Episodes
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In his new book, The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves, Dr. Shawn A. Ginwright provides what he describes as a “roadmap” for people to embody the change they want to see in society. He encourages readers to consider the transformative power of reflection, of considering not only what we do but who we want to be as individuals. That means grappling with trauma, harm and inequality as a critical step toward healing, well-being and ultimately flourishing.
In school settings, this means that teachers have to be well enough and self-aware enough themselves to foster the well-being and thriving of the young people they are educating.
More on Dr. Ginwright. He is a Professor of Education in the Africana Studies Department and Senior Research Associate at San Francisco State University. He is the Founder and CEO of Flourish Agenda, Inc., a national nonprofit consulting firm which designs strategies for healing and engaging youth of color and adult allies in their schools and communities. From 2018 to 2021, Dr. Ginwright served as Chairman of the Board for The California Endowment. In addition to The Four Pivots, he has written the books Black in School, Hope and Healing in Urban Education and Black Youth Rising. For his outstanding research and work with urban youth, Shawn Ginwright earned a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award from the U.S. State Department.
To learn more about how to transform 21st century education using 21st century science, go to turnaroundusa.org.
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In her new book The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children's Lives, and Where We Go Now – a book that is already an Amazon “best of the month” selection – Anya Kamenetz writes that in March 2021, experts in pediatric infectious diseases reported that American youth were experiencing food insecurity, lack of socialization, depression, isolation....and were suffering academically, emotionally, socially and physically.
Nonetheless, she laments, "our country has continued failing to put children at the center of our decision making to prevent or remedy these eventualities even though they were foreseen from the very beginning. We did grave harm to children simply by failing to consider their needs at all."
Certainly the pandemic has a profound effect on every person around the globe, uprooting routines and cutting us off from vital networks. Teachers and experts Kamenetz interviewed revealed the cascading losses of delayed emotional development, learning loss and social disconnection as schools shifted operations to remote learning.
But what about now? Have children – and schools – rebounded? What lessons for learning came out of the pandemic – and how are parents, educators and administrators applying them to everyday teaching?
To learn more about how to transform 21st century education using 21st century science, go to turnaroundusa.org.
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Missing episodes?
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Today, a special episode of The 180. Dr. Pamela Cantor, founder and senior science advisor for Turnaround for Children, is a guest on a new podcast called The Future of Smart. Pam spoke with Grantmakers for Education's Ulcca Joshi Hansen about new research into youth and adolescent development and what that means for creating learning contexts that truly support and nurture the whole child. It was an outstanding conversation — and we’re thrilled to bring it you here.
For more on The Future of Smart podcast, go to https://link.chtbl.com/future-of-smart?sid=repost1.
To learn more about how to transform 21st century education using 21st century science, go to turnaroundusa.org.
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“The desire to fit in is one of the most powerful, least understood forces in a society.” That’s what Todd Rose writes in his new book, “Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions.”
Todd was our very first guest on this podcast. Three years ago, we talked with him about the idea that the U.S. education system was designed with an assumption that talent existed on a bell curve and that there was one standardized way to develop it. Talent, he argued, is not scarce. It is everywhere. And comparing individuals to averages is wholly misleading. So why does our education system largely continue on its existing path rather than finding new ways to harness each person’s unique talents by personalizing learning?
In today’s conversation, Todd develops this idea further through his exploration of the mismatch between what individuals want and their primal need to align themselves with what they think the groups they are part of desire.
More on Todd Rose: He is co-Founder and President of Populace, a think tank that blends thought leadership and original research with public engagement and grassroots advocacy. Previously, Rose was a professor at Harvard, where he founded the Laboratory for the Science of Individuality and served as the director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program. He is the author of two best-selling books, “Dark Horse” and “The End of Average”.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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Our topic today is ripped from the headlines: the war in Ukraine.
The horrifying images of Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, on civilians, are everywhere. We see the stories. We hear the pleas for help, for an end to the violence. And so do our children. They internalize what they hear and see. If they feel concerned or worried, they might ask us about it. Of course, they also might not.
So how should adults – parents, caregivers, teachers – talk with children about what’s happening in Ukraine? Reassure them? What should we say? And is there anything else we can do?
