30 AJ Pasciuti (Dark Horse) joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:05:30 If you wrote the book 10 years ago, how would it have been different? 1:07:00 You gain extra perspective about “why” when more time has passed 1:07:45 Leadership is currently in very short supply 1:09:45 The book is a love letter and thank you to people who shaped AJ’s life 1:11:45 The military is one of the last bastions of the American dream 1:12:45 Was 16 years old on 9/11 and the attack inspired AJ to enlist at 17 1:13:45 How did you identify that you had the skills to be a sniper? 1:15:15 Gunnery Sgt. Jackson helped set AJ on his trajectory 1:16:00 What is training for a sniper like? 1:17:00 Attention to details is the trait that weeds out most sniper candidates 1:17:45 Snipers have to be self-dependent, must rely on yourself for survival 1:19:00 Snipers are meant to combat the enemy emotionally, scare them 1:19:45 “Juba” may not have been just one enemy sniper & hunted Americans 1:20:15 Juba uploaded videos of sniper kills of Americans to the internet 1:21:00 Watching the videos allowed marines to understand Juba’s patterns 1:21:30 Set up a trap for Juba and Juba fell into it 1:22:30 AJ knew they had killed Juba within minutes 1:23:30 Caught a glint of the lens of a Sony handycam to spot Juba 1:24:45 AJ may have pulled the trigger, but it was an entire team that got him 1:26:15 Marines were shocked that people would fight for a tyrant like Saddam 1:27:00 We viewed the enemies as terrorists, they viewed themselves as freedom fighters 1:28:45 Does the message to the troops today seem different than when you served? 1:29:45 When we send Americans into conflict, it must be for a just cause 1:30:15 There’s a responsibility that comes with having the greatest military in history 1:31:15 Are you worried political leadership is infecting the values of the military? 1:32:15 Leadership needs to project values people are inspired to defend 1:34:00 Military leadership needs to view empathy as a strength, not a weakness 1:35:00 The book is political but not partisan. It’s about values 1:36:45 A culture that promotes services to the greater good is healthier 1:38:30 If the culture promotes service over wealth, we’d be better off 1:39:00 Mandatory service in Israel has helped to bond their society 1:41:30 Service strips away the illusion that we succeed alone 1:42:45 Veterans aren’t easily categorized in their politics 1:43:30 Military provides an opportunity, but you have to earn it 1:45:30 Competitive advantage for the military is to think, adapt & react quicker 1:46:45 Marine culture should create soldiers that are problem solvers 1:47:45 Taliban found that asymmetrical warfare could defeat a stronger foe 1:50:00 We have to better prepare for asymmetrical warfare 1:50:45 The American Revolution was fought with asymmetrical warfare 1:51:30 Drone warfare dehumanizes war. Casualties counted in dollars and cents 1:52:45 War is a chess game, and modern tech has leveled the playing field 1:54:45 Have to avoid being dehumanized by war 1:55:30 Saw an enemy combatant dying, saw fear in his eyes, not hatred 1:56:15 Wrote the book not to glorify war, but to tell the realities of it 1:57:45 The hardest part of coming home was doing so with your soul intact 1:59:00 The social contract with our soldiers must be protected 2:00:15 How are you able to publicly express your experience when many can’t? 2:02:30 Can’t support someone that says a political opponent is an enemy 2:03:30 Tell us about your podcast “Combat Story” 2:05:00 Ran for city council, personally knocked on thousands of doors 2:06:30 Our current politics doesn’t allow for dialogue 2:08:45 There’s a financial barrier to entry into politics 2:11:30 Memorial Day is tough, it’s about those who didn’t come home 2:12:00 Anyone calling for war should have a conversation with a gold star family 2:15:15 Chuck’s thoughts on interview with AJ Pasciuti 2:16:00 ToddCast Time Machine 2:16:30 Every country honors war dead, but don’t do it the same way 2:17:15 Memorial Day was borne out of the civil war and 600k Americans dead 2:18:00 Formally enslaved people reburied union soldiers from mass grave 2:18:45 Holiday is also about who gets remembered in our national story 2:19:15 Date was chosen due to flowers blooming & not a specific battle 2:20:30 Southern states kept remembrance traditions for the confederacy 2:21:15 Memorial Day also marks the unofficial start of summer 2:21:45 Gathering together is an important way to find common ground 2:22:45 Different memorial traditions & rituals in other countries 2:23:30 WW1 created a unique identity in Canada 2:24:00 Russia celebrates V-Day, triumph in WW2 central to identity 2:24:45 Germany remembers war cautiously and somberly 2:25:30 Japan remembers war through loss, peace and anti-war reflection 2:26:15 Other memorial rituals around the world 2:27:45 Story and tone of remembrance days are how countries view themselves 2:28:45 You don’t say “Happy Memorial Day” 2:30:00 Ask Chuck 2:30:15 Isn’t it odd that we know so little about attempted Trump assassins? 2:37:00 Why didn’t Dems lean into “Trump Lie Trackers” more in campaigns? 2:41:00 Does the “Epstein Class” framing feel stronger than the “1%”? 2:45:00 Did “No Child Left Behind” do real damage to civics education? 2:51:15 Does the 2.5 swing in presidential elections show most voters are locked in?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Senator, Tennessee Governor, and Education Secretary Lamar Alexander joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss his new memoir The Education of a Senator and an offer his extraordinary perspective on American politics shaped by five decades in public life — including the surreal experience of being sworn in as governor under emergency circumstances because his predecessor was openly selling pardons for cash and eventually went to prison for selling whiskey licenses. (For listeners absorbing the news of Trump's modern pardon market, the historical echoes are impossible to miss.) Alexander shares stories that capture an entirely different era: how he had to govern in a bipartisan manner from day one to handle the scandal he inherited, how an inquiry surfaced about springing MLK's killer from prison, and how Southern governors of his generation had to drag their states out of the 1950s and into something resembling modernity. Alexander argues that style matters enormously in politics — and reveals that he predicted Trump's presidency years before it happened, because he saw clearly that American politics was being consumed by money and media in ways that disincentivized actual legislating. He walks through his theory of education reform, defends "No Child Left Behind"'s standards-based approach, and offers the wonkish but fascinating idea he once pitched to Reagan: have states and the federal government swap administration of Medicaid and K-12 education. The conversation broadens into Alexander's diagnosis of what's gone wrong with American politics and the path back. He argues that partisan primaries have created more ideologically extreme candidates than the system can absorb, and that people will always find ways around campaign finance limits — meaning the real fix has to be structural. Alexander offers a remarkable assessment of recent presidents: governor is the best preparation for the presidency, Carter didn't understand Washington when he arrived but Clinton did, and George W. Bush was the most "normal guy" of the modern era. He reflects on his famous healthcare debates with Obama (both gave each other notes afterwards rather than playing for spectacle), shares his concerns about state budgets becoming dangerously reliant on vice taxes, and asks the question no Republican can answer honestly anymore: could you propose raising the gas tax in today's GOP? Alexander is candid about Trump's mixed legacy — the party had become ossified and Trump did break it open, but pardoning the January 6th rioters was a profound error because the peaceful transfer of power is the single most important element of American democracy. He warns that we lack genuine two-party competition right now, that the next Republican nominee needs a fundamentally different temperament than Trump, and that the lack of character and morality in modern politics may be dissuading exactly the kind of people we most need to run. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Sen. Lamar Alexander joins The Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Being a senator vs. being a governor 02:30 There are always 8-10 senators that are better than the rest 03:15 Ted Kennedy was an incredibly effective senator 04:45 The governor he succeeded was selling pardons for cash 06:30 The prior governor eventually went to jail for selling whiskey licenses 08:15 There was an inquiry about springing MLK Jr.’s killer from prison 09:30 Had to work in a bipartisan manner on day 1 to handle the scandal 10:30 Southern governors had to bring southern states out of the 50’s 12:45 How would you update & modernize public education? 14:15 Mississippi has had great success emphasizing phonics 15:00 Schools are best governed community by community 15:30 Don’t need a Dept. of Education for higher ed 16:00 Federal money should allow money to follow low income students 16:45 You need advocacy but not management from Washington 17:30 Hard to argue with standards created by “No Child Left Behind” 19:00 If you’re entering politics it should be to accomplish something 20:00 Goal isn’t necessarily bipartisanship, it’s to get a result 21:00 Style matters in politics 22:15 Politics has become all money and media - Predicted Trump as president 23:00 The digital democracy doesn’t provide incentive for legislating 24:30 Money has consumed our politics, how do we fix it? 25:45 NC senate race could be the first billion dollar senate race 26:15 People always find a way around campaign finance limits 28:00 John Kerry was first pres. candidate to spend huge sums of personal $ 29:45 Why couldn’t John Baker get traction but George Bush did? 31:00 Governor is the best job to prepare you for the presidency 32:00 Carter didn’t understand D.C. when he got there, Clinton did 32:45 George W. Bush was the most “normal guy” out of recent presidents 34:30 Debate with Obama over healthcare gave both sides a platform for their views 35:45 Didn’t want to over debate Obama for spectacle, give him notes afterwards 36:30 Proposed states swapping Medicaid admin for K-12 admin to Reagan 37;45 Medicaid was cramping states ability to effectively manage public ed 38:15 Vice taxes have been relied on as a way to pad state government budgets 39:30 Are we too reliant on vices to fund state budgets? 40:45 Could you propose a raise to gas tax in today’s GOP? 42:15 Where is the Republican party headed in the post-Trump era? 43:00 Partisan primaries created more ideologically extreme candidates 45:15 Most national politicians from Tennessee came from eastern TN 45:45 Elements of Trumpism were emerging in early 2000’s GOP politics 47:45 GOP needs to nominate someone with a different temperament than Trump 48:30 Lack of character and morality in modern politics 49:30 Politics has caused ruptures in families, might dissuade good people from running 51:00 Trump has been both good & bad for the GOP - The party had become ossified 52:00 Trump made a major error in pardoning the J6 rioters 52:45 The peaceful transfer of power is the most important element of democracy 54:00 Washington shouldn’t operate on a pay to play basis 55:45 When did you first connect with Doug Bailey? 57:45 What advice did you get from Bailey when you were governor? 1:00:00 Purpose of memoir was to explain the goals he had as a public servant 1:01:15 The republic will survive, but we have work to do to make it survive 1:02:30 We suffer from a lack of two party competitionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd walks through a primary night that should make every elected Republican break out in a cold sweat — Democrats outvoted Republicans by 100,000 votes in Georgia. He argues we now have a fully formed "woke right" — and Trump is leading it. The man who built his political brand on refusing to conform to anyone's mindset has become the most aggressive cancel culture warrior in American politics, ending the careers of Republicans who cross him. The downstream consequences are catastrophic for the GOP: Republicans will now have to dump enormous money into Texas to defend a seat that was supposed to be safe, and Texas joins North Carolina and Ohio as an expensive trio Republicans will struggle to defend. Trump appears either clueless or in denial that he's systematically setting his own party up for massive failure, but Chuck notes a "YOLO caucus" is quietly emerging among Senate Republicans who know they're toast and may act more independently. He closes with a moving tribute to Barney Frank, who died at 86 after 32 years in Congress — the architect of Dodd-Frank, the first openly gay member of Congress, who came out in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis and endured Gingrich-era homophobia that he felt punished him beyond what any straight politician would have faced. Frank's parting message to today's Democrats sits at the center of Todd's episode and arguably explains why the party keeps losing winnable elections: "Don't litmus test yourselves into oblivion." Then. former Senator, Tennessee Governor, and Education Secretary Lamar Alexander joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss his new memoir The Education of a Senator and an offer his extraordinary perspective on American politics shaped by five decades in public life — including the surreal experience of being sworn in as governor under emergency circumstances because his predecessor was openly selling pardons for cash and eventually went to prison for selling whiskey licenses. (For listeners absorbing the news of Trump's modern pardon market, the historical echoes are impossible to miss.) Alexander shares stories that capture an entirely different era: how he had to govern in a bipartisan manner from day one to handle the scandal he inherited, how an inquiry surfaced about springing MLK's killer from prison, and how Southern governors of his generation had to drag their states out of the 1950s and into something resembling modernity. Alexander argues that style matters enormously in politics — and reveals that he predicted Trump's presidency years before it happened, because he saw clearly that American politics was being consumed by money and media in ways that disincentivized actual legislating. He walks through his theory of education reform, defends "No Child Left Behind"'s standards-based approach, and offers the wonkish but fascinating idea he once pitched to Reagan: have states and the federal government swap administration of Medicaid and K-12 education. The conversation broadens into Alexander's diagnosis of what's gone wrong with American politics and the path back. He argues that partisan primaries have created more ideologically extreme candidates than the system can absorb, and that people will always find ways around campaign finance limits — meaning the real fix has to be structural. Alexander offers a remarkable assessment of recent presidents: governor is the best preparation for the presidency, Carter didn't understand Washington when he arrived but Clinton did, and George W. Bush was the most "normal guy" of the modern era. He reflects on his famous healthcare debates with Obama (both gave each other notes afterwards rather than playing for spectacle), shares his concerns about state budgets becoming dangerously reliant on vice taxes, and asks the question no Republican can answer honestly anymore: could you propose raising the gas tax in today's GOP? Alexander is candid about Trump's mixed legacy — the party had become ossified and Trump did break it open, but pardoning the January 6th rioters was a profound error because the peaceful transfer of power is the single most important element of American democracy. He warns that we lack genuine two-party competition right now, that the next Republican nominee needs a fundamentally different temperament than Trump, and that the lack of character and morality in modern politics may be dissuading exactly the kind of people we most need to run. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 Georgia Republican senate race headed to runoff 04:00 Democrats outvoted Republicans by 100k votes in Georgia 05:30 Breakdown of primary results from Idaho 06:00 An independent has a better chance to win in Idaho than a Dem 06:30 Brad Little was able to stand up to Trump & survive 07:00 You can’t oppose Trump and be a Republican in good standing 08:00 We now have a “woke right” that Trump is leading 08:45 Trump’s initial appeal was not having to conform to a certain mindset 09:30 Cancel culture is now Trump targeting any Republican who crosses him 10:45 Republicans can’t oppose taxpayer funding for Trump’s ballroom 11:30 Trump is as defensive about Epstein as he was about Russia 12:45 There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence with Trump/Epstein 13:15 Trump angry that Lauren Boebert won’t drop Epstein 14:00 Ken Paxton’s election denialism is what won him Trump’s support 15:15 Cassidy and Cornyn supported 90% of Trump’s agenda…wasn’t enough 15:45 Elected Republicans know that Trump can end their career in a primary 17:00 It’s Trump’s party but he’s setting it up for massive failure 17:45 GOP senators relieved they don’t have to vote for ballroom funding 18:15 There’s a growing YOLO caucus in the Republican senate 19:15 Republicans will have to spend way more money in Texas now 20:00 Cornyn has raised $400m for Republicans 22:15 Trump seems clueless or in denial that the GOP is set up to fail in the fall 23:45 Paxton is so corrupt he belongs nowhere near political power 24:15 Talarico can beat Paxton, but it will be close 25:00 Trump doesn’t usually spend money that doesn’t help Trump 26:30 Republicans are now playing defense…do they concede NC? 28:30 Texas, NC and Ohio become an expensive trio for GOP to defend 29:00 Several other potential Democratic senate pickups 35:00 Barney Frank passes away at 86, served in congress 32 years 37:15 Dodd-Frank has stood the test of time 37:45 Frank was a barrier breaker as first openly gay member of congress 38:15 Frank came out in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis 39:30 Republicans led by Gingrich used Frank’s sexuality as a cudgel 40:45 Frank felt overly punished because he was a gay man 43:00 Frank had to work in a place where homophobia was rampant 44:00 Frank’s closing message to Dems - “Don’t litmus test yourselves into oblivion” 45:30 Frank was a larger public figure than he gets credit for 49:00 Sen. Lamar Alexander joins The Chuck ToddCast 50:30 Being a senator vs. being a governor 51:30 There are always 8-10 senators that are better than the rest 52:15 Ted Kennedy was an incredibly effective senator 53:45 The governor he succeeded was selling pardons for cash 55:30 The prior governor eventually went to jail for selling whiskey licenses 57:15 There was an inquiry about springing MLK Jr.’s killer from prison 58:30 Had to work in a bipartisan manner on day 1 to handle the scandal 59:30 Southern governors had to bring southern states out of the 50’s 1:01:45 How would you update & modernize public education? 1:03:15 Mississippi has had great success emphasizing phonics 1:04:00 Schools are best governed community by community 1:04:30 Don’t need a Dept. of Education for higher ed 1:05:00 Federal money should allow money to follow low income students 1:05:45 You need advocacy but not management from Washington 1:06:30 Hard to argue with standards created by “No Child Left Behind” 1:08:00 If you’re entering politics it should be to accomplish something 1:09:00 Goal isn’t necessarily bipartisanship, it’s to get a result 1:10:00 Style matters in politics 1:11:15 Politics has become all money and media - Predicted Trump as president 1:12:00 The digital democracy doesn’t provide incentive for legislating 1:13:30 Money has consumed our politics, how do we fix it? 1:14:45 NC senate race could be the first billion dollar senate race 1:15:15 People always find a way around campaign finance limits 1:17:00 John Kerry was first pres. candidate to spend huge sums of personal $ 1:18:45 Why couldn’t John Baker get traction but George Bush did? 1:20:00 Governor is the best job to prepare you for the presidency 1:21:00 Carter didn’t understand D.C. when he got there, Clinton did 1:21:45 George W. Bush was the most “normal guy” out of recent presidents 1:23:30 Debate with Obama over healthcare gave both sides a platform for their views 1:24:45 Didn’t want to over debate Obama for spectacle, give him notes afterwards 1:25:30 Proposed states swapping Medicaid admin for K-12 admin to Reagan 1:26:45 Medicaid was cramping states ability to effectively manage public ed 1:27:15 Vice taxes have been relied on as a way to pad state government budgets 1:28:30 Are we too reliant on vices to fund state budgets? 1:29:45 Could you propose a raise to gas tax in today’s GOP? 1:31:15 Where is the Republican party headed in the post-Trump era? 1:32:00 Partisan primaries created more ideologically extreme candidates 1:34:15 Most national politicians from Tennessee came from eastern TN 1:34:45 Elements of Trumpism were emerging in early 2000’s GOP politics 1:36:45 GOP needs to nominate someone with a different temperament than Trump 1:37:30 Lack of character and morality in modern politics 1:38:30 Politics has caused ruptures in families, might dissuade good people from running 1:40:00 Trump has been both good & bad for the GOP - The party had become ossified 1:41:00 Trump made a major error in pardoning the J6 rioters 1:41:45 The peaceful transfer of power is the most important element of democracy 1:43:00 Washington shouldn’t operate on a pay to play basis 1:44:45 When did you first connect with Doug Bailey? 1:46:45 What advice did you get from Bailey when you were governor? 1:49:00 Purpose of memoir was to explain the goals he had as a public servant 1:50:15 The republic will survive, but we have work to do to make it survive 1:51:30 We suffer from a lack of two party competition 1:53:15 Ask Chuck 1:53:30 Is it possible the U.S. ever defaults on the national debt? 1:57:45 Is there a scenario where states coordinate gerrymandering reforms? 2:01:15 Are Dems in a no win scenario when it comes to redistricting? 2:06:30 Any chance senators like Cornyn or Cassidy could break ranks? 2:11:15 How can you say don’t fight fire with fire to people whose rights are threatened?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, stimulant medication is probably the first thing their doctor mentioned. And if you're trying to figure out whether it's the right choice for your family, you deserve more than a pamphlet published by a drug company. You deserve the full picture - including what the research really shows, who funded it, and the questions the medical model of ADHD hasn't answered. The story most parents get is a tidy one: ADHD is a chronic brain disorder, it's highly heritable, and stimulant medication is the most effective treatment. That story comes mostly from one very influential researcher, Dr. Russell Barkley, and it has shaped how millions of families make medication decisions.  But when you look closely, cracks start to appear - in the diagnostic criteria, in the science, and in the financial ties between the researchers who built the medical model and the pharmaceutical companies that profit from it. Questions this episode will answer What are the DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing ADHD? The DSM-5 requires children to show at least 6 symptoms (5 for adults) that appear "often" across multiple settings. But who decides how often is "often" - and whether a behavior is "inappropriate" - turns out to be deeply shaped by cultural values, not objective measurement. Why are ADHD diagnoses increasing? Research shows that school accountability policies like No Child Left Behind drove significant increases in ADHD diagnoses, particularly among low-income children. In some states, diagnosing a child with ADHD could raise a school's average test scores - creating a financial incentive that had nothing to do with the child's actual needs. What is Russell Barkley's theory of ADHD? Barkley sees ADHD as a chronic, highly heritable brain disorder rooted in deficits in executive functioning. He compares it to diabetes: a lifelong condition requiring ongoing treatment, primarily with stimulant medication. This episode examines both his framework and the places where his own research contradicts itself. Is ADHD overdiagnosed? The evidence suggests yes, in many cases. Diagnosis rates vary by a factor of two to three across U.S. states when there aren't consistent biological or cultural differences between these states. Many children receive a diagnosis after a 15-minute pediatric visit, not the thorough multi-source evaluation the research actually recommends. Is ADHD neurodivergent? Yes - and that framing shapes how a child with ADHD gets supported. The medical model treats ADHD as a brain disorder: something broken that medication needs to fix. A neuroaffirming approach treats it as a difference - and asks whether the environment, not just the child, needs to change. The diagnostic criteria themselves embed specific cultural values about what counts as "appropriate" behavior. Whether your child gets treated as disordered or different depends entirely on which framework their clinician is working from. What is actually happening in an ADHD brain? Barkley frames ADHD as a deficit in executive functioning - the brain systems that regulate attention, impulse control, and behavior over time. But the research on whether stimulant medication repairs that brain development is contradictory, and Barkley himself makes both claims in different videos. What are the benefits of ADHD medication? Stimulant medication does improve attention and reduce motor activity in the short term - but it does this in everyone's brain, not just in people with ADHD. This episode looks at what medication actually does, what it doesn't do, and what the drug company advertising left out. What you'll learn in this episode Why the word "often" in every single DSM-5 ADHD criterion creates a diagnosis that depends heavily on who is observing the child - and what cultural standards they're applyingHow the same behaviors in children in Hong Kong were rated far more severely than those of children in the U.K., and what that tells us about what ADHD is actually measuringThe financial relationships between the most influential ADHD researchers - including Barkley and Dr. Joseph Biederman - and the pharmaceutical companies that make ADHD medicationsWhy ADHD diagnosis rates in states like North Carolina and Ohio run two to three times higher than in California and Nevada, and what school accountability policies have to do with itThe contradiction at the heart of Barkley's medical model: if stimulant medication promotes brain development, why does he say it must be taken for life?How drug company ads used Barkley's and Biederman's research to frighten parents into medicating their children - and the FDA's ineffective responseWhy the scary outcome statistics Barkley cites - including a reduced life expectancy of up to 13 years - don't tell us much about outcomes for real people with ADHDWhat a neuroaffirming approach to ADHD looks like, and why this episode argues that the most important question isn't how to change the child to fit the environment - it's whether the environment fits the child Click here to download the infographic: What You've Been Told About ADHD vs. What the Research Actually Shows Jump to highlights: 01:14 Jen introduces a three-episode arc examining the medical model of ADHD, which positions it as a chronic, highly heritable brain disorder. This first episode covers what ADHD is according to leading researcher Dr. Russell Barkley, how it's diagnosed, problems with diagnosis, and financial conflicts of interest. 06:37 Kids need six out of nine symptoms, adults need five. Each symptom must occur "often" - but there's no objective measure for what "often" means. 10:10 Dr. Barkley sees ADHD as a deficit in executive functioning - the ability to self-regulate over time. It breaks down into inhibition (hyperactive-impulsive behavior) and metacognition (inattention symptoms, which he says are misnamed). 12:37 Dr. Barkley compares ADHD to diabetes, saying it's a chronic condition needing ongoing treatment. Just like you wouldn't expect insulin to cure diabetes, he argues, you shouldn't expect ADHD medication to fix someone's brain so they can stop taking it. 23:30 Barkley says parents might have legitimate reasons for "non-compliance" with training, like family stress. Training may be discontinued while stress is managed. But kids who don't comply get behavior modification - no understanding or flexibility for them. 30:45 Barkley has essentially created a new diagnostic category called Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (marked by daydreaming, lethargy, slowed thinking) even though it's never been recognized by the Psychiatric Association. 35:44 Barkley presents data showing males with ADHD have a life expectancy 6.8 years less than the general population, females 8.6 years less. That's on par with smoking. Outcomes include lower education and income, more substance use, higher suicide rates (three times higher), more accidents, higher obesity and diabetes rates, and higher cardiovascular disease. 43:01 Wrapping up the discussion

