Common Ground

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss anti-racism and Critical Race Theory in schools. As of the recording of this podcast, four state legislatures (Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Tennessee) had passed laws colloquially termed "Critical Race Theory bans," and over a dozen other state legislatures had introduced similar bills. Rick and Pedro wade into these bans, conversing about what Critical Race Theory and anti-racism actually mean, recommendations for making schools safer and better for all kids, book banning, the complexity of identity, and more.

Learn more about Rick and Pedro's new book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

The Common Ground Podcast is taking a brief summer hiatus and will return in September.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss President Biden's first 100 days in office and how he's done on education. The two get into Biden's plans for education spending, retrospectively grade his performance in office so far (spoiler: Pedro gives him an A, Rick a solid gentleman's D), then dive into a conversation on the culture wars and transgender issues.

Learn more about Rick and Pedro's new book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

AEI's Rick Hess and USC's Pedro Noguera discuss COVID-19 and the return to school. They cover federal COVID aid and how schools should use it, the new CDC guidance on distancing and how schools are responding, how schools should approach the inequities exposed by the pandemic, how to deal with learning loss, and the role unions have been playing in reopening.

Learn more about Rick and Pedro's new book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.

At a time of bitter national polarization, we need to push past empty posturing in favor of a healthy, constructive competition of ideas. Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera, who tend to fall on opposing sides of the ideological aisle, candidly explore their differences on some of the toughest issues in K–12 education in their new book, “A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K–12 Education.” The two wrestle with important disagreements regarding issues such as school choice, for-profit provision, civics, and anti-racism, in a manner that yields understanding and a sense of shared purpose.

In this bonus episode conversation with The College Board's Stefanie Sanford, they discuss where 21st-century schooling needs to go and how to foster the kind of public discourse that will get us there.

Watch the full event here.

Rick Hess, director of AEI's education policy studies, and Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, kick off their new podcast with a reflection on the value of reasonable, civil debate with people you disagree with and on what prevents such debates from happening more often nowadays. Their discussion covers high-stakes testing, school reopening, accountability, personal responsibility, and more.

Learn more about Rick and Pedro's new book, A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education.