Yes, we’ve had another extremely challenging year—a global pandemic, ongoing racial injustice and inequities, economic challenges, an insurrection on our nation’s capitol, and a new surge with Omicron.  Educators navigated their way through these compounded issues. They summoned their creativity and resiliency to support and engage students. With this dramatic backdrop, we move into 2022 with disappointments and frustration combined with hope for a brighter collective future. The goal of our virtual panel discussion is to surface K-12 trends that matter for 2022. As community members, what do we need to be relentless about? As policymakers, what do we need to let go? As educators, how do we create space for transformation that can usher in new ways of thinking about and doing education?

Join Hiller Spires, Ph.D., Friday Institute executive director, for the next session of our Exploring Next Generation Education Webinar Series, which will focus on addressing trauma for students returning to schools. Teachers and social workers are important points of contact for children and families who have experienced trauma. However, studies in both teacher education and social work preparation suggests that educators and social workers do not feel prepared to engage and address issues related to family trauma, which has seen a significant increase during the COVID-19 pandemic as reported by the CDC.  This session will explore insight gained from regional NC educator surveys and focus groups as well as NC social worker and educator representatives on how we can inform our educator support systems, teaching practices and stakeholder outreach to better support staff and community needs.

The ability to read is fundamental to full participation in a democratic society and serves as the basis for ongoing opportunity and success. Unfortunately, children who do not learn to read well typically do not perform well in school and often have subsequent challenges in postsecondary education and careers. The Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021 puts front and center support for reading excellence, and specifically the science of reading, in North Carolina. The purpose of this panel discussion is to explore the relationship between educational equity and the science of reading and to articulate what is at stake as NC educators implement the state’s reading plan post-COVID.

Join Friday Institute Executive Director Dr. Hiller Spires for a conversation with TIME’s 2020 Top Young Innovator—Gitanjali Rao.

Rao was recognized as America’s Top Young Scientist and received an EPA presidential award for inventing her device “Tethys”, an early lead detection tool. She is also the inventor of “Epione”, a device for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction using genetic engineering, and “Kindly”, an anti-cyberbullying service using AI and natural language processing. Rao was honored as Forbes’ “30 Under 30 in Science” in 2019 and TIME’s “Top Young Innovator” and “Kid of the Year” in 2020 for her innovations and STEM workshops she conducts globally, which has inspired over 38,000 students in the last two years across four continents. In her sessions, Rao shares her own process of innovation that can be used by students all over the world. She is an experienced TED speaker and often presents in global and corporate forums on innovation and the importance of STEM.

Join Friday Institute Executive Director Dr. Hiller A. Spires for a conversation with Catherine Truitt about her upcoming role as North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

As educators are confronted with the pandemic and renewed focus on racial injustices, we are being called on to think differently about how we serve students. Can we use this crisis context to think futuristically about how to meet the needs of each learner? Dr. Hiller Spires’ interview with North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green will feature the story of the creation of Green’s soulful poem “Oh My Brother” and the accompanying multimedia presentation related to the murder of George Floyd and our country’s ongoing racial injustice. Additionally, Green will discuss the current moment in our history and its implications for children and our educational system.Jaki Shelton Green is the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. When he appointed her in 2018, Governor Cooper stated that, “Jaki Shelton Green brings a deep appreciation of our state’s diverse communities to her role as an ambassador of North Carolina literature. Jaki’s appointment is a wonderful new chapter in North Carolina’s rich literary history.”

Each new school year comes with challenges such as scheduling bus routes, assigning classes and communicating with families. Prior to the pandemic, however, educators could not have imagined that the start of the school year would leave everyone wondering, “Should students return to school, and, if so, how can we keep them safe while still educating them?” In this webinar, we will hear from four North Carolina panelists who will answer this question from their perspectives as a teacher, a principal, a district superintendent and the chair of the North Carolina State Board of Education.

Teaching for an anti-racist future starts with educators. According to a new paper written by three NC State College of Education assistant professors of English education and literacy, Michelle Falter, Ph.D., Chandra Alston, Ph.D., and Crystal Lee, Ed.D., “an anti-racist educator must actively work to dismantle the structures, policies, institutions and systems that create barriers and perpetuate race-based inequities for people of color.” This webinar, inspired by this paper and featuring two of its authors, will focus on how to actively move forward toward anti-racist ELA teaching.

As educators are scrambling to figure out how to conduct school during COVID-19, we are being called on to think differently about how we serve students. We’re confronted with issues of remote learning and equity in ways that are new. Can we use this crisis to think futuristically about how we can meet the needs of all learners? Listen to this cross-sector discussion on how we can work collectively to use the COVID-19 crisis to explore next-generation education systems.

As educators are scrambling to figure out how to conduct school during COVID-19, we are being called on to think differently about how we serve students. We’re confronted with issues of remote learning and equity in ways that are new. Can we use this crisis to think futuristically about how we can meet the needs of all learners? Watch this cross-sector discussion on how we can work collectively to use the COVID-19 crisis to explore next-generation education systems.