In this episode, public school history teacher Gianni joins Breht to trace the historical roots of our current political and economic crisis -- democratic breakdown, endless war, institutional distrust, rising authoritarianism, and deepening inequality -- back through the George W. Bush administration and the early 2000s. Together, they explore the contested election of 2000 and the Supreme Court's decisive intervention, the burial of that crisis in American political memory, the continuation and intensification of neoliberal economics through tax cuts, deregulation, and financialization, the role of No Child Left Behind in reshaping public education along market lines, the rise of neoconservatism and the ideological drive toward the Iraq War, the structural forces behind U.S. imperial policy across administrations, the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and Israeli strategic interests, the 2008 financial collapse and the total lack of accountability for elites, the devastation of working-class communities through war and economic crisis, the transition from Bush to Obama and the limits of liberal restoration, the conditions that gave rise to Trump, and more! Follow Gianni and The People's Classroom on Instagram @thepeoplesclassroom315    Check out his full lectures on YouTube HERE ---------------------------------------------------- Check out our NEW REV LEFT MERCH with Goods For The People HERE Support Rev Left and get access to bonus episodes: www.patreon.com/revleftradio Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Rev Left Radio https://revleftradio.com/

In this episode, Cathy Love and Layland Webb unpack the growing pressure, uncertainty, and strategic questions surrounding Thriving Kids and Foundational Supports for Allied Health Business Owners. Cathy shares why she pulled together a Victorian working party of Business Owners to discuss what is known, what is missing, and what action needs to happen next. Together, Cathy and Layland also reflect on the PRECI webinar, the lack of clear communication to the sector, and the frustration many providers are feeling whilst significant reform signals continue to emerge without enough practical guidance. This conversation also explores Nacre's recent white paper, the risks of waiting too long to respond, and why Business Owners may need to think differently about diversification, decision-making, and future readiness. Topics covered on Thriving Kids, Foundational Supports, sector pressure, and business readiness. The Victorian Thriving Kids working party – Cathy shares how a small group of Allied Health Business Owners came together in Melbourne to discuss what they know, what they do not know, and how a submission is now being shaped for state government. The PRECI webinar and sector frustration – Cathy and Layland reflect on the tension that followed the webinar, including the concerns raised by Business Owners about viability, representation, and the lack of practical answers. What Allied Health Business Owners need to do now – The conversation explores why “wait and see” is not a strategy, the hidden cost of delay, and why diversification and different commercial thinking may now be essential. Resources Mentioned White paper: What the No Child Left Behind report signals for Allied Health Business Owners found in Foundational Supports for Thriving Providers blog Masterclass in April: Foundational Supports for Thriving Providers A 4-day Bootcamp in May for Allied Health Business Owners P.S. If this episode is hitting on pain points you're facing, let's chat. We can support you. Book a 20-minute complimentary call with us, and let's talk about how we can help you achieve your vision for your Allied Health business.Midroll Message: Register for Foundational Supports for Thriving Providers Masterclass Connect with Nacre Consulting: Let's connect on Instagram Follow us on Facebook Let's connect on LinkedIn Join our Facebook Group online community More about The Allied Health Business Brilliance Podcast: The Allied Health Business Brilliance podcast (previously known as Private Practice Made Perfect) powered by Nacre Consulting features authentic conversations that offer real-life stories and expert perspectives for Australian Allied Health Business Owners. Cathy Love, our engaging host, gathers wisdom from Allied Health professionals and industry supporters alike. We dive into the real experiences of running and growing Allied Health businesses in Australia, revealing both the rewards and the inevitable challenges along the way. It's raw, sometimes vulnerable, but always valuable. Join us and stay tuned to keep up with every inspiring story and lesson shared.

“This is a book about my life, about admitting ‘I was wrong,' and about how important it is to say it out loud,” is how our guest today, Diane Ravitch, begins her 2025 memoir, An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else.What follows is her incredible life's journey spanning nearly nine decades, from learning to write as a left-hander using a quill pen at her Texas public school to becoming one of the most influential leaders of the modern conservative American education reform movement. Having spent the first half of her professional life in education policy advocating for national standards, testing, and accountability reform alongside charter schools and so-called school choice programs; as a founder of Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Assistant Secretary of Education during the George HW Bush administration, and serving on the board of the National Assessment for Educational Progress or NAEP (the “gold standard” of achievement assessments), however, as the opening quote reveals, after seeing this vision of education reform in action, she very publicly changed her mind about all of it.‍Diane has now spent the last 15 years vigorously challenging the same education reform movement she helped build. Co-founding the Network for Public Education, and writing several best-selling books critical of testing, corporate influence in education policy, and privatization. “We must have a more generous, contemporary vision of public schools and what they can be,” she writes. “I will use whatever time I have to fight for the ideals I believe in, to love the people who mean the most to me, to do whatever I can to strengthen democracy in my beloved country, and to advance the common good.”An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else (Columbia University Press)

The 2025 Oklahoma Republican Party Platform - Part 2 II. EDUCATION Preamble: We acknowledge our dependence upon Almighty God and ask His blessings upon our students and their parents, teachers, and nation. It is the right and responsibility of parents (hereafter to mean parents and/ or legal guardians) to direct their children's upbringing and education whether public, private, charter, or education by other means without interference, regulation, or penalty from the government. The primary goal of public schools should be to teach proficiency in the basic subjects of phonics-based reading, written and oral communication, mathematics, sciences, history, founding documents, Godly heritage of our nation, critical thinking skills, basic morals, and civics. Locally elected school boards should have the authority to determine and implement all public-school curricula, policies, and procedures for their districts. We demand open accountability from all tax-funded education in Oklahoma. The federal government has no constitutional role in education. A. Philosophy We Believe 1. We believe the traditional family unit, consisting of a (husband) man, (wife) woman, and child(ren) is the foundation of our social structure. The Oklahoma Department of Education and the various 7 Boards of Regents should uphold and teach this definition of traditional family at all levels of public education. 2. We believe individuals should have the right to choose their own education and career tracks. 3. We believe to comply with the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, we favor elimination and complete defunding of the Federal Department of Education. 4. We believe in and affirm the right of students and school employees to the free exercise of religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment, including the right to wear and display religious symbols, voluntary vocal prayer, optional Bible and religious study, religious expression including holidays, and equal access to use of school facilities for these activities. 5. We believe the only flags to be displayed at, or in, any Oklahoma school are the flags of the United States of America and the State of Oklahoma. Students should start the day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, including "one nation under God", and be taught the history of and respect for our United States flag. 6. We believe the K-12 public-school system is for the benefit of children of legal residents of the United States. 7. We believe the responsibility to teach children the philosophy, values, and theology to live by belongs to a child's parents. We Support 1. We support all parents fulfilling their God-given responsibility to educate and raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, free from government control. 2. We support parental access to examine and evaluate all educational and assessment, records pertaining to their children. 3. We support notification to parents that should be clear, simple, and descriptive when any alternative school programs are offered. Active parental consent to opt in must be obtained without repercussion. 4. We support The Ten Commandments being displayed in public schools as a means of moral guidance along with our national motto "In God We Trust" and the Bill of Rights. Public schools shall not prohibit the teaching of the Judeo-Christian worldview upon which our country was founded. 5. We support the recognition of, instruction in, and honor given to men motivated by Judeo-Christian ethics who made great contributions to the development of traditional Western Civilization. 8 6. We support proficiency in math, reading, writing, and other basic skills before computer technology and calculators are used. 7. We support notification of parents of medical treatment sought by students including dispensing of any pharmaceuticals. We oppose mandatory healthcare in public schools, vaccinations for students, and any forced mental health evaluations or prescriptions. We Oppose 1. We oppose the imposition of national curricula, testing, data collection and teacher certification, Common Core State Standards and associated assessments, and federally mandated programs such as "No Child Left Behind", "Race to the Top," Early Learning Guidelines and Core Competencies. 2. We oppose any government required community service condition for graduation. 3. We oppose overt racism by schools in the name of thinly disguised faux efforts to "eliminate racism" which seek to achieve atheist, Marxist, or Socialist political outcomes. 4. We oppose government expansion and control by the use of public tax dollars to fund and interfere with private forms of education. 5. We oppose the teaching of humanist character education programs, such as Social Emotional Learning (SEL). B. Curriculum We Believe 1. We believe that curricula should include the basics: phonics-based reading, grammar, composition, mathematics, government, history, science, spelling, penmanship, geography, and economics. We encourage the teaching of art, music, foreign languages, and sports/physical fitness. 2. We believe parents must maintain their right and responsibility to educate their children regarding sexuality and sexual conduct. We believe sexual abstinence is the only safe way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, and pregnancy. 3. We believe local school boards should exercise their right to choose curriculum and textbooks, including the Bible as a literature or history text, without state limitations. 4. We believe Biblical creation and intelligent design must be taught and must receive equal funding, class time, and materials as other theories such as evolution. 5. We believe the heritage of the United States of America should be taught in public schools and include representative limited government, the lives and beliefs of the Founders, influence of the Bible and religion on our laws and principles, and the concept of free enterprise. We believe students should study directly from the primary founding documents, which teach that the distribution of power is among three branches of federal government and the difference between federal and state government teaching that our nation is a constitutional republic. 6. We believe English, the dominant language of our nation, should be the primary language taught in 9 public schools with other languages only offered as electives. We Support 1. We support curricula that promotes the U.S. national sovereignty and the singing of traditional songs and teaching of patriotic literature in all grades. We respect different cultures, but support prioritizing our commonalities as U.S. Citizens. 2. We support the right of parents to personally observe all classroom instruction, activities, and curriculum choices. 3. We strongly support the teaching of the scientific biologically verifiable X and Y chromosomal definition of male and female at birth. 4. We support teaching the basic rules of finance, such as economics, saving, investing, borrowing, balancing a checkbook, and living within a budget. We Oppose 1. We oppose the portrayal of homosexual, promiscuous, or fornication behaviors in a positive light in public schools. 2. We oppose the teaching of non-chromosomal gender and LGBTQ+ lifestyle, history, and demonstration. 3. We oppose one-world government and global citizenship. 4. We oppose teaching multiculturalism that promotes cultural segregation. We are created in God's image. There is one race: the human race. 5. We oppose the implementation of all revisionist U.S. history in education. 6. We oppose the teaching of the theory of anthropogenic global warming without providing equal time for instruction in the complex systems of geo-physics that cause observable climate change, such as solar variations, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. C. Administration and Management We Believe 1. We believe that all education and management decisions should be returned to the control of parents, elected school boards, teachers, and administration at the local level. 2. We believe schools should protect the privacy of any personal information or data collected on a student or their family. 3. School elections should be on the same date as general elections. 4. We believe security options should be pursued, including but not limited to officers and school 10 employees who are qualified to be armed. 5. We believe teachers, school administrators, and the local school board should work together to set and implement policies that give teachers the freedom and authority to lawfully maintain order, discipline, and safety. 6. We believe teachers should not be coerced to adjust standards for any failing students, including athletes. 7. We believe the Teachers Retirement Fund should be actuarially funded with full public disclosure. We Support 1. We support the freedom of local school boards to hire, direct, train, retain, or terminate any teacher who fails to provide the highest quality of instruction based on merit, not years of service. The evaluation criteria should be determined by local school boards for their school districts. 2. We support extensive background checks of prospective school employees, with the right of local school boards to refuse employment to anyone. 3. We support public independent auditing of all public schools and institutions of higher education in Oklahoma. 4. We support the enforcement of Oklahoma statutes that prohibit teachers from strikes, walkouts, or semblance thereof during the school year by penalizing any district that closes its schools with a funding cut equivalent to the daily payroll and expenses of the district. 5. We support professional development for teachers; however, we believe classes should not be canceled in order for public school employees to attend political conventions, electioneering, campaigning, voting, or union meetings. 6. We support right-to-work laws, which provide all public-school administrators, teachers, and staff the choice to refuse to join or financially support any union, political party, or any other organization. All options are to be made available to teachers, staff, and parents. 7. We support requiring public schools to provide parents the platforms of all educational organizations for which a teacher or staff member is eligible to join. 8. We support local school districts placing year-end excess monies into an interest-bearing account to encourage fiscal responsibility, and they should not be penalized by the State Department of Education for doing so. 9. We support the consolidation of the technical, operational, and administrative resources of school districts, but do not support the closing of individual schools. 10. We support local school board appointed textbook committees to select the state/district funded textbooks and the elimination of the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee. 11. We support the right of parents to determine and guide their children's medical needs including vaccination. Schools must disclose all legal exemptions when making requests. 11 12. We support the independent testing of radiation levels in all public schools with full disclosure of the proven hazards and impacts of radio frequency, electromagnetic, and microwave radiation upon children and youth (e.g.: mitochondrial and DNA damage and destruction). We Oppose 1. We oppose Public School Districts receiving any state funding to pay or collect any employee's organizational and/or union dues by using the payroll deduction system or any other accounting/collection system of the school district to provide centralized dues collection. 2. We oppose the collection by the government of personal information or data on students or their families, aka: data mining. 3. We oppose the designation of public schools as "gun free zones". 4. We oppose the issuance of bonds by school districts to fund operational expenses. 5. We oppose any non-chromosomal sex/gender use of locker rooms, sports team qualifications, or public restrooms. While we support a positive, competitive spirit in all activities, we oppose student athletes competing as anything other than their genetically determined sex/gender. 6. We oppose automatic teacher tenure. 7. We oppose schools requiring access to medical documents, including vaccination/immunization records, for enrollment. All medical determinations should be decided by the parents. 8. We oppose mandatory year-round schooling. 9. We oppose mandatory expansion of public school from birth on; aka: universal childcare 10. We oppose the teaching or presence of any inappropriate, harmful, or perverse content such as sexualized information, pornography, illustrations, or books with this material. 11. We oppose any increased state funding for the government schools. D. Higher Education We Believe 1. We believe higher education is a privilege, not a right. There are many options for education to be explored and determined by each individual. 2. We believe the Constitutional rights of college/university students, including their right to due process, must be protected. 3. We believe the Constitutional right to carry shall not be infringed upon at any college/university in Oklahoma. 4. We believe all publicly funded institutions of higher education should offer curriculum designed to train a student for a viable career path upon graduation. Responsibility for the market need for a specific degree should rest with the institution. 12 5. We believe there should be a required course in phonics for elementary teacher certification, as well as for certification at all levels of reading and language arts. We Support 1. We support the freedom of each individual college/university to hire, direct, train, retain, or terminate any teacher who fails to provide the highest quality of instruction based on merit, not years of service. 2. We support the freedom of each individual college/university to develop its own standards, course curriculum, scholarships, tuition, and fees. 3. We support budgeting tied to comprehensive planning processes with increases in funding directly related to specific goals and objectives listing expected improvements. 4. We support any student being able to use all scholarships, grants, or other financial aid to obtain a degree in the field of their choice, including religious studies. 5. We support strict adherence to the law that requires the majority of the nine-member Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College ("OSU") to be actively engaged in farming or ranching. We Oppose 1. We oppose all Marxist ideology such as Critical Race Theory (CRT), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and all other critical theories. 2. We oppose the enactment of any compelled speech policies forcing students, staff, or faculty at public colleges/universities to use other people's preferred or gender-neutral pronouns. 3. We oppose public higher education funding of one-sided studies intended to prove anthropogenic global warming for the purpose of justifying wealth redistribution 4. We oppose higher education funding and teaching of all aspects of gender reassignment: research, surgery, mental health, and "affirming care". 5. We oppose non-U.S. citizens being able to take advantage of taxpayer-funded scholarships, grants, or other financial aid to obtain a degree. 6. We oppose the requirement of completing and submitting a FAFSA form for enrollment in Oklahoma colleges and universities. III. Government Preamble: The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land and should be interpreted according to the original intent of the founding fathers as explained in the federalist papers. We call for reaffirmation of our God-given rights enumerated in the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Ordinance of 1787: The Northwest Territorial Government, and the Constitution of the United States together establish the exclusive basis 13 of the rule of law for our nation. These Organic Documents supersede all subsequent legislation, judicial decisions, and declared emergencies. Our founding fathers based these first laws on traditional Judeo- Christian ethics and values. We believe these documents are the basis for law, order, and behavior, allowing individuals, including government officials, the freedom to involve God in all activities according to their consciences. We believe all persons are responsible and should be held accountable for their actions. We believe in transparent and honest government with minimal intrusion, providing protection for all its citizens with fair and equitable treatment, enforcement, and justice. We realize without economic freedom there is no political freedom. We believe the greatest incentive for the creation of wealth lies in the respect for private property rights and the free enterprise system as the best and most efficient distribution of resources. A. Financial & Tax Issues i. Budget We Believe 1. We believe all governmental budgets should be balanced by decreasing spending, eliminating fraud, and eliminating duplication of services. 2. We support transparency and audits in government spending. 3. We believe the US Congress should ban earmarks. 4. We believe individuals, families, churches, and private organizations should take responsibility in meeting the needs of the citizens of the community. 5. We believe in a welfare policy that promotes the traditional American family unity, a strong work ethic, and individual responsibility. Those who repeatedly misuse the system, or fraudulently represent themselves shall forfeit further assistance. 6. We believe all able-bodied recipients of welfare and other federal entitlements should be required to work. 7. We believe in the implementation of "sunset laws," "zero-based budgeting," and performance audits to require justification for government programs. 8. We believe designated funds should be spent only for the stated purpose and not placed in the general fund. We Support 1. We support a full and complete public audit of the Federal Reserve System. 2. We support the elimination of barriers to purchase insurance across state lines. 3. We support total state control of Medicaid programs. 4. We support requiring a balanced federal budget, except in times of congressionally declared war. 14 5. We support the repeal or consolidation of federal, state, and local programs found to be non- performing, duplicative, or not authorized by the constitution. 6. We support the elimination of government funding for the Public Broadcasting System, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Public Radio. 7. We support making the Congressional Pension and health care benefits the same as the benefits the citizens use such as private savings, Social Security, and Medicare. 8. We support a requirement that all bills presented in Congress identify the specific Constitutional authorization (Article I, Section 8). 9. We support lowering the national debt by cutting non-defense spending. 10. We support abolishment of the federal minimum wage. 11. We support repeal of federal legislation that requires paying prevailing union wages on government contracts. 12. We support the elimination of funding for Planned Parenthood and other programs promoting or providing preborn baby murder. 13. We support a free market-based public transportation system as opposed to government funding. 14. We support abolishing the Federal Reserve. We Oppose 1. We oppose raising the debt limit. 2. We oppose the use of continuing resolutions to fund the federal government in lieu of passing an annual federal budget. 3. We oppose paying congressional members during any government shutdown. 4. We oppose simply 'printing money' to allow increased spending. 5. We oppose the nationalization of private businesses and enterprises, and efforts to support or subsidize in return for partial or complete control of private enterprises. 6. We oppose federal programs that enlarge the number of US citizens dependent upon government for their basic subsistence. 7. We oppose all congressional pay increases until the federal budget is balanced. 8. We oppose socialized medicine, the Affordable Care Act, or any other nationalized health care system. 15 ii. Taxation We Support 1. We support the repeal of the 16th Amendment, the elimination of the Internal Revenue Service, and replacement of the current tax system based on income with a simple system such as the Fair Tax. 2. We support eliminating taxation on income and property. 3. We support that any tax or fee set up for a particular purpose should be used solely for that purpose or should be repealed. 4. We support lowering or removing the state sales tax on groceries. 5. We support legislation requiring that state lottery funds be applied in addition to, not as a replacement for, state funding of schools. 6. We support requiring all initiative petitions to define the funding mechanisms. 7. We support tax policies that promote personal savings and capital formation. 8. We support the elimination of the marriage penalty, capital gains taxes, the earned income tax credit, the alternative minimum tax, double taxation of dividends, and inheritance tax. 9. We support requiring a two-thirds majority vote by Congress to increase taxes. 10. We support legislation requiring that all state fuel and vehicle taxes and tag fees go to state, county, and local transportation infrastructure. 11. We support reducing fuel taxes, both federal and state for agricultural use. 12. We support abolishing the income tax entirely. We Oppose 1. We oppose the creation of a tax on services as this will negatively impact working families and individuals. 2. We oppose the use of sales tax and use tax revenue bonds for advance local capital improvements. City and county improvements should be authorized only on a pay-as-you-go basis, and should not incur new taxes or bonds. 3. We oppose taxes or other incentives for businesses that encourage the exportation of jobs from the United States to foreign nations. 4. We oppose the use of restrictive fuel taxes for regulation of carbon or particulate matter emissions. 16 iii. Economic Development We Believe 1. We believe in free, open, and fair markets. 2. We believe that Oklahoma's efforts to attract industry should be grounded upon the establishment of a favorable and friendly "economic climate" rather than upon tax and other governmental subsidies to individual businesses. We Support 1. We support the revision of corporate laws and regulations to encourage business and economic development while reflecting free market principles. We Oppose 1. We oppose and discourage government competition with the private sector. 2. We oppose market interference by the government in setting insurance premiums. 3. We oppose public-private partnerships and the use of eminent domain. 4. We oppose governmental efforts to stimulate the economy or bail out troubled entities through massive increases in governmental spending, crushing debt, or massive tax increases. 5. We oppose a temporary assistance package for lenders or borrowers in mortgage foreclosures. The free market should be allowed to work. 6. We oppose the existence of a minimum wage. iv. Social Security We Believe 1. We believe Social Security is a contract with the United States workers and not an entitlement. Taxpayers should have the option of ownership and control over individual Social Security funds, including allowing a percentage of their Social Security tax to be placed in private investments of their choosing. We Support 1. We support repealing the 1993 Clinton tax on Social Security benefits.