Dr. Pamela Cantor can offer guidance. She practiced child and adolescent psychiatry for nearly two decades, specializing in trauma. She is also the founder and senior science advisor of Turnaround for Children, and the author of two books on human potential, the science of learning and development, and educational equity. And on top of all that, I recently learned that she worked in Eastern Europe in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union including with Ukrainians and with Russians who were healthcare professionals.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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In our previous episode, we discussed the national state of emergency in child and adolescent mental health. In the two years since the pandemic hit, young people have around the world have reported increased symptoms of distress, anxiety and depression. These feelings can interfere with focus, learning, friendships and the joys of life. So how can adults see when a child is struggling and what can they do to help?
Renee Prince, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), is the Director of Mental Health Integration for Turnaround for Children. Renee leverages research and trends in the mental health field to ensure that Turnaround’s tools and services are informed by current clinical knowledge of trauma-informed practices. As you’ll hear, she also has helped schools build and tailor three-tier support systems to meet the needs of the young people and families they serve.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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It’s a national emergency: child and adolescent mental health.
The CDC reports that “in May 2020, emergency department visits for suspected suicide attempts began to increase among adolescents aged 12–17, especially girls.” And from February to March 2021, visits for suspected suicide attempts were up 51% for adolescent girls and nearly 4% for boys compared with the same period in 2019.
And now, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has released a strongly worded advisory entitled Protecting Youth Mental Health. Here’s one excerpt: “The pandemic era’s unfathomable number of deaths, pervasive sense of fear, economic instability, and forced physical distancing from loved ones, friends, and communities have exacerbated the unprecedented stresses young people already faced.”
So what is it about adolescents and the adolescent brain that has made them particularly vulnerable to pandemic stress. And what can we as teachers, parents, and caregivers do to support them?
Dr. Pamela Cantor has helped many young people surmount times of crisis . She practiced child and adolescent psychiatry for nearly two decades, specializing in trauma. She is also the Founder and Senior Science Advisor of Turnaround for Children, and is an author, and thought leader on the science of learning and development and human potential.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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We hear a lot today about the importance of creating equitable learning environments for all children -- providing each child what they need to be successful, which means some might need more than others depending on their starting point. We also hear a lot about backlash against some of those efforts. So when ideas about equity vary from community to community, how does it get implemented? Does an environment that is equitable for one child necessarily mean it becomes unequitable for another? Where is the balance – and how does it get struck?
LaShawn Chatmon is the founding Executive Director and Kathleen Osta is Managing Director of the National Equity Project. NEP works with education leaders nationally on these very questions – helping design and implement community-appropriate approaches to equitable learning. Both have worked in schools – LaShawn as a teacher and leader, Kathleen as a social worker –and, can offer practical guidance on how to build and implement approaches that work.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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In our last conversation, we heard from leaders of the National Equity Project on what it means to create equitable learning environments for all children, providing each child with what they need to be successful.
On this episode, we hear from students – two students who are youth advocates for the National Equity Project. What do they say young people need to be successful? How do they view the education system – who do they think it is designed for, and what critical pieces do they see as missing?
Ana De Almeida Amaral is a Stanford University sophomore studying comparative studies in race and ethnicity with a double major in political science. Micah Daniels is a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Chicago, majoring in neuroscience. Both lead and facilitate engagement with students from 18 school districts across the U.S., helping them advocate for equitable learning in their communities. Ana and Micah have a direct line to what American middle and high school students say they want from their educations today - and their ideas for how to get it.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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In our last conversation, Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade – Professor of Latina/o Studies and Race and Resistance Studies at SFSU and Co-Founder of the Roses in Concrete Community School – explained why the purpose of education should be youth wellness.
Today, we address the nuts and bolts: Specifically, what can the rest of us learn from Dr. Duncan-Andrade’s experience in building East Oakland’s Roses in Concrete school and apply to our own situations – as parents, educators, and community members – to rethink and reorient community education?
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade has a way of asking questions about the American public school system that are as precise as they are provocative. One of his questions: “Why do we take children by law from their families at age six for 13 consecutive years for eight hours a day?” The response, he says, should be Youth wellness.
Every school, he says, “should make a promise to every family that when you drop your child off to us in the morning and turn your back and walk away, our promise to you is that when you come back and pick them up your child will be more well than when you dropped them off.”
