In the fourth installment of their new weekly education podcast, "Fair Assessment," hosts Ali Noland and Gwen Faulkenberry interview Arkansas state Sen. Linda Chesterfield about her 30-year career as a classroom teacher, the value of teacher's unions, her frustration with the legislative process used to pass the LEARNS Act and the real-world implications of repealing the Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act. 

Yes, unfortunately, we are still working on getting the podcast hosted on platforms like Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Spotify. For now, we are offering free access to the podcast via the Arkansas Blog, so you can listen to it here.

Tune in next week: Ali and Gwen interview Star City superintendent Jordan Frizzell about the pitfalls of standardized testing and his recent experience being publicly attacked by Senator Brianne Davis for raising concerns about the LEARNS Act and supporting two educators in his district who traveled to Little Rock to participate in an education-related legislative hearing.

Feedback and suggestions for the show can be sent to [email protected].

In the third installment of "Fair Assessment," the new Arkansas education podcast, Little Rock School Board member Ali Noland and veteran classroom teacher Gwen Faulkenberry interview Steve Grappe, executive director of Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES), which is the group working to repeal the LEARNS Act. They also discuss Ali’s recent announcement that she will not be seeking reelection at the end of her school-board term, and they hand out a few grades, including an F for the communications staff running the Arkansas Department of Education’s twitter account.

While we are still experiencing delays in getting the podcast uploaded to major streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Spotify, you can listen for free here on the Arkansas Blog.

Next week, Gwen and Ali interview Senator Linda Chesterfield, a 30-year veteran classroom teacher, two-term president of the Little Rock School Board and a proven champion for students and teachers in the Arkansas legislature. 

Feedback and suggestions for the show can be sent to [email protected].

In the second episode of their new Arkansas Education Podcast, Fair Assessment, hosts Gwen Faulkenberry and Ali Noland discuss several additional themes that have become prominent in education-related politics and culture in Arkansas. First, Gwen, a veteran classroom teacher who hails from a long line of proud public educators, discusses the recent movement to delegitimize and vilify the teaching profession. Ali, who is an attorney with an LL.M. degree in constitutional and civil-rights law, discusses the alarming rise in censorship of library books, school curriculum materials and ideas. Finally, both hosts reflect on the fact that, especially in red states like Arkansas, public schools have become the front lines for meeting many of the basic human needs – food, medical care, mental-health treatment, etc. – that our state government is failing to adequately address. If you haven't caught up on their first episode, in which they discuss the well-funded national push to privatize K-12 education, you can listen here.

Feedback and suggestions for the show can be sent to [email protected].

In this first episode of Fair Assessment, co-hosts Ali Noland, an attorney and school-board member in Little Rock, and Gwen Faulkenberry, a veteran classroom teacher in rural Arkansas, introduce themselves to listeners, explain their motivation for creating an Arkansas education podcast, and start a discussion about some of the big themes that have emerged in public-education policy and politics recently. Today, we are bringing you the first part of that discussion, focusing on the coordinated efforts in several states to privatize K-12 education. Next week, we will bring the second part of the conversation, covering attacks on the teaching profession, efforts to censor the ideas and books that students can access, and highlighting the ways that public schools serve as the nation's front line on issues like poverty, hunger, homelessness, trauma, mental and physical health, and so many other systemic societal problems that the state and the federal government have failed to adequately address.

You can find text of the Arkansas LEARNS Act here: SB294 as engrossed on 02-27-2023 11:55:52 (state.ar.us)

Please send show ideas, guest suggestions, and other input to Ali and Gwen at [email protected].

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Feedback and suggestions for the show can be sent to [email protected].