Susan Pendergrass speaks with Vladimir Kogan, professor of political science at The Ohio State University, to discuss his new book, No Adult Left Behind, How Politics Hijacks Education Policy and Hurts Kids. They explore why the No Child Left Behind era is increasingly viewed as a high point for academic accountability, how low-turnout school board elections skew decision making away from students, and why policies like four-day school weeks often serve adult interests rather than children, and more. Find Vlad's book here: https://bit.ly/3KQzCJv Produced by Show-Me Opportunity

This week, we're marking a major milestone—Episode 1,000 of The Education Gadfly Show. Instead of focusing on a single topic, we're branching out for a big-picture conversation about the state of education policy—past, present, and future—with Rick Hess and Tom Loveless, the original co-host of the show and its very first guest. In particular, we wonder whether we were too pessimistic back in the No Child Left Behind era, why education outcomes and other social indicators turned south in the 2010s, and how to kick start progress again.Then, on the Research Minute, we're thrilled to welcome Amber Northern back to the show after a long hiatus, as she reflects on what education research has taught us since we started podcasting in 2006—and how its use by policymakers has evolved.Recommended content:SCHOOLED: Learning from Rod Paige, Jim Hunt, and Lou Gerstner —Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham InstituteNow's a perfect time to catch up on episodes you may have missed. From advanced education and measuring school quality to reducing chronic absenteeism, you can find past episodes here:https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/resource-types/podcastFeedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show in 2026? We would love to hear them. Send them to thegadfly@fordhaminstitute.org

Former assistance secretary of education Diane Ravitch discusses her new book, "An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else.”

Hi. It's Part Two of our George W. Bush series! This week, we look at No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, Surveillance, and how Bush's butchering of the law allowed Trump to be Trump. Fool me you can't get fooled again. Hosted by Cody JohnstonExecutive Producer - Katy StollDirected by Will GordhWritten by Thomas ReimannProduced by Jonathan HarrisEdited by Gregg MellerPost-Production Supervisor / Motion Graphics & VFX - John ConwayResearcher - Marco Siler-GonzalesGraphics by Clint DeNiscoHead Writer - David Christopher BellPATREON: https://patreon.com/somemorenewsMERCH: https://shop.somemorenews.comYOUTUBE MEMBERSHIP: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvlj0IzjSnNoduQF0l3VGng/join#somemorenews #GeorgeWBush #donaldtrumpFor a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting http://auraframes.com to get 35 dollars off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat frames – named #1 by Wirecutter – by using promo code MORENEWS at checkout.Pluto TV. Stream Now. Pay Never.Sign up for your $1/month trial and start selling today at https://shopify.com/morenewsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center Margaret Spellings on the state of American education. She reflects on shaping national education policy under President George W. Bush, the push for No Child Left Behind and how school choice and school voucher programs work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Tuesday's show: Think your electricity bill has been high lately? You might be surprised by how much some of your fellow Texans say they're being charged for power, month to month. We examine the findings from a new survey on the financial strain energy bills are putting on Texans.Also this hour: Texas Monthly writer Skip Hollandsworth discusses some noteworthy crimes committed in Texas by women. It's the subject of his latest book, She Kills.Then, Houston native Diane Ravitch was once a firm proponent of standardized testing and school choice, and she was a key figure in President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind policies -- until she changed her mind. We find out why, which she addresses in her book, An Education.And we meet the team behind lo-fi puppets + stuff, who make puppets and practice the art of puppetry in various forms.Watch

Former assistance secretary of education Diane Ravitch discusses her new book, "An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else.”

What if learning could feel like a team sport instead of a pressure test? Lyle "Lee" Jenkins, PhD., a longtime educator, shares how a chance encounter led him to a Deming conference specifically for educators in 1992, which transformed his thinking. Deming emphasized defining learning outcomes, rejecting numerical goals, and avoiding ranking. Lee explains how Deming methods prevent “cram and forget”, celebrate small wins, and rekindle students' natural love of learning. (Lee shared a powerpoint during the episode, which you can find on our website.) TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.3 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today I'm talking with Lee Jenkins, who is a career educator in public school, ending his career as a school district superintendent. It was as a superintendent that he was introduced to the teachings of Dr. Deming, and he has been applying it to his life and work since then. In his business, Crazy Simple Education, he publishes books and schedules speaking engagements. Lee, how you doing?   0:00:38.4 Lee Jenkins: I am doing just great, Andrew. Yeah, this has been fun to put together. And just to highlight, I haven't done this before, just to highlight just simply what Deming taught. We've obviously, over the years added other things, but today we're just talking about what did he teach, just the pure form of it and our implementation of that.   0:01:01.6 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And I think you and I have already met once and gone through this. It's pretty interesting, you know, I think what I enjoyed about our discussion, truthfully, what I liked, was your energy and the energy about the teachings of Deming and how we can apply that. And so I'm looking forward to seeing you bring that to the audience. Now, for those that are listening, we're going to have... Lee's got a PowerPoint and a presentation he's going to share, but we'll walk you through it. It's not like it's full of very complicated things. So, Lee, why don't you take us through a little bit about what you've prepared here?   0:01:38.3 Lee Jenkins: Okay, I can do that, Andrew. I was like anybody else as a school superintendent. I went to a meeting of the Association of School Administrators. I can't even tell you what city or state it was in, but I was there. And while I was in the hallway between sessions, Lew Rhodes, who worked for AASA, he came up and he said, "Lee, I think you'll enjoy this next session." And that's why I've called this, One-Minute Invite That Changed My Life. So I went in and no idea, I just liked Lew. I trusted him. And it was David Langford's an administrator. And that's how I was introduced to Deming and spent a lot of time after that, reading everything I could get my hands on and absorbed it. And I knew that he was correct in how organizations are operating. And so that intrigued me a great deal. But it was the same information that he shared with all organizations. I just took them and applied them to education. But then two years later, in 1992, American Association of School Administrators, under... With Lew Rhodes' leadership, sponsored a Deming conference. So I went to Washington, DC in January that year to hear him speak.   0:03:20.2 Lee Jenkins: We were there four days. He was assisted and was a part of it for two days. And for two days it was him on stage, the red beads, you know, all the things that listeners know about with Dr. Deming. And I would say that the first part of it was the things you would normally expect to hear. Now, understand, the audience here was educators. And I know there were educators sprinkled in his audiences in his whole speaking career. I know that. I wasn't one of them, but I know that. This was one that was specifically for educators. And nobody's told me any other time when he spoke to educators as the audience. So, but just things he'd say that we've all heard.   0:04:13.7 Lee Jenkins: Best efforts are not enough, you have to have knowledge, you have to have theory. He said too, you can't delegate quality. And I had school superintendents doing that all the time. You ask them about, anything about teaching or learning, they say, oh, no, I'm not involved in teaching and learning. I have an assistant superintendent for instruction. In other words, they've delegated quality. Deming talked about wasting time and wasting money in all organizations, and certainly schools are good at that. I'm going to talk at the end of this, how I took it onto one other point which is similar to what he's talked about also. The losses of the current system. He said in one place that, for 50 years... Now, he said this in the '90s, but for 50 years, America has been asking for better education without a definition of what better education is. And...   0:05:10.5 Andrew Stotz: That reminds me of talking to Bill Scherkenbach, who showed a picture of him, Dr. Deming, in the old days at an event of national teachers, and he said they really couldn't come up with a conclusion about what was the aim. [laughter]   0:05:25.9 Lee Jenkins: Yes, right. It's... Yeah, okay. And then he described fear, brings about wrong figures. So what did our government do? No Child Left Behind, which says, you increase your reading scores or your math scores or we're going to fire you. Well, then you get wrong numbers. That's what he predicted, that numerical goals are a failure. I had a discussion with a pastor several years ago and he said, "Our goal is to have 2,000 people in attendance on Easter Sunday." I said, "Okay, what's the best we've had so far?" "It was around 1800." "Okay, what happens if we have 1900 on Easter Sunday, the best ever? What do we do?" Well, it kind of caused him to think, which is my purpose. It wasn't to be critical, it was to get him to think. You could do your best ever but call yourself a failure because you didn't meet this artificial number. And I can hear Deming talking about just pulling the number out of the air. And that ranking is a failure. We rank and rank and rank in schools. I've got a granddaughter in first grade. School has just started. She's student of the month in her class, which means there's 19 failures of the month. I mean, Deming, it's just sad to see that it's still going on. But then Dr. Deming, I don't think it was in... It wasn't in his PowerPoint. Not even a PowerPoint. We had transparencies.   0:07:12.0 Andrew Stotz: Acetates.   0:07:12.6 Lee Jenkins: It wasn't in his transparencies. It wasn't in the handouts. But it's like he went on this little tangent and that's what has captivated my career, his tangent. And it was Dr. Deming, the statistician, talking about the classroom. So I'm going to go through what he said, just as he said, point by point. He said, number one, tell the students what they will learn this year. Now, when I share this with people, they say, oh, yeah, our college professors had syllabuses. I said, no, no, a syllabus is what the professor is going to teach. Dr. Deming talked about, what are they going to learn? They're two different things. What are you going to learn? And you give it to them. And we've done this pre-K, kindergarten all the way to grade 12 and a little bit of work at universities.   0:08:14.6 Andrew Stotz: And how detailed do you go on that? I see you're showing concept one to concept 19. Is it, you know, this is everything you're going to learn, or this is generally what you're going to learn?   0:08:26.5 Lee Jenkins: Well, this is a partial list. So it's the essential.   0:08:31.6 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:08:32.6 Lee Jenkins: I tell people, put down what's essential. Do not put trivia on the list. Now, of course you teach trivia. It's interesting, it's fun, but they're not accountable for it. And so it's what students have been asking for for years. What am I supposed to learn this year? I don't know how to study for the exam. I don't know what's important. I was at a... Doing a seminar for teachers in Missouri. And I said, "I wasn't a good test taker in college. Were some of you?" And a lady raised her hand and said, "Oh yeah, I was really good at it." I said, "How did it work?" She said, "Well, I was in a study committee and by design, half of our time was sharing our insights as we psyched out the professor. And then once we agreed on what was important and the personality of that professor, then we studied that." That's nonsense. Here's Dr. Deming saying, just tell them what you want them to learn, it's so simple.   0:09:47.0 Andrew Stotz: In the world of teaching, we often talk about learning outcome statements at the beginning of a lecture.   0:09:55.6 Lee Jenkins: Yeah.   0:09:56.5 Andrew Stotz: And I know, for instance, with CFA for Chartered Financial Analysts, they have very clear learning outcome statements and then they have a whole section that they teach and it's self study. And then you take an exam. Is that... Is learning outcome statement the same thing or is this something different?   0:10:13.0 Lee Jenkins: I would say it's the same. It's very, very close. It's same in general terms. Exactly. We're not talking about how it's going to be taught, only that it's going to be learned. Okay, the next thing Dr. Deming said to do... And by the way, before we leave, make sure this is a partial list. If I put the whole year's list on there, it's so small nobody could read it on the screen. Okay, next he said, give the students an exam every week on a random sample from the whole course. Said if, for example, you had a 100 concepts on your list, they would take a quiz on 10 of them each week, randomly selected.   0:11:02.6 Andrew Stotz: This is so mind blowing. Go ahead, keep going.   0:11:07.7 Lee Jenkins: Yes, because... So what do we do now in schools? We do cram, get a grade, forget. That's the most common thing in American education. Cram, get a grade, forget. Have a friend in college. He said, "Lee, I've looked at your website. I have a little bit of an idea of what you do. You don't know this about me, but I never studied the night before an exam in college, ever." "Oh, really? What'd you do, Larry?" He said, "Well, I set the alarm for 4 o'clock in the morning. I studied the morning before the exam." I said, "Why is that?" "I couldn't remember it overnight. So I did well in college. I got the grades on the exam and by noon it was gone. But I got through. That was my system." I was at my annual dermatology exam and the medical doctor said, "What do you do?"   0:12:20.7 Lee Jenkins: I said, "Well, actually I get on airplanes and I give speeches." "Ah, who do you give them to?" "Well, teachers and administrators." "But what do you tell them?" "I tell them how to set up a system where it's impossible to cram and forget, you just have to learn." She said, "Oh, that's interesting. That's what I did all the way through medical school." And I'm thinking, here I am with somebody who crammed and forgot all the way through. So I checked with an MD on my next plane flight who I happened to be sitting next to one. I told him the story. He said, "Yeah, that's how it works." I said, "Well, when do you learn?" "Residency." So Dr. Deming didn't talk about cram, forget. But the side effect was, when the students don't know what's coming on the Friday exam, they'll say to me, I just have to learn. There's no other choice. You just have to learn.   0:13:25.8 Andrew Stotz: Right. And then you talk about the... You're talking about the random sample size is roughly the square root of total concept list. I'm thinking about a 15 hour course that I teach and there's 25 concepts that I'm teaching. So a random sample would be 5 of those 25, give them that test. And then the idea here is that we're testing their understanding of that material. And in the beginning, let's just say that random, in the beginning, I haven't taught anything. So they have five questions and on average, let's say they get one right in the beginning because...   0:14:05.2 Lee Jenkins: You'd be lucky if you got an average of one. Yes.   0:14:07.8 Andrew Stotz: So we have evidence that they don't know the topic.   0:14:10.9 Lee Jenkins: Right.   0:14:11.6 Andrew Stotz: And then as we... Let's say we have five weeks and each week we go through, then in theory, if we've taught right and they've learned right, that they would be able to answer all five of those randomly selected questions on the fifth week?   0:14:29.3 Lee Jenkins: That's what you're after. You want them to not have to study, but whatever five is pulled out, they would get it. And if you're teaching a five week course, you might give 10 quizzes during the time, one at the beginning and one at the end of each class. So that because the random, you want them to have questions come up more than once, you want them to have the same question come up. Because that's part of the joy. Oh, we've had that, it's been taught or I've seen that before and it's not 25 questions, it's 25 concepts. Because you can ask it a multitude of different ways to see if they have the concept.   0:15:09.3 Andrew Stotz: And for teachers nowadays, or administrators, they're going to say, what's the point of giving quizzes for topics you haven't taught?   0:15:22.7 Lee Jenkins: That is the most common thing I've been told. Okay. And teachers who have done this for a number of years, sometimes 10, they will say that is the most powerful part of the whole process. Think of it as the synonym for what Dr. Deming taught as review preview. People are used to previews of movies and TV shows and all kinds of previews. And that's what it is. It's a preview. It's not graded. You know, the quizzes aren't graded. That is not fair.   0:16:00.9 Andrew Stotz: You mean they just don't count... They don't count as a grade for the students?   0:16:05.4 Lee Jenkins: Don't count as a... They're scored.   0:16:07.0 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:16:07.3 Lee Jenkins: They're scored...   0:16:08.6 Andrew Stotz: They're scored.   0:16:08.7 Lee Jenkins: But they're not ABCDF on it. Yeah.   0:16:10.3 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:16:11.1 Lee Jenkins: It's just a number, correct. Yes. And so like a geography teacher, excuse me, science teacher, said, "You can't believe what happened to me last Friday. I said to the students, on Monday, we're going to start a unit on rocks. And these are middle school students. And they all applauded." He said, "I've never had students applaud about rocks before." Why? Because it keeps coming up on the quizzes and they want to know. It does that. And then when the students get things right that the teacher hasn't taught yet, then they get, oh, they're really happy. I outfoxed the teacher. I know that.   0:16:57.8 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. You can also imagine it would be interesting if you gave a test and the score was, you know, a four on average out of five, let's say, right at the beginning of the class, you think, wait a minute, they already know this stuff. How did they learn that? Where did they learn that? What am I doing in this class?   0:17:15.1 Lee Jenkins: And see, and one of the things we have to get our heads around is, it doesn't matter how they learn it. The question is, did they learn it? I mean, with AI out, okay, they can... They could do AI... They could find out on their own. They can ask their parents. I mean, there's books, there's the Internet. It doesn't matter. Did they learn it?   0:17:40.4 Andrew Stotz: Yep. Okay, this is great.   [overlapping conversation]   0:17:42.5 Lee Jenkins: So then Dr. Deming said, if you've got 100 concepts, then you'd have 10... It's what he said. You'd be 10 questions a week. So that was in January and in November, I wrote him a letter and we had teachers in the school district already doing this. "Thank you for your kind letter and for the 100 sided die." I had just seen that and they're on Amazon. You can buy a die that's 100 sides. It's like the size of a golf ball. He said "it's exciting. Thank you also for the charts, which I've looked at with interest. I wish for you all good things and remain with blessed greetings. Sincerely yours, W. Edwards Deming."   0:18:29.3 Andrew Stotz: That's cool. And that 100 sided die, that was just saying, if you had 100 concepts, just roll the die and pick whatever ones that land... The 10 that lands on it.   0:18:43.1 Lee Jenkins: Right. Now, I've discouraged over times people landing on 100 because you want essential. So to get to 100, you either have to add trivia to get to 100 or you have to take away essential to get down to 100. So I want people to put down what is it that's essential for their kids to know and when they see them 10 years from now, they still know it.   0:19:10.0 Andrew Stotz: Yep. Okay. So, let's not... We're not going to fixate on 100 is what you're saying.   0:19:14.6 Lee Jenkins: Don't fixate on the 100. But I'm telling what Dr. Deming said as an example. Yeah. And what we did. Okay. Then he said create a scatter diagram. This is not a scatter plot, it's a scatter diagram. So if you look at the bottom left, you can see that... And let me find here, if I can just pointer options. Let's get this. Okay, if you look right here, this is Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Quiz 3. Over time...   0:19:49.4 Andrew Stotz: Okay. So the... Just for the listeners, we're seeing a document that's up here with a 14 quizzes across the bottom. Yep. And then on the Y-axis...   0:20:03.1 Lee Jenkins: And the Y-axis is from 0 to 10.   0:20:06.5 Andrew Stotz: And that's the quiz questions.   0:20:09.8 Lee Jenkins: No, it's... They were asked 10 questions. Yes.   0:20:12.0 Andrew Stotz: Okay. So in this case we can see...   [overlapping conversation]   0:20:12.7 Lee Jenkins: The question number...   0:20:12.7 Andrew Stotz: And then those questions were randomly selected. And then they were put into a quiz format of 10 quizzes, quiz questions. And here we can see, for instance, question number two, four people, I'm assuming, got it right.   0:20:29.8 Lee Jenkins: On quest... This is... On quiz two...   0:20:31.0 Andrew Stotz: Quiz number one, let's say quiz number one, question number two.   0:20:35.7 Lee Jenkins: Quiz one, nobody... One person got zero right. One person got one right. Four people got two right.   0:20:41.7 Andrew Stotz: Okay. Okay. I see.   0:20:42.8 Lee Jenkins: One person got three. Okay?   0:20:44.8 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:20:45.8 Lee Jenkins: These are people for quiz one.   0:20:49.1 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   0:20:50.3 Lee Jenkins: Then this is quiz two. And then this is quiz three. Generally one each week. We've landed on seven times a quarter, because think snow days come up, things happen.   0:21:09.0 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:21:09.5 Lee Jenkins: But so seven out of the nine weeks works. So this is the quiz for a semester.   0:21:16.8 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   0:21:17.6 Lee Jenkins: And the end, at the 14th week, a 14th quiz, I mean, you've got one, two, three, four, five, six. We've got all 10 right. You got four of them with nine, et cetera. That's your Scatter diagram.   0:21:32.2 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   0:21:33.4 Lee Jenkins: Okay. Then he said, do that. Then he said, which I've heard nobody else ever say, add up the total for the whole class. That is unbelievable. Think about it. When an athletic team wins, the players and the coaches celebrate together. In schools, when the final's over, the students celebrate and they do not invite the teacher. Here, every time they are tracking their work, this is quiz one, quiz two, quiz three, four, five, six, seven. It's an interesting one. Somebody put this chart up on a bulletin board, put push pins up and connected with rubber bands.   0:22:24.5 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:22:25.8 Lee Jenkins: Okay. Here's another one where they're learning that the United States states, they have a blank map of the United States. An arrow points to one of the states. They have to write down what state that is. And there they are. And this shows the progress over 18 quizzes. And you can see it going up and up and up. And here's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times, where... And maybe there's another one. But you're... I'm covered... Oh, there is another one. There's nine times that the class did better than ever before as a team of learners. And they celebrate together, the teachers and the students together.   0:23:16.1 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:23:16.7 Lee Jenkins: Look what we did. Then here's another one. This one on the left is from Australia. And I don't know what subject it was. There's no information. But I know that they went out and took a picture of it with one of the students holding it because they were so excited they'd hit the 200 mark after having started out at 65.   0:23:41.3 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And for the listeners, we're... Basically Lee's showing different run charts of the number correct, starting from quiz number one all the way through to the final quizzes. And the number is going up and to the right showing that the process of learning is working.   0:24:03.4 Lee Jenkins: Yes. And this one here is spelling. We know that spelling doesn't... Spelling tests don't work. It starts in first grade. It's the classic cram on Thursday night if your mom makes you, take the test on Friday, forget on Saturday. So here is a classroom with 400 spelling words for the year. They're all put in a bucket and 20 are pulled out each... 20 are pulled out each quiz at random. And you can see they're learning the words. Now, sometimes people think that we teach at random. You don't teach at random. You teach logically.   0:24:40.1 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:24:41.2 Lee Jenkins: But the random is giving you accurate information. Are the students actually learning it and not just playing the game. And here's a... You want students to do the work as much as possible. They're your student. That is when you see the coloring and the art, the creativity. Yeah, that's... You want to hand that over to kids to do as soon as you can. And here's one. A French class out of Canada. This is a Spanish class, a third year Spanish class. And the teacher has written that ABC, ABC, ABC, because the teacher had three different quizzes all for the same concepts. So they got quiz A, one week. Quiz B the next time. Quiz C the next time. Whatever, random numbers, but then she had three different complete sets of questions for each of the concepts.   0:25:37.0 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:25:39.6 Lee Jenkins: Oh, I love this one here. The class had 69 correct, then 108, then 128 right as a class. Then they slumped. One, two, three, four, five, six weeks they slumped and they ended up 129 correct as a class. One more than ever before. The kids are thrilled. If you don't count it up, you'll never know that as a teacher. You'll never know it.   0:26:07.3 Andrew Stotz: And you wouldn't know your progress relative to your past class.   0:26:11.2 Lee Jenkins: You would not.   0:26:12.0 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:26:12.8 Lee Jenkins: And so I can't tell you how many teachers have told me, when they have a... The class has an all time best by one or two, a student in the class who's been struggling will stand up and do a chest pump and say, it was me.   0:26:27.6 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:26:28.8 Lee Jenkins: If it hadn't been for my correct questions, which were few in number, but hadn't been for mine, the class wouldn't be celebrating. Yeah, we all understand that, if you're a poor athlete, you're on the basketball team and you're on the bench and the coach decides to put you in for a little bit. The other team fouls you because they know you're not a good athlete. But you make the free throw and the team wins by one.   0:26:57.3 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:26:57.6 Lee Jenkins: You don't hang your head and say, we only won by one. No, you and everybody knows you're the one that made the point that counted, yeah, it's the same thing. And I've wrote this, it's so important. But sports teams celebrate together, coach and athletes, with class run charts, teachers and students celebrate together. So since 1992, we have subtracted nothing from Dr. Deming, what he taught. We've added some clever additions. The little dots on there that say all time best, that's an addition. We changed it from every week to almost every week. And if we have a chance to do another podcast, I will focus on all the things we've added that are so creative, that have come mainly from students. But what Dr. Deming said, and I'm estimating it was three to five minutes, that he shared and they went back to his normal program and it just impacted me. I couldn't believe it.   0:28:15.7 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:28:17.9 Lee Jenkins: On the website, Crazy Simple Education, there are free blank graphs. So if anybody's interested in what I'm talking about, there's... If you're... And you'd have to look at, if I'm adding... If I'm asking five questions a week, then there's question... There's graphs for that. If I'm asking 20, there's... They're all there. And other things.   0:28:36.6 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:28:39.6 Lee Jenkins: So there's kind of just my little bit of the bio, but it's already been shared. And then on the website, if anybody's interested after over 25 years, what would be the most detailed information of Dr. Deming it's in this book. But you're going to get that information in the future anyway. But I'm just saying, it is there.   0:29:10.9 Andrew Stotz: And just for the viewers, that book, go back to the book for a second. For the listeners, it's called the Essential Navigation Tool for Creating Math Experts, Numbers, Logic, Measurement, Geometry.   0:29:24.0 Lee Jenkins: It has the actual quizzes for grade five, the 28 quizzes for the year. They're there.   0:29:31.2 Andrew Stotz: Right. Right. Amazing.   0:29:33.0 Lee Jenkins: It is superbly put together. Each of the concepts in grade five is assessed seven times. Each of the grade four concepts are assessed twice during the school year. And each of the grade three concepts are assessed once during the year.   0:29:53.5 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:29:54.0 Lee Jenkins: So you don't have to waste the first month or so going over last year. You just start the new content and the review is built in.   0:30:02.4 Andrew Stotz: Yep. Okay. And for the listeners and the viewers, we're not trying to sell this stuff. What we're trying to do is show it as an example of the things that you're doing, which is great.   0:30:12.6 Lee Jenkins: Yes. Yeah. It just shows what can be done with the simple concepts.   0:30:18.5 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:30:18.8 Lee Jenkins: And this is one example. Yes. And so then Dr. Deming talked about waste. And he also said that graphs have to be long and narrow. So here's my long and narrow graph on waste. I asked 3,000 teachers, five different states, just what grade level do you teach and what percentage of your kids love school? Okay, well, kindergarten teachers said 95% of their kids love school. First grade said 90%, second grade said 82% love school. And it goes down every year. It gets fewer and fewer kids love being in school until we get a low of 37% love school in grade nine. It ticks up slightly in grades 10, 11, and 12. But I show this to people, the most common answer I get is, well, of course it went up in grade 10, 11, and 12. I dropped out of high school. They didn't count me.   0:31:25.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, yeah.   0:31:28.6 Lee Jenkins: So, but, so the biggest waste in education is the love of learning kids bring to kindergarten. Much more damage caused by that than wasting time and money. That the kids have all the motivation they need for life in that five-year-old body. It's not our job to motivate...   0:31:52.4 Andrew Stotz: And then we flush it out of them.   0:31:52.4 Lee Jenkins: Yeah. It's not our job to motivate them. It's the job to maintain it. So I'll tell you a story of a good friend that I worked with from the very beginning. I mentioned that when I had the note that went off to Dr. Deming. And after we'd just gotten started, he's still teaching grade eight science. He has five periods of science. He says every year, the first day of school, three, four, five eighth graders come to him each period. And they say, "Just so you know, Mr. Burgard, I hate science." So he says to them, "Oh, that's interesting. How long have you hated science?" The kids say the same thing every time, "I always hated science." He says, "You know, actually, that's not true. You loved everything in kindergarten. Tell me your story." And they tell the story. Well, I was in grade three or I was in grade five, whatever, they tell their story. He says, "Okay, here's the deal this year, I'm not going to motivate you to learn science. What I am going to do is to try to put you back the way you used to be. We're going to put you back with the mind of a kindergartner loving learning. That's what we're going to do." Because they... Everybody has stories on what happened to them.   0:33:23.4 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:33:24.3 Lee Jenkins: So I would conclude this part by saying, I am forever grateful to Dr. Deming. My younger son went to the Deming Scholars Program with Joyce Orsini and he graduated. I got to meet both Diana and Judy Cahill, and they were helpful. Kevin just been helpful to me. Kevin Cahill, the grandson, David Langford, I met with him in-person probably 20 times. All encouraging. Jake Rodgers now is the reason why we're here. And of course you, Andrew. So there's so many people to be grateful to that have encouraged me along this journey, in addition to several thousand teachers who send me their stories and their pictures of their graphs, thanks.   0:34:14.1 Andrew Stotz: Fantastic. That's quite a story. And I just love those lessons that you've gone through. I'm going to stop. Is it okay if I stop sharing the screen? I'm going to do that myself here. Is that okay?   0:34:27.9 Lee Jenkins: Yes.   0:34:28.4 Andrew Stotz: Okay, hold on. Don't do anything there. Okay, now I see you, you and me. I want to wrap up because I think that was a great presentation. A lot of things that I'm thinking about myself. But I did have one question for you that I... I'm not sure what to do. One of the things that I've found with teaching is that sometimes my students, they have a hard time focusing. And so when I tell them, okay, you need to read chapters one, two and three before we meet the next time, let's say short chapters. And then they find it's hard for them to stay, they're like, ah, I'll do it later. So they really haven't covered the material. Now, if I give them, if I say, you need to read chapters one, two and three, and I'm going to have a short quiz on chapters one, two and three, and I'm going to give you quizzes every time that we meet, not as an objective to score your work, but as an objective to help you keep focused. And then I do that, let's say five times, and then I take the two best scores and I drop the rest, so, it shows that they did it. And I find that my students, they definitely do... They stay up on their work with it. So my question is, how do I incorporate this, which is really an assessment of the learning in the class with that, or do I need to drop what I'm doing with my quizzes?   0:36:00.6 Lee Jenkins: Okay, we're really talking about the difference between them intrinsically wanting to learn it and being pressured to learn it.   0:36:13.8 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:36:14.0 Lee Jenkins: In a sense. Okay? Now, one of the parts I did not share that could be for future. But the students do graph their own work. Dr. Deming didn't talk about that, but that was... I just focused on what he taught. They graph their own work. And then there's the graph for the whole class. They want to know if they have a personal best. They care about that at all grade levels.   0:36:41.8 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:36:42.4 Lee Jenkins: When I... My work is with teachers and if it's a two-day seminar, there's three quizzes, day one and three, and three more quiz, two, day two. There's... You see them, high five. They're teachers. They got... They did better than ever before. Other people are congratulating them. They're so happy. And then at the table where they... Because they usually sit about six or eight at a table, they can see their table did better. There's a chart up on the wall, that's everybody in the room. It might be 200. And altogether we did better than ever before. They care about that. And so kids...   0:37:29.6 Andrew Stotz: Okay so from that, do I take from that drop the quiz that I'm doing and replace it with what you're talking about and get them excited about that and then they'll do their work naturally.   0:37:41.3 Lee Jenkins: Because they don't want to let the team down.   0:37:45.7 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:37:46.1 Lee Jenkins: Okay?   0:37:46.5 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   0:37:47.7 Lee Jenkins: One of Dr. Deming's story for business was, a businessman came, listened to him and he had salespeople on commission. He went back after hearing Dr. Deming and he said, I'm not going to pay everybody their individual commissions anymore. We're going to put all the commissions in a bucket and everybody gets the same amount. So what happened? The best salesperson quit and the company sales went up because everybody wanted to help the team. They couldn't... They didn't want to be the freeloader. They wanted to contribute. But when you think, oh, that person always gets the free trip to Hawaii. I'll never get that. It's not motivating. It's demotivating.   0:38:37.7 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:38:38.4 Lee Jenkins: And so they want to help. My only time that I know about a good experience in college, was a professor teaching masters students. And he taught the same class on Monday night and Tuesday night. They were doing research methods from all departments on campus. He gave the quiz on Monday night and then the same goes on Tuesday night. And students, they're taking night classes. They don't come every time, things happen in their lives. So it used to be if a student said, I can't come next Tuesday night, they just wouldn't come. Now they say I can't come next Tuesday night, is it okay if I come on Monday, if I do that and take the quiz, will you put my score on the Tuesday night group? Because they don't want to let their team down. Here they are in their 30s and 40s and 50s, getting their master's degree and they care about... So it's... And then something else we haven't talked about, that we have graphs for the school. It's the whole... It's the school-wide graph. And every teacher has to turn in the total for their classroom for whatever subject they're doing it with by a certain time. And then there's a graph in the hallway for the whole school. Teachers you're not going around the clipboard and inspecting the teachers to make sure they turn it in. No, they do turn it in because they want to help... They don't want to let the team down.   0:40:06.4 Andrew Stotz: Right, right. Okay, I got it. All right. Is there anything you want to share in the... In wrapping up?   0:40:16.0 Lee Jenkins: I would say that you will get the question, how can you assess them on things that you haven't taught yet? And the answer is you don't grade... You don't give them a letter grade for it.   0:40:28.6 Andrew Stotz: Yep. So you're assessing their knowledge. You're not scoring that assessment.   0:40:34.3 Lee Jenkins: Yes. Yes. And you will have more fun than you can believe from Dr. Deming's simple concept, no matter what age you're teaching, no matter what subject, you will love it.   0:40:48.8 Andrew Stotz: It's brilliant. It's brilliant because it shows that the teacher cares, that first the teacher says, I know what I want to get you guys to learn in this semester as an example. And it's very clear. And I want to know that you're learning it.   0:41:08.5 Lee Jenkins: Yes. And actually, the hardest part for teachers is to write down on a sheet of paper what they want them to know at the end of the year.   0:41:15.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. It forces a lot of structure onto you to have to think ahead of time, what do I... What exactly do I want here? You can't... What you're talking about is really clarifying the learning outcomes.   0:41:28.7 Lee Jenkins: Yes. You can't just say one... Stay one chapter ahead of the kids.   0:41:32.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:41:33.2 Lee Jenkins: No, you got to know upfront what it is, and that's hard. That takes time. And you revise it. At the end of the year, you'll say, why did I put that dumb one on there, everybody knows that. Oh, I left off something else that was really important. Why didn't I put that on there? Well, every year you will tweak it, but you're not starting over again, ever.   0:41:54.0 Andrew Stotz: One of the interesting things that I can do is, I have my valuation masterclass, which is an online course, and it's a 12-week course. And I do it, let's say roughly three times a year. So I've got a great data set there that I rep... You know, my repetition is not annual. It's three times a year. I even may do it four. But the point is that, you know, I can just repeat, repeat, repeat, improve, improve, improve, and then show them as...   [overlapping conversation]   0:42:20.1 Lee Jenkins: You can... You got a perfect model.   0:42:21.1 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:42:21.4 Lee Jenkins: Yes, you can.   0:42:22.4 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. No, that's exciting. Okay, well, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, I want to thank you, Lee, for joining us and sharing your Deming journey and just a very tiny interaction with Dr. Deming and what he's teaching, that you've expanded into something to bring that joy in learning. So I really appreciate that. And ladies and gentlemen, this is your host, Andrew Stotz. And I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming and I'm going to tweak it a little bit for education because he said, people are entitled to joy in work. And I think today what we're talking about with Lee is that, people are entitled to joy in education.   0:43:04.9 Lee Jenkins: Absolutely. They are entitled to that. Absolutely. Yes. Thank you.