He knows that’s impossible. But the point for Dr. Duncan-Andrade is that by simply making that promise, our schools have the chance, every day, to own it, apologize, and make it right. And while the goal of wellness might be simple, his remedy to reach it is not: A complete rethink and rebuild of public education, one built through something he calls “community responsiveness.”
Dr. Duncan-Andrade – Professor of Latina/o Studies and Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University – also seeks to bring his vision to life through the East Oakland school that he co-founded, the Roses in Concrete Community School, in lectures he delivers around the world, and through his books and numerous journal articles on effective practices in schools.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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Today we continue our conversation with Zaretta Hammond.
In part one, Zaretta explained what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher – and why it’s necessary not only to stimulate intellectual curiosity, but also move beyond cognitive redlining and transition students to cognitive independence.
In part two, Zaretta extends the analysis, outlining practical steps for teachers to become, ideally, personal trainers of cognitive development. And we discuss whether educators should be worried about so-called “learning loss” during the Covid-19 pandemic or focus instead on what students may have learned away from school?
Some background: Hammond is the author of “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain” and founder of the “Ready 4 Rigor” blog. She is a former English teacher and, for nearly two decades, has worked at the crux of instructional design, professional development, and achieving equity. She is particularly interested in the work teachers must do to help students become the drivers of their own learning.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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This may seem obvious: Students learn best in environments where they feel a sense of safety and belonging – environments that the science of learning and development has shown open up the brain to learning.
But what if children find themselves in spaces, that teacher educator and author Zaretta Hammond calls “inequitable by design?” What is the responsibility for teachers and schools if the obstacle to learning is our educational system itself? And further, what does it mean to be a culturally responsive teacher – and why is that necessary, not only to stimulate intellectual curiosity, but to move beyond “cognitive redlining” and transition students to “cognitive independence”?
Zarretta Hammond is the author of “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain” and founder of the “Ready 4 Rigor” blog. She is a former English teacher and, for nearly two decades, has worked at the crux of instructional design, professional development, and achieving equity. Hammond’s research explores and analyzes the brain functions that inform how we learn and think. And it delves deeply into how students of color would benefit from culturally responsive teaching, and what it means – and doesn’t mean – for how educators can help students get ready to tackle the rigorous content necessary to succeed.
As you’ll hear, it’s such thought-provoking conversation that it called for two episodes of this podcast.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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The science of learning and development reveals how academic growth is fueled not just by the acquisition of knowledge, but from dynamic relationships between students, teachers, peers and what they experience.
So what experiences can education technology offer to support those relationships and spur engagement and motivation to learn? That’s what Newsela seeks to create - by tapping into every child's curiosity in accessible and relevant ways. Newsela offers educators and students access to current news stories no matter their reading level - on everything from the mission to Mars, to the Derek Chauvin trial, to the new pets in the White House.
And it seems to be working. A randomized controlled trial study found that students using Newsela twice a week doubled their reading scores compared to students taught reading without the platform. Today, Newsela is in 90% of American schools, serving 37 million students and 2.5 million teachers. EdTech funders have certainly taken notice. Newsela recently announced a $100M Series D investment.
So how does it work? For the answer we turned to Dan Cogan-Drew, Newsela’s Co-founder and Chief Academic Officer. Dan has worked in education for 25 years, as a public, independent and charter school teacher, and with a focus on integrating digital learning technologies to engage students and accelerate learning.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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How do teachers know how their students are doing? Grades? Grades measure how much students have learned. Attendance? Attendance measures whether they show up.
But as the Science of Learning and Development shows, how well children learn depends on how well and how safe they feel. So it’s important for educators to have a true picture of the whole child.
And, of course, the urgency and challenge to understanding how children are doing has only increased during the pandemic.
That’s why Turnaround for Children has developed its Well-Being Index. This series of questions helps children describe how they are feeling . By taking these measurements on a regular basis over a period of months, teachers can learn not only what their students might be facing on the inside, but also how to help.
How does the Well-Being Index work?
Dr. Christina Theokas is Turnaround for Children’s Chief Applied Science Officer. She oversees the teams that translate the science of learning and development into resources and tools for educators – including the Well-Being Index and the teams that partner with educators to design schools that are organized to support whole child development and learning.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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In our previous podcast, we heard from Turnaround for Children about how their Well-Being Index was designed and is meant to work. Today, we get hear the details – from the field – about how it works in action.