Subscribe:Spotify|TuneIn|RSS Michael Hernandez is changing the narrative as an award-winning educator, best-selling author, education consultant, and international speaker. He helps individuals and organizations adapt and thrive in a changing world. Michael is an Apple Distinguished Educator, PBS Digital Innovator, and National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. Michael’s work focuses on authentic learning in the age of AI, digital and civic literacy, creativity, and innovation. Your WHY about Changing the Narrative This is a challenging moment in education. I’m doing my best to help teachers and education leaders navigate these challenges. Educators diagnose problems, such as academic integrity, in the age of AI. However, kids aren’t showing up to school, physically or intellectually. There has been too much focus on standardized test scores, the drill and kill mindset, and data-driven processes. Instead, we need to focus on human-centered experiences. But I don’t see many people offering solutions. That’s where I’ve decided to focus my energy. Students can create nonfiction multimedia research projects as an alternative to tests and worksheets. It just builds on what teachers already do best and what they know to be good pedagogy. When students have agency, when they can work on projects they care about, and when all of the hard work we ask them to do has a point, they’ll put in the effort and get excited about learning. They won’t want to cheat if the experience is rewarding and has an impact. Even kids as young as kindergarteners can have agency and impact their communities beyond the classroom. My WHY is to help educators design assignments that maintain rigor and address standards, but in ways that are meaningful to students and help teachers make the case for why their curriculum matters. How Changing the Narrative Affected You Growing Up I come from a family of educators–both of my parents, two aunts, and my uncle were educators. My brother is a college professor and research scientist. I guess learning is in my blood. I grew up in Central California, the son of a migrant farm worker who was the first in his family to graduate from college, so I have the experience of understanding why a quality education is important. I was fortunate to have some incredible teachers growing up, from elementary through college, who shaped who I am and my teaching philosophy. In fact, many of them are in the acknowledgements section of my book. The main thread is that they were all creative and none of them stuck to the rules. Even though they asked us to work hard, we had fun, and school was joyful. Fun and joy are the key pieces that have been sucked out of education in the U.S. ever since No Child Left Behind. The metric of success became a test score, not a tangible product or observable outcome. It’s not surprising that student engagement has been decreasing for years, long before the pandemic and cell phones. Your Story of Changing the Narrative as an Educator As I said, both of my parents were educators, so I should have known better than to become one! I was finishing graduate school in film and realized that I had student loan debt. I was going to be a production assistant, hunting for jobs. I should have thought that career path through a little better! Then I heard about a school district starting a film and journalism program, so I applied, and they hired me. It was a 5-year plan to pay off my student loans. I foolishly thought I could work on my own projects in all the spare time that teachers have! I just completed year 26 of the five-year plan! I was able to share my passion for film, journalism, and storytelling with thousands of students–many of whom are working in the industry. It’s so rewarding to open eyes to new possibilities, and students found their “thing.†It wasn’t math, or history, or science. We can’t all be novelists or engineers. It’s crucial to honor everyone’s individuality and potential, and offer students experiences that empower them to discover their way. Now that I’ve left the classroom, I’m focusing on helping schools and districts adapt and thrive in these challenging times by taking my knowledge of teaching and deep empathy for teachers to help others find success in meaningful ways. I support schools through keynote speaking, leading professional development experiences, and working alongside leadership teams. I’m still a teacher; however, I get to have more impact than if I stayed in my own classroom. Book: Storytelling with Purpose: Digital Projects To Ignite Student Curiosity I published my book, “Storytelling with Purpose, through ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). It is a practical handbook and guide to solving these problems by designing authentic learning experiences. This has been my passion project for the past few years. I wanted to write a book that I wish I had when I started teaching or even mid-career. The title might be a little deceiving. Many educators don’t think they teach storytelling, especially if they teach math, history, or science. We always ask students to tell the story of their learning. We even say “show what you know†or “show your work,†and that’s exactly what the book helps teachers in every grade level and subject area accomplish. We demonstrate how to use multimedia research projects as a scaffold for their curriculum. So instead of a worksheet, a test, or a report that all end up in the trash and are cheatable by design, we challenge students to create an explainer video, publish a digital book, or an infographic. All of these are one-of-a-kind products that let students have agency and voice, and can be published publicly, which empowers both impact and accountability. Link to Storytelling with Purpose: https://www.amazon.com/Storytelling-Purpose-Digital-Projects-Curiosity/dp/1564849961/ It was important to me to make my book evergreen. There are many books about AI and specific tech tools, but I wanted this book to be device-agnostic and about pedagogy rather than a single tool. Apps come and go, but good teaching is forever. A highly readable and hugely helpful guide for teachers!â€~ Ken Burns Many teachers around the world are using it for professional development training. I recently led a five-hour pre-conference workshop at ISTE/ASCD this summer with teachers from at least 10 different countries. I am fortunate to have endorsements for my book from Ken Burns and Seth Godin. Just in time! This is a pedagogical and practical guide for teachers ready to take learning to a new level. ~Seth Godin Consultant and International Speaker on Changing the Narrative I enjoy working with educators, learning from them, and sharing possibilities to spark new ideas in their learning spaces. I used to focus on edtech tools since that’s where I got my start speaking at CUE (now CALIE) and ISTE. I’ve expanded my workshops into areas like assessment, digital and civic literacy, innovative teaching, and learning practices. I think that matches the evolution of technology, that it’s integrated into our lives. It seems almost artificial to focus on it in a silo, and out of the context of everything else we need to do in schools. Social-emotional wellness, assessment, inquiry, curiosity, creativity, and all of these are tied to our relationship with technology and how we as educators prepare students to be successful outside the classroom, not just on a test. One of the central ideas in my consulting work and writing is about reminding ourselves what school is for in the first place: to develop good citizens. No one takes tests or writes 5-paragraph essays. When our students are out in the world, when no one is looking, and there’s no grade on the line, can they vet a source of information so they know how to vote or what medicine to take? Are they capable of giving and receiving constructive feedback? These are the traits of good citizens in a democracy. It’s up to us as educators to help our students become intellectually agile and emotionally resilient. We can’t do that with tests and worksheets. Your Podcast: Change the Narrative This is a funny story. When I chose the idea for my book, I started researching how to publish it. One of the recommendations was to build an audience before you publish. So I started publishing my newsletter in 2018. A friend liked it a lot and suggested that I turn it into a podcast. So I did! Then, two years later, I finally got around to working on the book. But it’s a fun series. I average one season per year, and the topics change depending on what interests me. The topics are like innovation, storytelling, book publishing, and reflections on my expedition to Antarctica as a Lindblad/National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. I haven’t decided on my theme for 2026, so I’m open to any suggestions! Podcast, Change the Narrative: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-the-narrative/id1455984465 Fostering a Culture of Academic Integrity in the Age of AI AI is definitely top of mind for many educators, especially anyone who relies on writing as their primary means of assessment. Honestly, this affects everyone, from math teachers to science teachers, and even me as a photography, filmmaking, and journalism teacher. Students can literally generate high-quality images, video clips, and audio podcasts with just a prompt. It’s easy to see AI as a threat to our livelihoods and feel a sense of existential dread. What does it mean to teach and learn anymore? I’m actually optimistic about it. I think AI is a gift. It has reminded us of what matters most in learning: originality, individuality, creativity, and having a purpose for our work. Artificial intelligence isn’t the problem; it’s artificial assessment. Much of school is based on teaching mechanics, and because standardized tests focus on that, we don’t teach or learn for fun or create rewarding experiences. The latest statistics show that fewer people read, and most students in school don’t even complete an entire novel in their language arts classes. We’ve drained humanness from school. This is why I’m excited about AI. If a tool can do the mechanical and clerical work for us, we can then focus on ideas and purpose. It’s forcing us to focus on the “why,†not just the “how.†It’s really disheartening when I see schools revert to in-class hand-written essays or spend tens of thousands of dollars on cheat detection software that is ultimately flawed. What does that say to our kids about what we think of them? Policing students and creating an antagonistic culture is a surefire way to make kids unhappy, and they may not show up. And if they do show up, they are not putting their best effort into their work. Cheating has always existed, long before AI, Google, and cell phones. There are two main reasons why students cheat: by incentive and by design. If we remove the incentive to cheat, we’ve solved 90% of the problem. And if our assessments only have one right answer that everyone is supposed to share at the same time, we’ve set ourselves up for failure. Online Course: Uncheatable Assessments In my online course, Uncheatable Assessments, I help teachers focus more on process and product rather than on memorization and compliance. And we learn to design assignments that result in original, one-of-a-kind artifacts that students want to complete After I published my book, I heard that people were interested in the chapter on using multimedia research projects as a type of authentic assessment. There was a demand for this topic in my workshops. So, I produced an asynchronous course that was flexible for busy educators. They didn’t need to fly to a city to attend a conference, and can fit in the modules when they have time, like during a prep period or after school. There are about 4 hours of video instruction, a 75-page downloadable workbook, and there’s even an option to earn three continuing education units from Loyola Marymount University for salary advancement or required professional development. There are volume discounts for school districts to make it more feasible for educators. Link to course, Uncheatable Assessments https://storytelling-with-purpose-learning.thinkific.com/collections/courses-for-educators Online Course: Slidefluence Everything is moving to video right now. Teachers have lectures recorded, and businesses engage with customers and clients on websites and social media. Just look at TikTok and Instagram. There’s really no way to learn how to do that well. I decided to create an affordable, all-in-one course to help folks learn to be effective video storytellers. I’m really excited about it, and I’m in the middle of editing it right now. Essentially, the course will show you how to transform slide decks into dynamic videos that help you teach, persuade, and win people over. Entrepreneurs can pitch their product to funders, Businesses can create a library of content for customers, Sales teams can make the case for their results more clearly, and, of course, educators can create engaging direct instruction to help learners of all abilities and in multiple locations. I talk about finding focus for the story, writing a narration script, designing slides, and recording and publishing the videos. Online course, Slidefluence: https://www.michael-hernandez.net/slidefluence.html Michael’s Contact Information LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hernandez-21a8195/ Personal Website: https://www.michael-hernandez.net/ Website: https://www.storytelling-with-purpose.com/ Instagram: @changing.the.narrative Email: cinehead3@gmail.com ***** I am grateful that Michael joined me on my virtual porch. I have known and followed Michael for a long time. We’re both from California, so I met him earlier at CUE and then again at SXSW EDU 2 years ago when he launched his book. It was fun to connect on Zoom and see Michael sharing how he’s so passionate about helping educators make learning meaningful and assessments uncheatable. I hope you connect and follow Michael. Please share this post and podcast with your friends. ***** The post Changing the Narrative with Michael Hernandez (EP177) appeared first on Barbara Bray.

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS Michael Hernandez is changing the narrative as an award-winning educator, best-selling author, education consultant, and international speaker. He helps individuals and organizations adapt and thrive in a changing world. Michael is an Apple Distinguished Educator, PBS Digital Innovator, and National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. Michael's work focuses on authentic learning in the age of AI, digital and civic literacy, creativity, and innovation. Your WHY about Changing the Narrative This is a challenging moment in education. I'm doing my best to help teachers and education leaders navigate these challenges. Educators diagnose problems, such as academic integrity, in the age of AI. However, kids aren't showing up to school, physically or intellectually. There has been too much focus on standardized test scores, the drill and kill mindset, and data-driven processes. Instead, we need to focus on human-centered experiences. But I don't see many people offering solutions. That's where I've decided to focus my energy. Students can create nonfiction multimedia research projects as an alternative to tests and worksheets. It just builds on what teachers already do best and what they know to be good pedagogy. When students have agency, when they can work on projects they care about, and when all of the hard work we ask them to do has a point, they'll put in the effort and get excited about learning. They won't want to cheat if the experience is rewarding and has an impact. Even kids as young as kindergarteners can have agency and impact their communities beyond the classroom. My WHY is to help educators design assignments that maintain rigor and address standards, but in ways that are meaningful to students and help teachers make the case for why their curriculum matters. How Changing the Narrative Affected You Growing Up I come from a family of educators–both of my parents, two aunts, and my uncle were educators. My brother is a college professor and research scientist. I guess learning is in my blood. I grew up in Central California, the son of a migrant farm worker who was the first in his family to graduate from college, so I have the experience of understanding why a quality education is important. I was fortunate to have some incredible teachers growing up, from elementary through college, who shaped who I am and my teaching philosophy. In fact, many of them are in the acknowledgements section of my book. The main thread is that they were all creative and none of them stuck to the rules. Even though they asked us to work hard, we had fun, and school was joyful. Fun and joy are the key pieces that have been sucked out of education in the U.S. ever since No Child Left Behind. The metric of success became a test score, not a tangible product or observable outcome. It's not surprising that student engagement has been decreasing for years, long before the pandemic and cell phones.  Your Story of Changing the Narrative as an Educator As I said, both of my parents were educators, so I should have known better than to become one! I was finishing graduate school in film and realized that I had student loan debt. I was going to be a production assistant, hunting for jobs. I should have thought that career path through a little better! Then I heard about a school district starting a film and journalism program, so I applied, and they hired me. It was a 5-year plan to pay off my student loans. I foolishly thought I could work on my own projects in all the spare time that teachers have! I just completed year 26 of the five-year plan! I was able to share my passion for film, journalism, and storytelling with thousands of students–many of whom are working in the industry. It's so rewarding to open eyes to new possibilities, and students found their “thing.” It wasn't math, or history, or science. We can't all be novelists or engineers. It's crucial to honor everyone's individuality and potential, and offer students experiences that empower them to discover their way. Now that I've left the classroom, I'm focusing on helping schools and districts adapt and thrive in these challenging times by taking my knowledge of teaching and deep empathy for teachers to help others find success in meaningful ways. I support schools through keynote speaking, leading professional development experiences, and working alongside leadership teams. I'm still a teacher; however, I get to have more impact than if I stayed in my own classroom. Book: Storytelling with Purpose:  Digital Projects To Ignite Student Curiosity I published my book, “Storytelling with Purpose, through ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). It is a practical handbook and guide to solving these problems by designing authentic learning experiences. This has been my passion project for the past few years. I wanted to write a book that I wish I had when I started teaching or even mid-career. The title might be a little deceiving. Many educators don't think they teach storytelling, especially if they teach math, history, or science. We always ask students to tell the story of their learning. We even say “show what you know” or “show your work,” and that's exactly what the book helps teachers in every grade level and subject area accomplish. We demonstrate how to use multimedia research projects as a scaffold for their curriculum. So instead of a worksheet, a test, or a report that all end up in the trash and are cheatable by design, we challenge students to create an explainer video, publish a digital book, or an infographic. All of these are one-of-a-kind products that let students have agency and voice, and can be published publicly, which empowers both impact and accountability.  Link to Storytelling with Purpose:  https://www.amazon.com/Storytelling-Purpose-Digital-Projects-Curiosity/dp/1564849961/ It was important to me to make my book evergreen. There are many books about AI and specific tech tools, but I wanted this book to be device-agnostic and about pedagogy rather than a single tool. Apps come and go, but good teaching is forever. A highly readable and hugely helpful guide for teachers!”  ~ Ken Burns Many teachers around the world are using it for professional development training. I recently led a five-hour pre-conference workshop at ISTE/ASCD this summer with teachers from at least 10 different countries. I am fortunate to have endorsements for my book from Ken Burns and Seth Godin. Just in time! This is a pedagogical and practical guide for teachers ready to take learning to a new level.   ~Seth Godin Consultant and International Speaker on Changing the Narrative I enjoy working with educators, learning from them, and sharing possibilities to spark new ideas in their learning spaces. I used to focus on edtech tools since that's where I got my start speaking at CUE (now CALIE) and ISTE. I've expanded my workshops into areas like assessment, digital and civic literacy, innovative teaching, and learning practices. I think that matches the evolution of technology, that it's integrated into our lives. It seems almost artificial to focus on it in a silo, and out of the context of everything else we need to do in schools. Social-emotional wellness, assessment, inquiry, curiosity, creativity, and all of these are tied to our relationship with technology and how we as educators prepare students to be successful outside the classroom, not just on a test.  One of the central ideas in my consulting work and writing is about reminding ourselves what school is for in the first place: to develop good citizens. No one takes tests or writes 5-paragraph essays. When our students are out in the world, when no one is looking, and there's no grade on the line, can they vet a source of information so they know how to vote or what medicine to take? Are they capable of giving and receiving constructive feedback? These are the traits of good citizens in a democracy. It's up to us as educators to help our students become intellectually agile and emotionally resilient. We can't do that with tests and worksheets. Your Podcast: Change the Narrative This is a funny story. When I chose the idea for my book, I started researching how to publish it. One of the recommendations was to build an audience before you publish. So I started publishing my newsletter in 2018. A friend liked it a lot and suggested that I turn it into a podcast. So I did! Then, two years later, I finally got around to working on the book. But it's a fun series. I average one season per year, and the topics change depending on what interests me. The topics are like innovation, storytelling, book publishing, and reflections on my expedition to Antarctica as a Lindblad/National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. I haven't decided on my theme for 2026, so I'm open to any suggestions! Podcast, Change the Narrative: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-the-narrative/id1455984465  Fostering a Culture of Academic Integrity in the Age of AI  AI is definitely top of mind for many educators, especially anyone who relies on writing as their primary means of assessment. Honestly, this affects everyone, from math teachers to science teachers, and even me as a photography, filmmaking, and journalism teacher. Students can literally generate high-quality images, video clips, and audio podcasts with just a prompt. It's easy to see AI as a threat to our livelihoods and feel a sense of existential dread. What does it mean to teach and learn anymore?  I'm actually optimistic about it. I think AI is a gift. It has reminded us of what matters most in learning: originality, individuality, creativity, and having a purpose for our work. Artificial intelligence isn't the problem; it's artificial assessment. Much of school is based on teaching mechanics, and because standardized tests focus on that, we don't teach or learn for fun or create rewarding experiences. The latest statistics show that fewer people read, and most students in school don't even complete an entire novel in their language arts classes. We've drained humanness from school. This is why I'm excited about AI. If a tool can do the mechanical and clerical work for us, we can then focus on ideas and purpose. It's forcing us to focus on the “why,” not just the “how.” It's really disheartening when I see schools revert to in-class hand-written essays or spend tens of thousands of dollars on cheat detection software that is ultimately flawed. What does that say to our kids about what we think of them? Policing students and creating an antagonistic culture is a surefire way to make kids unhappy, and they may not show up. And if they do show up, they are not putting their best effort into their work.  Cheating has always existed, long before AI, Google, and cell phones. There are two main reasons why students cheat: by incentive and by design. If we remove the incentive to cheat, we've solved 90% of the problem. And if our assessments only have one right answer that everyone is supposed to share at the same time, we've set ourselves up for failure.  Online Course: Uncheatable Assessments In my online course, Uncheatable Assessments, I help teachers focus more on process and product rather than on memorization and compliance. And we learn to design assignments that result in original, one-of-a-kind artifacts that students want to complete After I published my book, I heard that people were interested in the chapter on using multimedia research projects as a type of authentic assessment. There was a demand for this topic in my workshops. So, I produced an asynchronous course that was flexible for busy educators. They didn't need to fly to a city to attend a conference, and can fit in the modules when they have time, like during a prep period or after school. There are about 4 hours of video instruction, a 75-page downloadable workbook, and there's even an option to earn three continuing education units from Loyola Marymount University for salary advancement or required professional development. There are volume discounts for school districts to make it more feasible for educators. Link to course, Uncheatable Assessments https://storytelling-with-purpose-learning.thinkific.com/collections/courses-for-educators Online Course: Slidefluence Everything is moving to video right now. Teachers have lectures recorded, and businesses engage with customers and clients on websites and social media. Just look at TikTok and Instagram.  There's really no way to learn how to do that well. I decided to create an affordable, all-in-one course to help folks learn to be effective video storytellers. I'm really excited about it, and I'm in the middle of editing it right now. Essentially, the course will show you how to transform slide decks into dynamic videos that help you teach, persuade, and win people over. Entrepreneurs can pitch their product to funders, Businesses can create a library of content for customers, Sales teams can make the case for their results more clearly, and, of course, educators can create engaging direct instruction to help learners of all abilities and in multiple locations. I talk about finding focus for the story, writing a narration script, designing slides, and recording and publishing the videos.  Online course, Slidefluence: https://www.michael-hernandez.net/slidefluence.html Michael's Contact Information LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hernandez-21a8195/ Personal Website: https://www.michael-hernandez.net/ Website: https://www.storytelling-with-purpose.com/  Instagram: @changing.the.narrative Email: cinehead3@gmail.com ***** I am grateful that Michael joined me on my virtual porch. I have known and followed Michael for a long time. We're both from California, so I met him earlier at CUE and then again at SXSW EDU 2 years ago when he launched his book. It was fun to connect on Zoom and see Michael sharing how he's so passionate about helping educators make learning meaningful and assessments uncheatable. I hope you connect and follow Michael. Please share this post and podcast with your friends. ***** The post Changing the Narrative with Michael Hernandez (EP177) appeared first on Barbara Bray.

Earlier this month, 2024 NAEP scores came out for 8th grade science and 12th grade reading and math, and the results were not good, with students losing ground in each subject. But these declines are not new and they are not only the result of the pandemic: Across a number of tests and subjects, scores have been declining for over a decade, especially for low-performing students. Indeed, while achievement for the top 10 percent of students has remained roughly flat, achievement for the bottom 10 percent of students has fallen precipitously—on many assessments, by well over a year.What might be causing these declines? Is it the rise of phones? The fall of No Child Left Behind? The aftereffects of the Great Recession? A change in the culture of schooling? On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus explores these questions and more with James Wyckoff and Chad Aldeman.James Wyckoff is the Memorial Professor of Education and Professor of Public Policy Emeritus at the University of Virginia.Chad Aldeman is the founder of Read Not Guess, the author of Aldeman on Education, and a regular columnist for The 74.Show Notes:Testing Theories of Why: Four Keys to Interpreting US Student Achievement TrendsPuzzling Over Declining Academic AchievementInteractive: See How Student Achievement Gaps Are Growing in Your StateDon't Blame the SubgroupsStudent Achievement Is Down Overall—But Kids at the Bottom Are Sinking Faster

Interview starts at 30:50   Barbie Rivera joins us for a deep chat about her book "Enough Is Enough!: Exposing the Education System After Their Failed Attempt to Label and Drug My Son", schooling, medication pressure on kids, and the state of small private schools and homeschooling.   We also get into the German psychologists, Rockefeller influence, motherhood, micro schooling, ADHD, over prescription with kids, Common Core, No Child Left Behind, the Covid nightmare, preschool stories, Firefly home schooling and the side effects of students.   https://barbierivera.com/ https://helpmiami.org/   Become a Lord or Lady with 1k donations over time. And a Noble with any donation. Leave Serfdom behind and help Grimerica stick to 0 ads and sponsors and fully listener supported. Thanks for listening!! Help support the show, because we can't do it without ya. https://www.amazon.com/Unlearned-School-Failed-What-About/dp/1998704904/ref=sr_1_3?sr=8-3   Support the show directly: https://grimericacbd.com/ CBD / THC Gummies and Tinctures http://www.grimerica.ca/support https://www.patreon.com/grimerica http://www.grimericaoutlawed.ca/support www.Rokfin.com/Grimerica   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/experience-the-ultimate-hunting-adventure-in-alberta-canada-tickets-1077654175649?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile   The Eh- List site. Canadian Propaganda Deconstruction https://eh-list.ca/ The Eh-List YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@theeh-list?si=d_ThkEYAK6UG_hGX Adultbrain Audiobook YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@adultbrainaudiobookpublishing https://grimericaoutlawed.ca/The newer controversial Grimerica Outlawed Grimerica Show Check out our next trip/conference/meetup - Contact at the Cabin www.contactatthecabin.com Our audio book website: www.adultbrain.ca www.grimerica.ca/shrooms and Micro Dosing Darren's book www.acanadianshame.ca Grimerica on Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-2312992 Join the chat / hangout with a bunch of fellow Grimericans Https://t.me.grimerica https://www.guilded.gg/i/EvxJ44rk   Leave a review on iTunes and/or Stitcher: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/grimerica-outlawed http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/grimerica-outlawed Sign up for our newsletter https://grimerica.substack.com/ SPAM Graham = and send him your synchronicities, feedback, strange experiences and psychedelic trip reports!! graham@grimerica.com InstaGRAM https://www.instagram.com/the_grimerica_show_podcast/ Tweet Darren https://twitter.com/Grimerica Can't. Darren is still deleted. Purchase swag, with partial proceeds donated to the show: www.grimerica.ca/swag Send us a postcard or letter http://www.grimerica.ca/contact/ Episode ART - Napolean Duheme's site http://www.lostbreadcomic.com/ MUSIC https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/ - Something Old Felix's Site sirfelix.bandcamp.com - Should I

Public schools are essential for democracy—and they're under attack. But the very policies that are being championed as their salvation may have a catastrophic impact on American education for generations. Public education advocate and historian Diane Ravitch unpacks how school choice policies like vouchers and charter schools are dangerous for democracy. Diane Ravitch is a former assistant secretary in the United States Department of Education. She is the author of several books on the history and policy of American public schools. Her memoir, about her life as a leading public education reformer, will be published this fall. It's called An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Almost Everything. https://dianeravitch.net/

Read the full transcript here. How bad are things in US education? Why does it seem that educational progress has stagnated? What parts of the US education system should be reformed? Is it better to group students by skill level or by age? How useful are standardized tests? Why is there so commonly a disconnect between what cognitive science tells us about how people learn and the practices that are actually implemented in classrooms? How much do we know about what it's like in schools today? What did the No Child Left Behind act get wrong? What should educational incentive structures look like? Is individual student progress constrained more by interest or intelligence? In the grand scheme of things, how big of a problem is classroom management? What happened in the FAA hiring scandal? Did it increase the risks associated with flying? How could the FAA have better achieved its own ends?Jack Despain Zhou, also known online as Tracing Woodgrains, is the cofounder of the Center for Educational Progress, a nonprofit focused on reorienting education around a culture of excellence. Elsewhere, he is known for his coverage of institutional crises and online history, particularly the FAA's hiring scandal and Wikipedia abuse, and for cultural and political commentary from an ex-Mormon centrist perspective. He previously helped produce Blocked and Reported, a podcast about internet nonsense. He can be found on Substack as Tracing Woodgrains or on Twitter as @tracewoodgrains.Further readingProject Follow Through Sponsor ✨This episode is sponsored by Animal Charity Evaluators.StaffSpencer Greenberg — Host / DirectorJosh Castle — ProducerRyan Kessler — Audio EngineerUri Bram — FactotumWeAmplify — TranscriptionistsMusicBroke for FreeJosh WoodwardLee RosevereQuiet Music for Tiny Robotswowamusiczapsplat.comAffiliatesClearer ThinkingGuidedTrackMind EasePositlyUpLift[Read more]

In this episode, Brian Karem, Dean Obeidallah, and John T. Bennett discuss the ongoing battle between Donald Trump and the judiciary, the state of the Democratic Party, and the importance of voter engagement. They explore the challenges faced by Democrats in communicating their message and the need for a strong response to Trump's actions. The conversation also touches on upcoming elections and the implications for both parties. In this conversation, the speakers discuss the implications of recent education policy changes, particularly the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act, and how these policies have led to a decline in educational quality. They explore the contradiction between the push for manufacturing jobs and the lack of educational support for the workforce. The discussion also touches on consumer confidence in the economy, the critical role of local news in shaping political opinions, and the controversial actions of the Department of Education, referred to as 'Doge', which some argue represents a new form of the deep state. In this conversation, the speakers discuss the current political landscape in the United States, focusing on the influence of Donald Trump, the role of Congress, and the future of federal institutions. They explore the dynamics of power, the challenges faced by the Democratic Party, and the implications of Trump's spending strategies. The conversation highlights the need for critical thinking and the importance of understanding the forces that shape American politics today.

Learn kind and practical tips to support your ADHD child by downloading the First 3 Chapters of the book for FREE here: https://bit.ly/first_3_chapters -------------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode of The ADHD Kids Can Thrive, the host Kate Brownfield sits down with clinical psychologist Dr. Matthew Zakreski, an expert in neurodivergence, to discuss ADHD, autism, and how the education system impacts children with different learning needs. Dr. Zakreski, author of The Neurodiversity Playbook, Sheds light into the neuroscience of ADHD, the impact of reduced recess and unstructured time in schools, and strategies to help children thrive. He explains why traditional school environments can fail neurodiverse kids and how parents can advocate for better support. Whether you're raising a child with ADHD, autism, or other neurodivergent traits, this episode will give you practical strategies and a fresh perspective on how to support their growth.  

Kelly Lamrock looked at 20 recommendations made in the No Child Left Behind report three years ago. Roxanne Sappier of Negotkuk chaired the Indigenous advisory committee that worked on the report. 

New Brunswick's child and youth advocate is raising the alarm to tackle youth mental health in Indigenous communities. Of the 20 recommendations made in a report three years ago, only eight have been implemented. Roxanne Sappier, the chair of the First Nations Advisory Council, speaks with host Steven Webb.

In this eye-opening episode, we're joined by Dr. Derrick Standifer, a powerhouse in youth motivation and mental health advocacy. Known for his impactful message Life is Like a Rubik's Cube, Dr. Standifer shares his journey from a college dropout to earning a Ph.D. and becoming a voice for resilience and accountability. As a single father navigating his challenges, he knows firsthand the importance of taking ownership of one's life for his own well-being and as an example to his children.