P.S. 340 is a K-5 school in the Bronx, NY. Frankly, it’s one of those incredible schools that goes well beyond reading, writing and arithmetic to help students learn and grow.
P.S. 340’s mission, stated clearly on its website, is to educate the whole child. To do that, the school offers an extraordinary range of programs not only to their students, but also to their families.
This year, P.S. 340 is working with Turnaround for Children on a new way to learn about and help their students. They’re using the Well-Being Index.
This series of questions helps children describe how they are feeling. By regularly taking these measurements over months, teachers can learn not only what their students might be facing on the inside, but also what they might do to help.
So how is it going? To find out, we talked with the school’s principal, Alexei Nichols, and fifth grade teacher Diana DaCorta. As you’ll hear, P.S. 340 is creating something that all schools – and parents – may want to learn from.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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When it comes to learning and thriving during the pandemic, many students have faced one obstacle after another - lack of access to high speed internet and devices, disconnection from teachers and friends, the cancellation of sports, clubs and church choirs.
But where many people see obstacles, Hal Smith sees opportunity.
Smith is Senior Vice President of Education, Youth Development & Health for the National Urban League and leads the organization’s programmatic, advocacy, policy and research work in those areas.
Across his career, Smith has focused on issues of educational opportunity, access and excellence for historically underserved communities wherever teaching, learning and development take place.
Which is why, as you’ll hear, Smith argues that the pandemic presents the chance to reimagine what school could look like – to seize the moment and try something better – grounded in the science of learning and development.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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Education is among the highest stated priorities right out of the gates for the Biden Administration. Besides the obvious – getting kids and teachers back to school safely and quickly – major challenges remain around what some call “unfinished learning” and others call “learning loss” that have been revealed and exacerbated by the pandemic – as well as enduring and systemic questions of how to address gaps in equity, race, funding, and opportunity… as well as the best ways to integrate lessons from the Science of Learning and Development in reimagining education in America.
With each issue so urgent and so connected, how should the Department of Education prioritize them? Further, given our prized system of local school control, what exactly can a federal Department of Education do?
To find out, we spoke with Dr. John King, our nation’s 10th Secretary of Education who served under President Obama. King has dedicated his career to education. His parents were New York City public school teachers. He taught high school social studies in Puerto Rico and Boston. He served as a middle school principal. Today King is president and CEO of The Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that seeks to identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps, from preschool through college.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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As schools try to determine how best to help students, the challenges, it seems, are everywhere: Health, safety, technology, food security, personal growth, and, of course, learning. Which is what makes learning about EL Education’s approach so useful.
EL Education guides a network of over 150 public schools in more than 30 states – helping build schools in low-income communities that send all graduates to college through high student achievement, character and citizenship, while also building teacher capacity through professional coaching, resources and open-source curriculum.
But how does it work? And in particular, how are the program’s fundamentals helping students, parents, teacher, and administrators maintain learning and growing.
To learn more, we spoke with Ron Berger and Laina Cox. Ron is Chief Academic Officer for EL Education, and Laina is Principal at Capital City Public Charter Middle School in Washington D.C.
As you’ll hear in this part one of our two-part conversation, a lynchpin to EL’s success is something called Crew robust advisories that form human connections, and the connections in EL schools form a community.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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Today we continue our conversation with Ron Berger and Laina Cox.
Ron is Chief Academic Officer for EL Education, and has been with the group since its founding.Ron is Chief Academic Officer for EL Education, which guides a network of over 150 public schools in more than 30 states – helping build schools in low-income communities that send all graduates to college through high student achievement, character and citizenship, while also building teacher capacity through professional coaching, resources and open-source curriculum.
Laina is one of those educators and administrators who bring EL’s vision to life, as Principal at Capital City Public Charter Middle School in Washington D.C.
In fact, today’s conversation focuses even more in depth on what exactly that means in Laina’s school – literally, how they do it. In this conversation, Ron and Laina also take on the question more broadly – looking at learning in America today – and address some of the broader social questions of how learning can and should work in the face of a pandemic, social unrest, and more.
For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.
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