In the milestone 200th episode of the Better Learning Podcast, special host Kevin Foote sits down with Dr. Andy Forless, superintendent of Mesa Public Schools, to dive into a conversation about innovation in education. As the leader of Arizona's largest school district, Dr. Forless shares her unique journey from classroom teacher to educational leadership and how her passion for teaching has shaped her vision for transforming student learning experiences. The centerpiece of their discussion revolves around Mesa Public Schools' groundbreaking team teaching model, an approach designed to leverage shared expertise among educators. This model fosters a sense of belonging among students, enhances student engagement, and has proven effective in improving teacher retention—a growing challenge in education today. Dr. Forless and Kevin also explore the role of collaborative learning spaces and partnerships, particularly with Arizona State University, in making these educational innovations possible.   Takeaways: Team teaching allows for shared expertise among educators. Collaborative learning spaces enhance the team teaching experience. Personalized learning is essential for student engagement. Partnerships with universities can drive educational innovation. Redesigning working conditions is crucial to retain teachers. The future of education relies on collaboration and flexibility.   Andi Fourlis is the superintendent at Mesa Public Schools. Her career began in 1992 as a teacher in the Washington Elementary School District in Phoenix. She joined the Scottsdale Unified School District in 1996, where she spent 19 years as a teacher, director, executive director and assistant superintendent. In 2015 she joined the Arizona Science Center as the chief learning officer. In 2017, she joined Mesa Public Schools as the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning and later served as deputy superintendent. Andi Fourlis has received numerous awards, including the Horace Mann Ruler of the Month Award in 2019, the Kathy Hunt-Ullock Award for Middle Level Advocacy in 2013, and Teacher of the Year Award at Royal Palm Middle School in 1994. She is a graduate of Valley Leadership Institute Class 38 (2017).   Sound Bites: "I never thought that I would ever leave my classroom." "Team teaching is when a group of adults share expertise."   Follow Dr. Andi Fourlis on Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andi-fourlis-713994122/   Learn More About Mesa Public Schools: Website: https://www.mpsaz.org/     Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com. Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Find out more about Kevin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinstoller/. For more episodes of the Better Learning Podcast, visit https://www.betterlearningpodcast.com/     Episode 200 of the Better Learning Podcast Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.   For more information on our partners: Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) - https://www.a4le.org/ Education Leaders' Organization - https://www.ed-leaders.org/ Second Class Foundation - https://secondclassfoundation.org/ EDmarket - https://www.edmarket.org/ Catapult @ Penn GSE - https://catapult.gse.upenn.edu/   Want to be a Guest Speaker? Request on our website     Transcript Kevin Stoller (00:01.288) Welcome back to the better learning podcast. My name is Kevin Stoller I'm the normal host of the show, but we have another Kevin Kevin foot who's gonna be stepping in and Leading the conversation with dr. Andy for lists She is the superintendent of Mesa Public Schools the largest district in Arizona and I'm bummed that I wasn't part of this conversation I was really looking forward to it. But as you listen to the episode they talk a lot about their team Teaching approach had they've been doing in conjunction with Arizona State University. So it's really fascinating. So listen in. I hope you learn a lot from this and here you get to hear Kevin Foote and Dr. Andy Forless.   Kevin Foote (00:46.85) Hello, how are you? Good, how are you? I'm a different Kevin.   Dr. Andi Fourlis That is just grand, no troubles at all. So I'm Andy Forlund, Superintendent in Mesa Public Schools. I am an Arizona native. I began my educational career in Mesa Public Schools at Lowell Elementary. I'm starting kindergarten at Lowell. And I became a teacher because I loved to play school ever since I was a little girl. I was trying to arrange and rearrange, whether it was stuffed animals, my brother, the neighborhood kids, I was always organizing them into some type of a classroom. And so I spent fond memories of being a toddler and then growing up always playing school. I got super excited about going to kindergarten and I planned for my first day of kindergarten for a very long time from what I was going to wear to what my lunchbox was going to look like, what my backpack would look like and so on. So my mom took me to kindergarten and off I went and she picked me up at the end of the day. So excited to hear about, my gosh, Andi, how was your first day of school? You've been waiting this for so long. Well, I started crying. I pitched a fit in the car. I said it was the worst day of my life. And I remember her face was just blank. Like, how could this be the worst day of your life? And mom, you did not tell me that I was not going to be the teacher today. So I went to school and I was four. I was turning five in December. I went to school to kindergarten as a fourth as a four year old. Yeah. I was going for one reason. That was to be the teacher. I have had this idea that I was going to be a teacher because I always wanted to arrange people and things so that they can learn. And so as long as I can remember, I was always going to be a teacher in the back of my mind. Then I went to school, so I'll answer another one of the questions. So school for me was, it was a great place. I learned quickly. I had lots of questions. I kept thinking about how it could be different, how it should be different. And as I went through school, I never raised my hand. And when people ask me, Andi, what do you want to be when you grow up? I never said a teacher. kept thinking, I don't want to do it like this. I want to do it differently. And it wasn't until I had the opportunity to take some college courses that like an introduction to education, I thought, OK, this is what I'm going to do with my life. I can't way that it currently is. I don't have to live in the status quo. So I've always had one goal and I've always been in the service industry. I was a waitress all through high school and college to pay my way through college. And I realized that serving other people was something that I was good at and that it contributed to a better life for me and others.   Kevin Foote I love it. I love it. Very, very similar backgrounds, you and I. I'm not going to get into mine, but very, very similar. I was one of those weird ones that always knew I wanted to be a teacher. So what got you into administration, whether it was principal or eventually now in superintendency, what was your guiding light for that?   Dr. Andi Fourlis Well, I will tell you that I never thought that I would ever leave my classroom. I taught third grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, and then eighth grade. And it was a sixth grade classroom that I had district leaders come into my classroom and ask me if I was interested in mentoring other teachers. And I said, sure, I've always mentored other teachers. They said, yeah, but this would be a full time job where you step out of your classroom and for maybe three years or so work in our new teacher induction model and bring in our new secondary teachers. And really get that complemented to strong instructional practices and so on. I said, interesting. Okay, I could do that for a little bit. And then I never went back. So that was in 2000. And so here we are, 24 years later, I've not gone back into a classroom. I still have samples of student work that I'm ready to use someday. But I've back. So it was a tap on the shoulder to move into teacher leadership. And my journey has been through teacher leadership. I've never been a building principal or assistant principal. My journey was being an instructional coach and then to a director of professional learning and a director of recruitment.   Kevin Foote That's great. That's an interesting path. That's very unique compared to general superintendents. They've usually gone the principal path. So that's a very interesting path like that. So I've done some research into it. I've actually...you know, we've designed some schools and stuff within the ASU model of the team teaching and everything. And I wanted you to talk some more about that. I was able to listen to another podcast you were on and I've just, I loved it. Loved it. I was like, guys, this is right. I love hearing about this.   Dr. Andi Fourlis Okay. Yeah. So, you know, I would say like, I'm sorry to be redundant, but I know you probably love talking about it. And this is a, you know, maybe a bigger, different audience. So, if this is, you know, maybe architects or designers or somebody maybe in my industry on that end could hear more about what the team teaching model is for, like, for me, I'm all about it I was in the classroom. Maybe somebody who's never really been in the classroom. What does that look like? So when we think about our experiences in schools and being a one-on-one school is that people usually identify by saying, well, this was my third grade teacher. Well, my fifth grade teacher had the most impact on me. My seventh grade English teacher had an impact on me. That is the typical experience that most students have in American public school system. When we think about team teaching is when you start students start to identify this is the team of teachers that I am working with and it is beyond the one teacher one classroom model. Then the majority of my career I had the great benefit of working on a team. I was not just one teacher trying to serve all of my children. I was always on a team. I started in third grade and that was a team taught class and I did my teaching and then taught there. And then I moved into, there was a couple of years at the very beginning that I was a one teacher in one classroom. And I was a middle school team. And then when I moved to the Scottsdale Unified School District, I was also in a three person team, sharing a roster of 150 students. And we were co-designing deeper and more personalized learning. Those are all fancy words I have now, but I would have never been able to use. 1896 is when I started this work. School teaching is when there are a group of adults, teachers sharing their expertise to co-design instruction for a common roster of children that they serve. So, the public schools, our definition of a team is at least two teachers sharing a roster of students designing learning outcomes for them.   Kevin Foote Awesome. Now, just piggybacking on that, are there...How rare is this in Arizona? Are there other districts that are doing this? Did you get the model from, I know ASU, Arizona State's kind of guiding it, but did you get to see any other districts in action that are doing this?   Dr. Andi Fourlis So yeah, there are other districts that are implementing team teaching. And like I said, my own career, I started in 1991 and thinking about what we knew about middle school, adolescent design. It was, middle schools were based on teams of teachers bringing their academic knowledge, working with other teachers to serve children. So this is not a model that's new at all. In fact, team teaching, we can go back into our history books and look at even our former superintendent, Dr. Jim Saharis talking about team teaching in the 1970s. So this is not a new concept. What's new about team teaching today, is that we are using it in an environment of high levels of accountability. Because I believe that we started moving to the one teacher one classroom under the era of No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind talked about things like the highly qualified teacher, the appropriately certified teacher. And when it started breaking down classrooms by certification of who was highly certified to teach these students, and we had such a focus on that that we really aligned one teacher to typically a class of 25 to 30 students. And so No Child Left Behind came in with high levels of accountability to the teacher. And so team teaching, any type of collaboration, I believe, started to fall to the wayside.   Kevin Foote Yeah. OK. And I love what you talked about there where it's taken it from that middle school model or the junior high model where that's essentially what you're doing. And why can't we do top down with that? I love that. It's so important to talk about when we talk about the next education workforce teaming model, it is more than just a team of teachers. When we're truly talking about teaming, we are opening up learning opportunities for students by bringing in community partners, by community educators, rethinking the role of an instructional assistant. Even in today's world, here we are in 2024, rethinking the role of technology on a team. What role does this piece of technology play in integrating into the learning needs of students?   Dr. Andi Fourlis So it's taking all of your resources and arranging for learning for students and it is beyond the scope of just the certified teachers in that classroom. It's wrapping adults around the needs of children.   Kevin Foote Yes. I love that. And you you could see creating a strong workforce that knows how to work with, let's say, different types of bosses and all the varying learning styles and teaching styles that go along with, you know, I'm sure somebody in their career at some point were like, there's a boss that I just didn't work well with or I really like working for him or her and things like that. So I think this is a good start to that to get them to understand it at a young age. How do you function within, how does this team teaching model function within like the learning environment, like the actual spaces? Can you explain how Mesa's done it or if you've seen another district, like how do they make it work with if you do have a space that's been designed and furnished for that and everything, and then a space that's not, how do they make that work? I'd love to hear both sides of it.   Dr. Andi Fourlis So collaborative learning spaces are very important for teaming. And I will tell you that we have intentionally designed spaces for collaboration for teaming in Mesa Public Schools. And we also have teaming that is alive and well their physical design is not super conducive, but they make it work. So I'll give you another example. At Westwood High School, all ninth and 10th graders are on teams, and those are bigger kids, and they need bigger spaces. And so we have some potentially designed space where walls have come down. They've got movable chalkboards, whiteboards throughout the room. So kids are working on different projects. They're in and out of this collaborative space. At Stevenson Elementary, every child is on a team and they are beginning in first grade as a multi-grade team. And so the doors between classrooms are able to be opened. They look just like they're very large doors with the glass in between them and they- Storefront, if you will. So students are moving from classroom to classroom within a pod. never walk outside. They are all inside the building between classes. We have others that students have to walk outside to the classroom next door. So there's lots of different ways. And but what is most important is not that we're just moving kids, but what is the purpose and the intent behind the movement? And that needs to be artfully designed. We are moving kids around to get what they need to improve their learning outcome. So sometimes they need additional English language arts time. Sometimes they need more mathematics time. Sometimes they're going into innovation space because they're working in a project. And so they, at Stevenson Elementary, all students set their own intentions and learning targets for the day and then monitor those and then build their schedule with the guidance of the adults around what their game will look like. And so they have to be able to move.   Kevin Foote Okay, I love that.   Dr. Andi Fourlis That's one very last thing, have to be able to move. I love getting them up and moving. I'd also like to add that it's really important for our teams to build a community of learners. And so when the majority of our teaming models, at the beginning of the day, the entire grade level or grade bands at three, four, for example, at Stevenson, they meet in the morning for what they call family time. They all come together. Other schools, it might just be the entire third grade. They come together in the morning and they check the health and wellness of the community. That's what they do, but then they move on. At Stevenson, we have larger groups of children. So another added feature is that we have audio enhancement. So all of the teachers use microphones and they're in the classroom. And that's been a modification so that all children can learn even in a large space.   Kevin Foote That's great. I love that. I love that. what successes have you seen? And again, this is kind of like a two-part. What successes have you seen academically as well as socially? Because there's so many I want to hear from you firsthand. What successes have you seen in both those aspects?   Dr. Andi Fourlis So we have what our strongest indicators are around students have a sense of belonging. So they know where they belong, have an identity and they have more than one adult that they can connect with every single day. So while you might be assigned to Mrs. Smith and in third grade and teacher one classroom model, you and Mrs. Smith may not see eye to eye on things. And so in our teaming model, students have a lot of opportunity to connect with the expertise of multiple adults, including their teachers. So there's higher level of sense of belonging and confidence amongst our students that are in teams. The other is that what we're paying attention to building their confidence and efficacy for how they can be self-directed learners, those early on indicators are that they're feeling more confident. And being self-directed, when we take a look at our teachers, their retention rates are higher and their job satisfaction is higher in the team. Because it's always nice to know that we're in this together, right? I don't just go in and say, 28 students and me, let's go do this. We're all in this together. And it's a lot of co-planning and it's using expertise. We have teachers that have a background and are really great in math instruction. They take the lead on planning and designing mathematics lessons and design. The same reading specialist on a team taking the lead for that particular team. So they're sharing their expertise. And we often see that if a teacher is going to be out, need the substitute for a doctor's appointment or something on a team, oftentimes they don't even get a substitute or the substance provides just, you know, like supervision and support so the kids don't miss a beat. So we're also seeing learning outcomes are increasing. They've been paying attention to reading. So they are outpacing their peers in literacy development. And in our high schools, we're paying attention to Algebra 1 for our ninth grade. And we're seeing that students on teams are outperforming our students who are not on teams in Algebra 1.   Kevin Foote (18:50.83) Love it. Awesome. Something that I heard you say in a previous quote you made was that you're looking to create more personalized learning. And that's like the one thing that jumped out at me because I remember when I was in the classroom, that was always my goal is for all, know, sometimes I had 32 third graders or whatever, know, but that was a big class, but, you 25 to 30 kids, try to know something about all of them, like what makes each of them tick and feel like having that team teaching models makes that so much easier. You started teaching a little before me, like differentiated learning was the buzzword at the time. And so when I heard you say personalized, I'm like, I think that goes a little further. I love to hear that. So I don't if you want to elaborate on that a little much. That's just something I wanted to say. I thought it was pretty awesome.   Dr. Andi Fourlis We know the research around differentiated instruction that we differentiate by process product, right? And for learning, but within our kids are so different and we have an incredibly diverse community. So we need to make sure that not only is it differentiated, that instruction is differentiated, but it is also personalized where we are building, students have agency that they are building the what's in it for them in their learning. That takes it a little bit deeper than differentiation, because usually you differentiate for groups of kids. You look at personalization... it's a sliver of the solid research on why we differentiate. But this is saying that kids are setting their own goals. They're mastering their own goals. Elementary is very foundational. And English language arts, mathematics, and science, and social science. When we get into high school, that also looks at what is their career and college path that is personalized to them. It's not just the typical subject areas. It's like, no, I am on a path. I know that I want to pursue a degree in engineering. So my path is going to be different and I need to be engaged in an agent of my own learning towards that pathway.   Kevin Foote I think it's a perfect piggyback on the next thing. what's something you think that, or a couple of things that Arizona State's helped with? How do you think we can help work with future teachers on this, specifically college of ed students at our major universities, things like that? Are there some tips you'd have for them? And then also how is Arizona State help with that?   Dr. Andi Fourlis Well, what has been so helpful for us in our partnership with Arizona State University is the way that I think about our relationship is that ASU is the innovative university, a research-run university, and we are the laboratory to try those ideas, collect information, talk about what's working with boots on the ground and how they're constantly working together to make adaptations based on research and then based on implementation. And so to me, that's perfect model. The other is that Arizona State University is keeping this conversation alive beyond Mesa Public Schools. We have a crisis across the nation and the crisis of the teacher shortage. That's one long as I mentioned that I left my classroom in 2000 to be a new teacher induction specialist to help induct new teachers and then go out and recruit new teachers. So we've been at this for 24 years that we've been trying to solve a teacher. I think it's time that we're done admiring this problem and really digging down into why are teachers not choosing teaching? And especially in 2024, it's because the teaching job is incredibly isolating and it's inflexible. So if we can build some collaboration and flexibility into the teaching profession, that is one step closer to solving the teacher shortage problem. A phrase that I say, oftentimes, if teachers are not leaving the profession, they're leaving their working conditions. And working conditions is something that we can control. And so let's control what we can control and let's redesign those working conditions. And my belief is that if we do that, the theory of action is that we will chip away at the teacher shortage.   Kevin Foote (23:38.798) Awesome. I think that I have one more question, but you just answered it was how can people who are gonna hear this podcast help? And what are recommendations on what others do? But I feel like you nailed it in the head before I even got there.   Dr. Andi Fourlis And I think the other thing is that what can ASU do with those that are choosing the teaching profession? Designing their instruction and the experiences that free service teachers have. If free service teachers are coming in and working and learning in isolation. That doesn't set them up for success when they come into our school district with teaming model. So what I really appreciate around our relationship is Dr. Basile and I are constantly calibrating. What are we doing in classrooms in Mesa Public Schools? And how does that trigger pre-service learning and vice versa?   Kevin Foote Nice. I love it. love it. Well, thank you for your time today. I don't want to keep you too much longer. I think we'll just go ahead and wrap up here and thank you again for all you do. And that's a big job with the biggest district in Arizona. So appreciate your time.   Dr. Andi Fourlis The joy every day. We have so much opportunity to preserve the teaching profession and to create great outcomes.   Kevin Foote Awesome. Thank you.   Kevin Stoller (25:09.986) The views and opinions expressed on the Better Learning Podcast are those of myself as an individual and my guests and do not necessarily represent the organizations that we work for, the Association for Learning Environments, K-12, Education Leaders Organization, or Second Class Foundation.

I'M TIRED BOSS! Every time a new rap song comes, especially when it's an artist that y'all don't like. Objection goes out the window. My big issue today is that we aren't being objective about music. Also, we tend to jump to conclusions about what the music is saying rather than listening. What Bush did with 'No Child Left Behind' is irreversible. All of you need to read a book... and watch the Arts Block Podcast as well. Links:https://www.instagram.com/ericcurryiii/ https://www.instagram.com/artsblockpodcast/ https://linktr.ee/ArtsBlock?utm_source=linktree_profile_share

President Biden and former President Trump will face off in the first 2024 presidential debate later this week. Ravi takes stock of where both candidates stand heading into the debate, from their status in the polls and different approaches to fundraising to why TikTok videos about Trump receive more positive engagement than videos that mention Biden. Then, Ravi welcomes Darrell Bradford, president of 50CAN, to discuss the future of education and what we can learn from the evolution of education reform. They explore how the country went from a bipartisan consensus around No Child Left Behind to a backlash against high standards and accountability, growing fissures within education reform, and what it really means for a school to engage in activism. Finally, Ravi and Derrell turn to the future and the growing movement around new school models, including hybrid schools, microschools, and homeschooling. They discuss how Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) might impact this growth, what's driving families to new school models, the reluctance of many Democrats to join the conversation, and why this is such a revolutionary moment in education. Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 321-200-0570 Subscribe to our feed on Spotify: http://bitly.ws/zC9K Subscribe to our Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/ Follow The Branch on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebranchmedia/ Follow The Branch on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebranchmedia Follow The Branch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebranchmedia The Branch website: http://thebranchmedia.org/ The Branch channel: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/the-branch/id6483055204  Lost Debate is also available on the following platforms:  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785 Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vTERJNTc1ODE3Mzk3Nw  iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-lost-debate-88330217/ Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/752ca262-2801-466d-9654-2024de72bd1f/the-lost-debate

How did No Child Left Behind result in a millennial identity crisis? Just kidding, I'm not sure it's directly connected... But, I have my suspicions! In this episode, let's talk about why millennials are job hopping, unhappy at work, and feel like their job is sucking their soul out. Connect with Lydia/Affiliate Links: https://bio.site/lydiakyle --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lydiakyle/support

Education News Headline RoundupOver the past few weeks, there have been significant developments at the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio). On May 15, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost initiated an investigation into the allegations of a hostile takeover attempt of the $90 billion pension fund, which serves thousands of educators, by QED Systematic Solutions.Academic publishing is facing a crisis of credibility as journals close and thousands of retractions are issued in the wake of a glut of fake research papers. A study by Nature found that in 2013 there were just over 1,000 retractions compared to 2022 with 4,000 and then jumping to more than 10k in 2023. More than 8k of the retractions came from an Egyptian company called Hindawi, which is a subsidiary of Wiley; the Hindawi brand will be sunsetted and its properties absorbed into Wiley. Wiley has announced they will close 19 journals because of the rise of fake papers.A report by Spectrum News from May 14th alleges that millions of dollars in Texas taxpayer funds intended for a charter school in Odessa were diverted to support struggling Third Future charter schools network in Colorado, of which Houston Independent School District superintendent Mike Miles is founder and with whom he has recently maintained a consulting relationship.Examining the Effects of High-Stakes Standardized Tests on Learning OutcomesThis episode explores the history and impact of high-stakes standardized testing in the U.S., starting with a brief review of the No Child Left Behind Act and its legacy. Discussions include the educational goals of high-stakes tests (such as accountability and standardization), and the reasons why these tests often fall short of bettering educational outcomes for students, including curriculum narrowing and stress on students and teachers. We also delve into recent research, including a 2024 study by Maroun and Tienken, which highlights the significant influence of socioeconomic factors on test performance.Discussion QuestionsWhat are the consequences of "teaching to the test"?Why does the high-stakes testing system persist despite its criticisms?Can we design a system with standardized tests but without high-stakes consequences? What might this look like?What would it take to move school administrators and policy makers toward the idea that standardized tests should inform academic strategies instead of penalties or other punitive measures?How do we develop a system to hold educators accountable for serving students well that recognizes that a student's academic or standardized test performance is not always the best indicator of that student's learning? Would peer/student reviews play a part in this system?Sources & Resources:Ohio AG investigating alleged 'hostile takeover' inside teacher's pension fundMarch Board News | STRS OhioApril Board News | STRS OhioFebruary Board News | STRS Ohio EmployerAnswering viewer questions about Ohio's retired teachers' pension fund chaosHouston teachers union calls for Mike Miles' resignation after explosive reportHISD students plan walkout as investigation launches into state-appointed superintendent Mike MilesHISD's Mike Miles responds to 'spurious' investigation into charter school networkHISD superintendent Mike Miles accused of mishandling state education funds | CW39 HoustonHouston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles responds to allegations he diverted Texas school funds to his Colorado schoolsReport about charter schools founded by Houston ISD superintendent Mike Miles prompts calls for investigationHISD Superintendent Mike Miles responds to report he funneled TX taxpayer money to Colorado | TEA commissioner, Third Future Schools also respondDisappearing Dollars: Texas public schools missing millionsFlood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures - WSJWiley shuts 19 scholarly journals amid AI paper mill problem • The RegisterWiley to shutter 19 journalsEvolving our portfolio in response to integrity challenges | Hindawi‘The situation has become appalling': fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis pointSurge In Academic Retractions Should Put U.S. Scholars On NoticeScience's fake-paper problem: high-profile effort will tackle paper millsThe Pernicious Predictability of State-Mandated Tests of Academic Achievement in the United StatesStandardized Testing is Still Failing Students | NEAResearch Shows What State Standardized Tests Actually MeasureHistory of Standardized Tests - ProCon.org18 years ago, Mike Pence voted against No Child Left Behind. So did Bernie Sanders. Their reasons weren't the same. - The Washington PostEpisode 51 - Left Behind - 16:1 - An Education PodcastObama Calls for Major Change in Education Law - The New York TimesHistory of Standardized Testing in the United States | NEAPearson, ETS, Houghton Mifflin, and McGraw-Hill Lobby Big and Profit Bigger from School Tests | PR WatchHistory of Memorial Day | National Memorial Day Concert | PBS

On this episode, Nate is joined by philosopher and educator Zak Stein to discuss the current state of education and development for children during a time of converging crises and societal transformation. As the pace of life continues to accelerate - including world-shaking technological developments - our schools struggle to keep pace with changes in cultural expectations. What qualities are we encouraging in a system centered on competition and with no emphasis on creating agency or community participation? How is unfettered technology and artificial intelligence influencing youth - and what should parents, adults, and teachers be doing in response? What could the future of education look like if guided by true teacherly authority with the aim to create well-rounded, stable young humans with a sense of belonging and purpose in their communities?  About Zak Stein:  Dr. Zak Stein is a philosopher of education, as well as a Co-founder of the Center for World Philosophy and Religion. He is also the Co-founder of Civilization Research Institute, the Consilience Project, and Lectica, Inc. He is the author of dozens of published papers and two books, including Education in a Time Between Worlds.  PDF Transcript Show Notes 00:00 - Zak Stein works + Info, Civilization Research Institute, Education in a Time Between Worlds, Center for World Philosophy and Religion, First Principles and First Values  03:24 - No Child Left Behind 03:56 - Joseph Tainter + TGS episode 03:53 - Iatrogenic  05:30 - Daniel Schmachtenberger (TGS Episodes), Ken Wilbur, Marc Gafney 16:01 - Effects of screens and social media on teen mental health 16:54 - Marshall McLuhan 17:20 - The importance of adult boundary and limit setting for children 18:17 - How social media affects the brain 19:06 - The rise of ADHD in the 90s and effects on education - a timeline 19:58 - Hypercompetitive primary education systems 20:20 - High level of stress and cheating in primary education 22:28 - Scandinavian school systems 26:27 - Cold war effects on the education system 26:35 - Sputnik 27:25 - Tech elites don't give their kids tech 28:35 - Elite overproduction, Peter Turchin 34:10 - Your Unique Self  37:28 - Iain McGilchrist + TGS Episode 38:02 - Moral Relativism 43:27 - Foundations of advertising  47:07 - Negatives of standardized testing 47:22 - Donald T. Cambell - Campbell's law 48:57 - Nature vs Nurture Debate 49:20 - Cooperation and competition 52:10 - Effects of a competitive school environment 55:02 - The effects of an above-and-beyond teacher 55:42 - Legitimate teacherly authority 59:55 - Importance of the environment in the first 5 years of life 1:02:20 - John Dewey 1:10:31 - The best way to learn is to teach 1:11:40 - David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs 1:15:25 - How standardized testing increased high education access 1:16:08 - Civilian Conservation Corp, Lawrence A. Cremin 1:17:02 - New Deal 1:22:07 - Risks around artificial intelligence 1:24:58 - Rise of relationships with AI 1:28:41 - First Chatbot ELIZA 1:30:01 - Electricity use of AI 1:37:30 - The Future of Human Nature 1:41:19 - Peak Oil 1:42:29 - Mental Health Crisis 1:46:35 - Correlation of COVID with IQ loss Watch this video episode on YouTube

Ravi welcomes Amy Davidson Sorkin from The New Yorker to the show to explore the legal challenges of the various cases against Donald Trump, including the immunity case before the Supreme Court, and the potential consequences of a conviction before the election. They then turn to Joseph Fischer v. United States and discuss how the Supreme Court might rule on whether prosecutors can use federal obstruction laws to charge individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol attack. Tim Daly, founder of The Education Daly and CEO of EdNavigator, then joins Ravi to explain why experts considered Finland the exemplar of quality education for many years and what we can learn from its steep decline. Ravi and Tim talk about how Finland's education system impacted advocacy around No Child Left Behind and why it's important to develop a deeper understanding of what drives educational success. Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 321-200-0570 Subscribe to our feed on Spotify: http://bitly.ws/zC9K Subscribe to our Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/ Follow The Branch on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebranchmedia/ Follow The Branch on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebranchmedia Follow The Branch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebranchmedia The Branch website: http://thebranchmedia.org/ Lost Debate is also available on the following platforms:  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785 Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vTERJNTc1ODE3Mzk3Nw  iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-lost-debate-88330217/ Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/752ca262-2801-466d-9654-2024de72bd1f/the-lost-debate

The largest school district in Texas lost its elected leaders in the summer of 2023. In their place – a state-appointed board along with a leader unafraid of creating upheaval and massive changes.It's unusual for school districts to lose local control, especially on a scale this large. Suddenly, the Houston Independent School District with its nearly 200,000 students and 11,000 teachers didn't know what would happen next. But the reforms came quickly.What led to the takeover and what's the impact of this whole-scale, test-based reform? We go back decades to understand how a history of high-stakes testing got us here. That pressure to perform trickles down to campus leaders and teachers, to students and their parents. The stakes mount as the takeover plays out and no school is left untouched.The Takeover is a seasonal podcast about power and public education. The first season captures 18 months of on-the-ground, neighborhood-level reporting, enterprising investigative work, and deep context about education policy and history from a range of expert researchers.

On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus speaks with Rick Hess and Mike McShane about their new book, Getting Education Right: A Conservative Vision for Improving Early Childhood, K–12, and College. Nat, Rick, and Mike discuss what principles a conservative vision for education should be grounded in, whether No Child Left Behind was […]

“My philosophy is to leave people better, coach them to a new level.” Coach Carlos Johnson https://carlosjohnson.org/ "True educating will not start, can not start, until you've created an environment for healthy relationships to foster.” Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, with over two decades of experience, Coach Carlos Johnson adeptly bridges the worlds of business and education, advocating for having all voices at the table with a sense of empathy and action. From curriculum design to facilitating professional development, Coach Carlos empowers administrators and leaders to understand the data that impacts their student culture, consider the brain based science when examining student behavior, and always remember the three R's: Recruit. Retain. Respond. “It's war time.”Coach Carlos is a business man that understands education, and an educator that understands business. When reflecting on the state of education, he discusses the longitudinal data and the impact of Title IX. His journey into education was shaped by the era of No Child Left Behind and the rise of charter schools, which encouraged districts to adopt innovative approaches. Recognizing the impact of his own African American female teachers (and the lack of Black male educators), he stresses the importance of diverse representation in classrooms. Coach Carlos's advice to first-year educators is to build healthy performance-based relationships and he challenges educators to adopt a coaching mindset.

Did Dr. Deming forbid setting goals? Dive into this discussion about healthy goal setting, learn why your process matters, and the four things you need to understand before you start on goals. This episode is the first in a 4-part series about goal setting. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.2 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz and I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today I'm continuing my discussion with John Dues, who is part of the new generation of educators striving to apply Dr. Deming's principles to unleash student joy in learning. This is episode 21 and we're talking about goal setting through a Deming lens. John, take it away.   0:00:26.9 John Dues: Yeah, it's good to be back, Andrew. Yeah, 'tis the season for resolutions, I suppose, so I thought we could talk about organizational goal setting and sort of doing that through a Deming lens. And I was thinking about, at a recent district leadership team meeting, I put the following quote up on a slide. I said, "Goal setting is often an act of desperation." You got to watch people's faces when they see that. And to give some context, we're sort of updating our strategic plan at United Schools Network and my point in putting that on the slide as a part of strategic planning was to start a discussion on sort of what I think is healthy goal setting and how that's not typical to what I've seen across my career in schools, education organizations.   0:01:22.4 JD: And I wanted to provide a framework for the team so that anyone that's setting a goal as a part of the strategic planning process sort of had this sort of mindset as we're going through the goal setting process. I think that the typical reaction to that quote, at least in my experience, has been something like, "But I thought that goal setting was something that highly effective people or highly effective organizations do." And my basic argument is that I think that that's the intention, but it's rarely the case, whether that's individuals or organizations. And there's these, what I've come to sort of frame as four conditions that have to be met during the goal setting process. And without those, you kind of get fluff for a goal setting, probably more likely just completely disconnected from reality. I think... Yeah, go ahead.   0:02:22.5 AS: I just wanted to talk to everybody out there that's listening and viewing. I mean, I'm sure you're going through goal setting all the time and as we talk about, it's the beginning of the year right now, this is actually, we're recording this in mid-January of 2024. So it's like I've been working on what's our vision? What's our mission? What's our values? Where are we going? What is our goal? What is our long term goal? What is our short term goal? And I don't know about you guys, but for me, it gets a little confusing and round in circles sometimes and overwhelming, and then this whole idea about, that goal setting is often an act of desperation. It's like I've been working on this stuff for recently over the last week or so and then I just heard you say that and I was like, "Oh, I'm really interested to learn more." So let's go through those four conditions.   0:03:18.5 JD: Yeah, I'll get to those in a second. But I... So I'm not saying don't set goals necessarily. And people have that same reaction typically to that statement, but it's goal setting is often an act of desperation. So it's not the goal in and of themselves, but generally it's the process that you go about and the lack of sort of logic behind the goals that I'm talking about. And I know on these podcasts, many of my examples have sort of I've been banging on like State Department accountability systems and stuff like that. I'm going to continue to do that today but I think the same sort of errors happen at the school system level, at the individual school building level, at the individual teacher or principal level, it's just the stakes are higher when you're talking about states and countries, systems of education.   0:04:11.8 JD: But what I've seen is over the last two decades, certainly post-No Child Left Behind, what it seems like is that there's often these goals set and they're sort of, the targets are sort of chosen out of thin air. And then there's this whole accountability system built around those goals and then in the case of states, we then rate and rank school systems or schools based on how they perform in relation to those goals. And again, the same type of thing is happening at the school system level, at the school level but probably the state accountability systems is what most educators are familiar with when I'm talking about goals. And in Ohio, like a lot of states, we give state tests, we give them third through eighth grade.   0:04:58.5 JD: They take reading and math every year, third through eighth grade in Ohio and you have to hit this 80% benchmark in terms of the percent of kids that are proficient in your school to meet the state standard. So the first question is, why not 60%? Why not 95%? Why not 85%? Why not 82.5%? Just random, you know? And my hunch is, the first problem is that that benchmark for passage rates, if you asked 100 people at the State Department or 100 people working in public school systems in Ohio, I'm not sure if anybody could give you that answer, why 80%? So the first problem is that that target itself is chosen arbitrarily and without sort of a deep consideration. And so that's sort of where the fork initially comes...   0:05:58.3 AS: And I would say that if I look at that 80%, it's like below that and you would seem like you're really underachieving, and above that, it's like, let's be realistic here of what the system can produce.   0:06:11.6 JD: Well, it's a B, it's a B minus. You know, that's familiar, a C, you're not allowed to bring home a C, but a B is okay. So, I mean, my guess is, I don't know where that particular target came from, but my guess is it's something maybe not too far off from, "well, it's sort of a B minus" in the typical grading scale in the United States.   0:06:32.4 AS: Probably came just the way we just discussed it.   0:06:35.1 JD: I would not be entirely surprised. So a lot of the problem with goal setting and when I'm saying act of desperation, it has to do with that arbitrary nature of the goal in and of itself. And so what I've sort of told the team here is that let's put forth some conditions that came up, I mentioned four, that we should understand prior to ever setting a goal. So the first thing we want to understand is what I call the "capability of the system" under study. So in this case, we've talked about third grade reading because that's such an important time period in a student's life.   0:07:13.4 JD: The states, lots of states put a lot of emphasis on it. In Ohio, there's a third grade reading guarantee that exists in other states as well. So we'll kind of look at data in that realm. So the first one, what's the capability of that third grade reading system? The second condition is we have to understand the variation that that system produces. So what are the ups and downs in the data? What are the patterns in the data? So capability, variation is the second condition. The third condition is, is the system that we're studying, is the data stable? When we look at the patterns of the data over time, is there predictability to it?   0:08:01.8 JD: Is there stability to that data or is it all over the place? And then the third thing or sorry, the fourth thing we want is a logical answer to the question, "by what method?" So let's take sort of a deeper look at each of those four conditions, kind of unpack those a little bit. We'll use third grade reading state testing data. I have some data on a chart, but I'll share my screen in a second for those that are viewing the data. And then for those that are only listening, I'll sort of narrate what we're looking at so you'll still get some value out of the description. So you see my screen now?   0:08:42.5 AS: Yep.   0:08:43.3 JD: Okay, cool. So we've looked at these charts before in previous episodes. It's been a while. So this is what some people call a control chart. I call it a process behavior chart because it's literally a description, a visual description of a process unfolding over time.   0:09:01.7 AS: And maybe I'll just describe it. At the title it says, Ohio Third Grade Reading State Testing Proficiency Levels. On the y-axis is the percent proficiency ranging from, of course, zero to 100. And on the x-axis, we have seven school years going from the 2015 to 2016 school year all the way to 2022 to 2023 school year. And then most importantly, we have points, that's a blue line here, but the points that are showing the movement of third grade reading state proficiency levels year by year or school year by school year. Continue.   0:09:51.1 JD: Yep, that's right. That's a good description. So those blue dots are the percent of third graders that are proficient each testing year. And to give you some context, in Ohio about 125,000 third graders take that state reading test each year. One thing you'll notice is that there is no data for 2019-'20. That's because we give the test in the spring of a school year. So in the spring of 2020, schools were shut down due to the pandemic so there was no state test. So we missed one year of testing, but that's really not, that's not really pertinent to this discussion. So the other thing you'll see on here is the green line is the average of the data running through there.   0:10:38.4 JD: And those red lines that are on either side of the data are, some people call them control limits, I call them the lower and upper natural process limit. And they're based on a statistical calculation. They're not where I want the lines to be, they're where they are based on the data. And for those watching, the data points are 54.9% proficient in '15 -'16. The next year in '16 -'17, 63.8% of the third graders were proficient. In '17 -'18, 61.2% were proficient. In '18 -'19, 66.7% were proficient. In 2021, er, 2020 -'21, kind of dipped down to 51.9%. Then in '21 -'22, 59.8% of the third graders were proficient. And then in our most recent year, 62.3% of kids were proficient.   0:11:35.3 AS: So out of all those points, let's just say a high of about roughly 70% and a low of a little bit higher than 50%.   0:11:45.5 JD: Yeah. Yep. Yep. So the low was like, I think 59%. I can look back. Low was 54.9%, the high was 66.7%.   0:11:57.5 AS: Okay.   0:12:00.3 JD: And that works out to about an average of 60% across that seven-year time period.   0:12:08.3 AS: And when we talked about the 80%, is that 80% related to these test results?   0:12:13.7 JD: Sure. Yep.   0:12:13.8 AS: This is what the state is saying it should be?   0:12:18.1 JD: So the state says that in any individual school building, in any individual school system, and so as a result, in the state as a whole, 80% of third graders should meet the proficiency benchmark, basically. So in the state, on average, across the state, when you look at all the third graders, 80% of the kids are not at proficiency. It's lower than that year in and year out across the last seven years. And I should say I picked the starting point as 2015-'16, that was the first year of a brand new test. So it's really a new testing system as of that year. And then it stayed pretty consistent in terms of what the kids are being asked to do. Prior to that, the test was a different format. So it was sort of like a different system.   0:13:04.6 AS: And this is from all schools, so it's Ohio, it's not your school?   0:13:09.6 JD: Right. So this is all Ohio public schools.   0:13:12.9 AS: Okay.   0:13:13.9 JD: Yep. Which are required to give the state test once a year. So, like I said, beginning with this spring 2016 testing season, Ohio began administering this new state test, which is why I started with 2015- '16. And that's where the data starts. So again, schools need to have at least 80% of their students score proficient or higher in each tested area, including reading. So what we're doing here is sort of looking at that first condition. We're trying to figure out what's the capability of this third grade reading testing system. And when I say system, I'm literally talking about everything that could impact third grade reading test scores.   0:14:00.4 JD: Now, I mean, you could almost make an infinite list, but I'm talking about the actual students in Ohio public schools, the third graders themselves, their teachers, the various reading curricula that's being used in schools, technology related to reading programming, supplemental materials, the schools themselves, how the schools themselves are organized. And you can go on and on about any number of in-school and out-of-school variables that might impact a third graders performance on a state test.   0:14:37.2 AS: And I think about resources like between schools and parents and teachers and administrators, everybody's putting forward... Putting forth resources to try to get to this.   0:14:46.9 JD: Yep. The reading standards themselves, the reading test, that's all a part of the third grade reading system. And basically, for those that are viewing the video or heard the description, the capability is outlined in the process behavior chart. I mean, that's literally what the process behavior chart doing. It's, it's, it's visualizing the capability of that third grade reading system. So one thing that's pretty clear when you look at this seven years worth of data is that it's very unlikely that the state of Ohio is incapable of hitting that 80% mark. Now, seven years of data is not 20 years of data, but we, in none of the seven years that have occurred have we gotten anywhere close to that 80% mark. So that's one thing we can see.   0:15:39.9 AS: Sorry, what was the conclusion that you just said?   0:15:42.8 JD: Well, we're, we can see from the data here, even though it's only seven data points, which is something to work with, but it's not 20 data points, it's not 25 data points but it's pretty likely that the third grade reading system, that we're incapable as a state of hitting 80%...   0:16:00.9 AS: Okay, so the capability of the system, the goal of the, of the state representatives that set the 80% seems to be slightly outside of the capability of the system.   0:16:14.4 JD: I'd say more than slightly.   0:16:15.8 AS: More than slightly. 0kay.   0:16:16.9 JD: Yeah, I'd say it likely... I would go as far to say, I try to talk scientifically so it's, we are likely incapable of hitting that 80% mark as a state.   0:16:26.5 AS: Okay. Got it.   0:16:27.7 JD: Not impossible.   0:16:29.0 AS: That's point number one.   0:16:30.5 JD: Yeah, well, and these red natural process limits actually tell us what we could expect from this particular system based on what we've seen so far. So those process limits, kind of way to think about them is as you get more data points, especially as you get 20, 24 data points, they sort of start to solidify. So an individual data point has less of an impact on the limits. So I would call them a little bit soft right now, an individual data point kind of could have an outsized impact because we don't have tons of data but what these red lines are telling us is that our reading system, this third grade reading system is capable of hitting rates somewhere between 41%, where that lower line is, and 79%, where that upper line is.   0:17:19.8 JD: That's why I say that the 80% is unlikely, rather than impossible. It's technically within the capabilities of this system as illustrated by this process behavior chart. But based on the way the limits are constructed, the limits come from the data itself, how the data, not only the magnitude of the individual data points, but it's also taking into account the point to point variation. So time is an important factor in that formula that's used to calculate the limits. And so based on how the limit is constructed, there's about a 3 in 1000 chance that we would hit that 80% mark. So that's why I say...   0:18:03.4 AS: So you're saying there's a chance?   [laughter]   0:18:06.5 JD: Very unlikely, very unlikely, right? So that's capability, that, this, that's sort of looking at the chart and talking about how capable is our system. The next thing we want to look at... Well, the last thing you could say is that that 60% average across those seven years is a pretty good descriptor, especially as you look at where the dots fall, some above, some below, that's a pretty good descriptor of the overall capability of the system, that's 60% proficiency.   0:18:37.6 AS: Right.   0:18:39.3 JD: So the second thing we'll take a look at is using the chart to understand the variation in our system. So again, we have seven data points. We just mentioned that they're bouncing around this average of 60%. And actually with seven data points, you have three that are below the line and four that are above. So about as even as you could be between how many points are below the line, how many points are above the line. So if you describe the year to year test results starting back in '15-'16, they increase and then decrease and then increase and then decrease and then increase and then increase again, a little bit in that last of the seven years.   0:19:27.8 JD: So when you look at the data, there's no sort of signals in those patterns that indicate that the increases or decreases are of significance. So in the Deming language, probably most people aren't familiar with the "common cause" language, but basically it's just saying that the thousands of variables that impact these test results are part of a common cause system. Just like, they're bouncing around, but the bouncing around is not meaningful. But what actually happens is, you know, inevitably when people describe these results, they'll pick two years. Let's say they look at, well, let's even say they look at the last three years and people will say, "Oh, we've increased the third grade reading test scores 'cause they went up a little bit from 2021 to 2022 to 2023."   0:20:19.5 JD: But again, the increases are meaningless when you're viewing this through the sort of understanding variation, knowledge about variation Deming lens. So, but again, even though seven data points isn't a lot of data, it's pretty clear from what we see so far that that, setting that 80% goal, holding schools and school systems accountable from a state perspective, it's not having any impact on the outcome of this third grade reading system. So that's what I mean to connect back to this goal setting is often an act of desperation. It's a hope and a dream that 80% of kids in this system are gonna meet this proficiency standard. It's just not happening by setting a goal.   0:21:10.2 AS: Right.   0:21:15.4 JD: The third thing is looking at stability. So we want to know if the results are predictable in this particular system. So the thing to think about here is if the system is in fact predictable, it means that the results are sort of performing as consistently as the system is capable of making it. And this Ohio third grade reading system is in fact a stable system. So based on these results so far, we can reasonably expect that future results will continue to bounce around this current average. That's just what's gonna happen. So the results might be a little bit below the average, maybe they'll remain a little bit above the average, but in all likelihood, unless something else of significance changes, this is what we can expect from this system. Now...   0:22:13.1 AS: And for some people that may not totally understand the Deming lens, point number two and point number three may be a bit confusing because you're thinking, what's the variation of the system? Well, doesn't the variation of the system also tell you if the data is stable? How would you describe the difference in those two points?   0:22:39.9 JD: Well, it's stable because there's no patterns in the data that signify instability. So there are different sets of patterns that different organizations like Western Electric had a set of patterns that they sort of established because that's sort of where these charts were invented. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has a set of rules that they use. They are big in training and using control charts. I sort of, my basic approach is to try to keep things as simple as possible. So I default to Donald Wheeler who wrote a book literally called Understanding Variation among many others on using these charts and interpreting these charts. But he basically says, and I sort of have adopted this idea of just three simple rules that I look for.   0:23:29.0 JD: So I look for a single point outside of the red lines, either above or below that's so unexpected, that's a significant pattern, just one data point. I'll also look for three out of four that are closer to one of the red lines than they are to that average green line. And the other big thing I look for is eight successive data points that are on either side of that average line. So if a single point is outside either the upper or the lower limit, that's a pretty high magnitude chance that there is something very different going on now in your system. The eight points in a row is sort of like a moderate but sustained indication that something has changed in either direction. But in this case, we have a stable system. There's no patterns in the data that suggest instability.   0:24:33.0 JD: So it's good in the sense that the system is predictable. And so, let's say I sort of would then try something new, an intervention of some kind, and then look to see what happens. I know at the outset of the experiment that it was a stable system and I can be relatively assured that it's the thing that I introduced that brought about the change. But stability should not be an indication of good, necessarily. You can have a stable but unsatisfactory system, which is how I would describe this particular system. It's stable, meaning it's predictable based on what we see so far, but it's also unacceptable that 40%, two out of five kids are not proficient on the third grade reading test.   0:25:30.1 AS: The good news is your cancer is stable, the bad news is you have cancer.   0:25:33.4 JD: Your cancer is stable, right. It's the cancer is stable, but maybe not growing. How about that analogy?   0:25:39.5 AS: Yeah.   0:25:41.2 JD: Yeah. So we have a stable system but producing less than desirable outcomes. So at that point, the only thing that I can do is work on the design of the system itself. Something about the inputs, something about the throughputs. Maybe I... One big push here in Ohio is to sort of adopt the principles called the science of reading. So teaching reading in a scientific way, like a research-backed way. And so perhaps that's an intervention that could be attempted and Ohio's sort of attempting it. But that sort of everybody getting behind an approach that's been shown to work, that's very different than just setting a goal and then holding educators accountable to the goal.   0:26:26.3 JD: And that's typically what's happening. And when you do that, then you cause frustration. Because if people knew what to do to make things better, then they'd probably do it. So they're being held accountable for something that they maybe don't know how to improve, or maybe they don't have the resources to improve. And so that's why Deming would say "substitute leadership." And that's what he was talking about, leadership towards improvement. And that's a good segue to the last condition, we've mentioned this idea that the 80% goal is beyond the capability of system, so we have to think about methods. By what method then can we improve because this setting a target isn't gonna work. Nothing's changing just because we have this target.   0:27:21.3 JD: And so instead, what happens, and I've seen this my entire career, is that some schools in Ohio regularly surpass this benchmark. Many other schools are nowhere near it. But my sort of a priori hunch, so my pre-testing hunch would be sort of like the overall system, the individual school's third grade reading test results are fairly stable. So what I mean is that low scoring schools stay low scoring, and the high scoring schools stay high scoring. And we sort of admonish the low scoring ones and celebrate the high scoring ones but there are people doing great things in all of those different types of schools.   0:28:14.3 JD: But the fact is, if you took the staff at one high scoring school and put them into a low scoring school, I think you'd be hard pressed to get the same results because so many of the other things that are in place at that high scoring school would not travel just because the staff travels. You know? And so that's, again, where frustration comes in. Then this 80% target really just becomes this sorting mechanism. It's not a roadmap towards improvement and it's literally sorting the schools, the ones that don't hit this benchmark and the ones that do but then you have these other things that happen. What teacher wants to consistently work at a low scoring school when they don't feel like they can do anything else? They can't affect change, what do they...   [chuckle]   0:29:05.3 AS: Have you seen the chart of that school?   0:29:08.4 JD: What did you say?   0:29:09.4 AS: Have you seen the chart of that school you're gonna go work at?   0:29:11.5 JD: Have you seen the chart, and so I'm gonna go work somewhere else that gets all the awards. And so you have this, if anybody studies systems, you have this sort of self-fulfilling thing that the rich get richer, sort of, right? The resources tend to pile up. And so instead what we need to do is think about this last sort of condition, by what method, by what method. Okay, if you're gonna say we're gonna set this 80% goal, by what method can we work together and achieve that? So I brought up one possibility is to sort of implement the science of reading. Now, doing anything as an initiative statewide is very challenging for any number of reasons because the obstacles are gonna be different in different locations that are low scoring.   0:30:02.1 JD: So I don't want to paint the picture that you can just sort of, when people say use evidence-based stuff, well, the evidence-based stuff often doesn't take into account many, many different contextual factors that are important. So I don't want to say there's some silver bullet because there's not. But what I do know is that I think you could argue that having these targets set like this that just sort are not good for anybody. And so maybe they're doing more harm than they are good. And I just want to at least take that into account, because this could work, not only for people working in schools, but also policymakers to think about these things, to at least understand. So if you told me, I've looked at the data for 15 years, I understand the capability of whatever system that is being studied.   0:31:05.8 JD: I understand how the results have shifted up and down over those 15 years, I understand the stability level of those results and I'm still moving forward with the target, I mean, I could accept that a little bit more than just completely arbitrary, but it still sort of begs the question, by what method? Who can do this? So I just think that's... That's really what I'm talking about when I'm saying goal setting is often an act of desperation, that the targets are arbitrary and that this thinking that should underlie this substitution of leadership for just picking targets is really the sort of the approach that we should be looking as, especially systems leaders, school systems or state education system leaders, that type of thing.   0:31:56.4 AS: And for the technical listeners or viewers who want to understand how you calculated the upper and lower natural process limits, maybe you can describe using standard deviation or tell us how you're doing that.   0:32:12.0 JD: Yeah, well, so it's, in this particular type of chart, you can see up here it says X chart, which there's, typically with an X chart, there's another chart below that charts the moving ranges between each successive point. So usually it's two charts together and it's called an XMR chart. Just to simplify things, I just included the X chart, but the XMR chart is sort of like the Swiss army knife of charts, meaning that it basically works with any type of data. It doesn't need to be normalized, as long as it's data that occurs over time. Now, people have strong opinions that that's not the case, but again, I sort of follow the teachings of Donald Wheeler and that's sort of his take on things and I you know, I've subscribed to that.   0:33:00.2 JD: But basically what the chart is doing is it's looking at each data point and it's using the moving range along with some scaling factors that were sort of invented by Walter Shewhart 100 years ago and then refined over time by statisticians like Deming to develop the formula. So it's not standard deviation. Your standard deviation doesn't take into account time. Standard deviation is the distance from the mean, but it's a sort of a static measurement. Whereas this is taking into account not only the variability, but also the time that variability occurred. So that's the key...   0:33:46.6 AS: In other words, if you had a process where you had 20 years and you've made a significant shift in the way you're doing things, if you were calculating a standard deviation based upon the whole data set, you would be using a data set that's really not reflecting the behavior of the system now...   0:34:08.5 JD: That's right.   0:34:10.5 AS: As opposed to sort of a rolling style or using the most recent periods as what you should be using to set the control limits.   0:34:20.1 JD: Yeah, that's right. So I think, yeah, so the big factor is the process behavior chart, the XMR chart, takes into account the point-to-point differences and standard deviation doesn't take time and how the changes occurred over time into account in terms of that calculation.   0:34:40.3 AS: Okay, so let's just wrap up.   0:34:41.4 JD: And I should say someone smarter than me on these should definitely fact check me on that, but I think I have the basics right.   0:34:49.5 AS: I have to admit that you got me thinking about one of the goals I've been setting for admissions into my Valuation Masterclass bootcamp and is what I'm pushing for something beyond what the system's capable of? And so while you were speaking, I was gathering my data and playing around and thinking about it in relation to what you're thinking because I definitely understand point number four, by what method, that we have to think about new methods or else we're gonna get the same result. But I also can say that I didn't understand the number one capability of the system 'cause I didn't have a control chart on it. Now I do as a result of this conversation. And so I challenge anybody out there that's listening or viewing, it's time to make your control chart.   0:35:38.6 AS: The second thing is I had an intuitive feel for what was the variation of the system but when I look at the chart now, it's much bigger than what I had thought. So I can see, in fact, yeah. And then number three is, is the data stable? And I just kept it simple, for my data points I just used standard deviation. And what I found from my upper and lower control limits is that I have one data point that broke through the upper 1 standard deviation line and also the upper 2 standard deviation line. And there was something very unique that I did at that time that we stopped doing for good or bad, but at least I can attribute that to a specific action.   0:36:31.5 AS: And then the fourth point that you've made, so capability of system number one, number two, what is the variation of the system? Number three, is the data stable? And number four, by what method? Of course, that to me is the whole key, once we've got, I think most people don't understand points one, two, and three about their system that they're trying to get a goal out of. But then by what method is really hard. I mean, we've been doing it this way, now... And it's not producing the result that we want, so what's the method to get us to the goal that we want? And I think to me, that's a huge challenge.   0:37:08.5 JD: Yeah. And a key to that last point, and maybe a good point to wrap up on, from a Deming lens and thinking about the system of profound knowledge and let's say the understanding of psychology is that in the state accountability system, the by what method goes like this, "By what method are you going to improve?" Right? But in the Deming methodology, it's, "All right guys, by what method are we going to improve these third grade state reading results?" Right?   0:37:37.5 JD: And in that first case, the finger wagging, what do people do? They try to protect their corner. "No, it's not that bad. We improved a little bit." "No, no, no, it's not us, it's them." So all the energy gets put towards trying to sort of write fiction about our results, which we talked about before, versus actually trying to improve things. And that's part of that, why you need all parts of the System of Profound Knowledge, including psychology, to actually bring about improvement with a group of people.   0:38:10.4 AS: So a great place to wrap up, as you're thinking about improving things, instead of saying "by what method" as a command, why not say "by what method" as a question? John, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, I wanna thank you again for the discussion. And for listeners, remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. And you can find John's book, Win-Win: W. Edwards Deming, the System of Profound Knowledge and the Science of Improving Schools on Amazon.com. This is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, people are entitled to joy in work.

Could the very freedoms we hold dear be slipping through our fingers? Dale Hutchison, a retired drug and alcohol counselor and now host of "Coffee Time Again," joins us for a stirring exploration into the intersection of American history and constitutional rights. With a past life as a restaurant owner, Dale's voice now resonates in the podcasting realm, where he champions a deeper grasp of our country's core principles. Our conversation unearths the concerns surrounding the diminishing understanding and respect for the Constitution, pointing to pivotal moments and presidential decisions that have shaped today's political landscape.As we navigate the labyrinth of government bureaucracy, we confront the literal and metaphorical draining of Washington D.C., assessing the origins and repercussions of federal agencies that have burgeoned well beyond their original intent. From educational oversight to environmental regulations, we question the federal government's encroachment into areas once controlled by state and local authorities. The episode probes the impact of legislation like "No Child Left Behind" and the establishment of institutions such as the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. Through these discussions, Dale and I seek pathways to reinvigorate the constitutional foundations that seem to be eroding before our eyes.Join us as we step into the classroom ourselves, dissecting the contentions within the educational sphere and the politicization that has seeped into its core. Reflecting on my own experiences as an educator, we tackle the shift from local to federal control and its effect on the narratives taught to our nation's youth. We also contemplate the media's influence on public perception and historical discourse. As we bid Dale adieu, we not only express our appreciation for his insights but look forward with eagerness to further dialogues over coffee that will continue to challenge and enlighten our listeners.mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issuesmosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring Jewish...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show

The current debate over corporate Governance depicts a conflict between shareholders and stakeholders. But what if their interests were aligned?Alex Edmans is a professor at the London School of Business and an expert on the impact of ESG factors on firm performance. His latest book is called Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit. Alex and Greg discuss the pervading discourse on ESG factors and fiduciary duty. Alex compares the benefits and challenges of long-term versus short-term activism. Join us as we debunk the stereotypes of activist investing, asserting its potential to spark long-term value through a lens that values genuine insight over raw data. Greg and Alex also navigate beyond the surface of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion metrics, drawing a parallel with the flawed educational policy of No Child Left Behind. Alex also gives his personal reflections on the importance of research in real-world business applications and leveraging purpose statements for strategic decision-making both in business and life.*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Why is it difficult to craft a statement of purpose for companies?36:03: So why is it difficult to come up with a mission statement, either for a company or for a person? To mean anything, it has to be selective. You can't be all things to all people, and that's why it's difficult to come up with such a statement because there's certain things that you miss out. So when I say to use rigorous research to influence the practice of business, that rules out just doing research for purely intellectual purposes, only to be published in top academic journals and be applauded by fellow academics. Instead, it's something where I'm doing this because I want to influence the way people think and act.Is shareholder capitalism bad for companies?11:42: Shareholder capitalism is actually not a bad thing as long as we correctly recognize that shareholder value is long-term shareholder value.Reforming companies by improving it for the long-term16:34:  Some of the most valuable companies today, such as the tech companies in the US, are worth far more than their quarterly earnings. Because investors are valuing the future, indeed, the most successful activist investors are the ones that will try to improve a company's productivity and innovation, and indeed there was some nice academic research which looks at the source of the value creation from activist shareholders, and it's not value extraction, value capture, it's indeed things such as improving productivity and improving innovation.Pursuing action, not profit08:46: So, one of the messages of the book [Grow The Pie] is actually the best way to pursue a goal. Let's say it's profits. It's not actually direct. If you go in with the mindset, and you're right to highlight the mindset, can I make money from this? There are many good things that do make money in the long term, but because that monetization is unexpected and difficult to predict, if you have the mindset of, I'm only going to do something if it makes me money, then I might not actually take that action.Show Links:Recommended Resources:Pareto principleM-PesaMichael PorterMilton FriedmanESG - Environmental, social, and corporate governanceDEI - Diversity, equity, and inclusionSASB - Sustainability Accounting Standards BoardNo Child Left Behind ActMcKinsey & CompanyBlackRockCSR - Corporate social responsibilityProject Last MileDoctors Without BordersBob IgerGuest Profile:AlexEdmans.comGrowThePie.netFaculty Profile from the London Business SchoolProfile on LinkedInSocial Profile on XWikipedia PageHis Work:Amazon Author PageGrow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and ProfitMay Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases―And What We Can Do About ItGoogle Scholar Page

Air Date 2/17/2024 The debate over education has been derailed from the legitimate concerns of the past focused on the downfalls of No Child Left Behind and Common Core policies into a cul-de-sac of ignorance over opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and the teaching of critical race theory. Not to mention the new McCarthyism that has sprung up to squash any criticism of Israel's genocidal war in Gaza. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Clips and Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: How to Dismantle the Anti-DEI Machine - At Liberty Podcast - Air Date 2-9-24 Free speech on campus, book bans, education gag orders, the overturn of affirmative action, the resignation of former Harvard president Claudine Gay. All of these issues center on one hot-button topic: DEI. Ch. 2: Fighting Back Against The GOP's War On College w. Bradford Vivian Part 1 - The Majority Report - Air Date 2-8-24 Author Bradford Vivian joins Emma to discuss his book Campus Misinformation: The Real Threat to Free Speech in American Higher Education. Ch. 3: Wadie Said on the New McCarthyism - CounterSpin - Air Date 12-22-23 Powerful institutions, including the media, combine a selective understanding of free expression with a vehement desire to enforce it. Ch. 4: The Education Myth - How America Changed Its Relationship With School w. Jon Shelton - The Majority Report - Air Date 8-20-23 Sam and Emma host Jon Shelton, professor at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, to discuss his recent book The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy.   SEE FULL SHOW NOTES MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S) Ch. 9: Resistance to Change in Higher Ed Part 2 - with Dr. Brian Rosenberg - The EdUp Experience Podcast - Air Date 11-7-23 FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 12: Final comments on the tradeoffs we make when we allow culture wars to dominate the education debate Articles: The Loss of Things I Took for Granted - Slate In the Fight Over How to Teach Reading, This Guru Makes a Major Retreat - NYTimes SHOW IMAGE: Description: Photo of the gothic facade of a university with dark clouds overhead. Credit: "Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana", Pixabay | License

Today's episode is about Alaska's Charter Schools which were recently ranked #1 in the country. The lead author of the study is Dr. Paul Peterson of Harvard University. Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Senior Editor of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research.He received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Chicago. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education, he has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the German Marshall Foundation, and the Center for Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He is an author or editor of over 30 books, four of which have been identified as the best work in its field by the American Political Science Association.Peterson was a member of the independent review panel advising the Department of Education's evaluation of the No Child Left Behind law and a member of the Hoover Institution's Koret Task Force of K-12 Education at Stanford University. The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center reported that Peterson's studies on school choice and vouchers have been among the country's most influential studies of education policy.LINK TO STUDY: "The Nation's Charter Report Card: First-ever state ranking of charter student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress"

Dr. Gee is joined again by his friend Kaleem Caire to look at the atmosphere around Justified Anger in the early years and how the initiative has created change over the last 10 years. They reflect on having breakfast together on the day that the original Justified Anger article was released and talked about how the truth of the article would be recieved in the community. The two thought leaders in the Madison community consider what it is like to speak boldly and be visionaries for racial justice. Kaleem is a champion of educational change that needs to happen to address disparities. Kaleem Caire is the founder and CEO of One City Schools, the operator of One City Preschool and One City Elementary School. Both schools are focused on getting young children ready for school success. Prior to One City, Kaleem was the President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison in Madison, WI and chair of the National Urban League's Education Committee.  In 2001, Kaleem commissioned the nation's first comprehensive study of high school graduation rates in the United States, which resulted in graduation rates being embedded in the nation's No Child Left Behind law and forever becoming a measurement of the productivity of American education. In 2002, he was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige to serve on the Independent Rules Panel that advises the U.S. Congress on the evaluation and implementation of Title I (then referred to as No Child Left Behind). From 2002-2004, he led a coalition of education, business, philanthropy and community leaders in Washington, DC to secure the passage of landmark legislation that created the nation's first federally funded school voucher program and has since provided more then $900 million net new federal funding for school reform efforts encompassing DC's traditional public, public charter and private schools. In 2009, he was appointed by the administration of President Barack Obama to serve as an expert reviewer for his signature ""Race to the Top"" national education reform initiative. Photo of Black Leaders at Justified Anger Event Read Justified Anger's Our Madison Plan alexgee.com Support the Show: patreon.com/blacklikeme

In this episode, James tackles a wide range of topics, from football plays gone wrong to cautionary tales for children. Here are 5 key takeaways that you won't want to miss from this informative and entertaining discussion: 1. The Sideline Box: Did you know that the sideline box extends from the 20-yard line to the other 20-yard line? Learn why this knowledge is important for players and how it can affect the outcome of a game. 2. The Fascinating Tale of Pinocchio: Explore the origin of this beloved, but often misunderstood, fairy tale character and discover the hidden life lessons within the story. James offers his insights on the importance of cautioning children about potential dangers. 3. Testosterone Replacement Therapy: Get the lowdown on TRT and hormone therapy from James's perspective. Gain a better understanding of the role testosterone plays and why it's not the be-all and end-all when it comes to these treatments. 4. The Unbeaten Teams and Surprising Losses: Keep up with the latest college football updates as James shares the highlights and surprises from various conferences. Find out which teams are maintaining their winning streaks and which ones have stumbled along the way. 5. The Perils of Delusions in Sports: Delve into the psyche of sports fandom as James reflects on the media's influence and the lengths some fans go to defend their teams. He shares his frustrations, observations, and questions society's perception of honest criticism. Fun Fact: Did you know that it takes a staggering one million dollars for an artist to have a platinum single on Top 40 radio stations? James dives into the music industry's secrets and his thoughts on explicit lyrics in popular songs that might surprise you. As always, James brings his signature charm and wit to this episode. You won't want to miss his breakdown of football plays, cultural critiques, and thought-provoking insights!

This week, hardcore fishing dads Tyler Winter and Matt Farrell discuss allowing 5-year-olds to watch Jaws, we fill a kiddie pool with suckers and sand sharks, watch our precious tackle get brutalized by the gentle hands of children, and explain how your yard isn't the woods so you can't poop there. 

Ever since No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, assessments have been a fixture of the education landscape—a very divisive one. But assessments have changed a lot over the last twenty years and are still changing to better meet the needs of students, teachers, schools, districts, and states. But what do these […]

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