IDRA Classnotes

Classnotes Podcast (June 23, 2020). Equity audits are powerful tools to help school districts identify root causes of inequities that impact student success. These audits typically involve analyzing data in three key areas: programmatic equity, teaching quality equity, and achievement equity.

In this episode, Dr. Paula Johnson and Morgan Craven, J.D., talk about how IDRA EAC-South’s equity audits – or equity walks, as we call them – help districts and communities identify the greatest area of need & how to improve. They give examples of how educational policies impact equity, including school funding policies, policies that hinder teacher diversity, and policies that limit student access to higher-level courses.

Paula directs the IDRA EAC-South, and Morgan is IDRA’s national director of policy, advocacy and community engagement.

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Show length: 23:36

Using Equity Audits to Assess and Address Opportunity Gaps Across Education, by Paula N. Johnson, Ph.D.

Ensuring Equity in Online Learning – Considerations in Response to COVID-19’s Impact on Schooling

Equity Audits – Assessing Equity Across Education, IDRA Visiting Scholar Webinar Series

IDRA Six Goals of Educational Equity

Your feedback

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post How Equity Audits Reveal Harmful Education Policies – Podcast Episode 202 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (May 27, 2020). Those most impacted by the sudden shift to distance learning clearly are the students themselves. In this podcast episode, we brought together students to share how they have been navigating the new challenges brought on by COVID-19 and distance learning. Ana Ramón talks with three Chief Science Officer students as they describe how they have stayed connected and keep innovating during this time. Our special guest students are: CSO Isela, 12th Grade, McCollum High School, Harlandale ISD; CSO Shreya, 10th Grade, Keystone School; and CSO Elizabeth, 8th Grade, Northeast ISD STEM Academy (Nimitz MS).

Students in IDRA’s Texas Chief Science Officer program are in grades 6-12 elected by their peers to be liaisons for STEM in their schools and communities. They learn leadership skills to implement on-campus projects and advocate for student voice in STEM. See our Texas Chief Science Officer webpage for details. These youth STEM ambassadors have not stopped their work to enrich a STEM culture despite their school and community closures.

See our next webinar with CSO students: Elevate the Voices of Students in STEM at Your School – Webinar Q&A on Hosting the Texas Chief Science Officer Program

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Show length: 23:36

IDRA Texas Chief Science Officer program

Webinar May 29: Elevate the Voices of Students in STEM at Your School – Webinar Q&A on Hosting the Texas Chief Science Officer Program

Webinar: Chief Science Officer Students Determined to Promote STEM Despite School Closures

In new San Antonio science and tech program, students call the shots, Alia Malik, San Antonio Express-News, October 17, 2019

Your feedback

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post STEM Students Describe Life in a COVID-19 World – Podcast Episode 201 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (March 6, 2020). For several decades, some states have used the threat of taking over a school district to force some kind of change. But this isn’t a new trend. Since 1989, over 22 state governments and agencies have taken over more than 100 local public school districts across the country.

In this episode, Ana Ramón talks with Terrence Wilson, J.D., and Chloe Latham Sikes, M.A., give a quick history of school takeover policies and describe the problems they create that hinder equitable education. Ana is IDRA’s deputy director of advocacy, Terrence is IDRA’s regional policy and community engagement director, and Chloe is IDRA’s deputy director of policy.

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Show length: 12:49

Another Zero-Tolerance Failure – State Takeovers of School Districts Don’t Work, By Terrence Wilson, J.D., & Chloe Latham Sikes, M.A., March 2020

The Problem with School Takeovers – Studies show they’re ineffective and may unequally impact Black and Hispanic communities, by Alan Greenblatt, June 2018

Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy, by Domingo Morel

Your feedback

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post School District Takeovers History and Today – Podcast Episode 200 appeared first on IDRA.

Lexis Ratto and Kelly O’Kane spoke to the San Antonio City Council about climate change.

Classnotes Podcast (November 26, 2019). While the Chief Science Officers program is designed to support new student leadership for STEM, the main reason it expanded to Texas was the leadership of two students, Kelly and Lexis. First launched in 2015 by Arizona-based SciTech Institute to elevate the voices of students in STEM, the program now exists in the United States and in other countries from Kuwait to Mexico. After the program came to San Antonio in 2018 with support from the Alamo STEM Ecosystem, a member of the International STEM Learning Ecosystem, IDRA operates the program as it grows across Texas.

In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Garcia, talks with Kelly and Lexis about their experience as CSOs and the importance of mentorship and sense of community among students. Stephanie is IDRA’s STEM and gender equity education specialist and directs IDRA’s CSO program.

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Show length: 12:49

Building a STEM Identity through the Chief Science Officer Program, by Lexis Ratto & Kelly O’Kane, IDRA Newsletter, August 2019, by San Antonio’s first CSOs

International CSO Program Comes to Texas

In new San Antonio science and tech program, students call the shots, Alia Malik, San Antonio Express-News, October 17, 2019

Video: Middle school Chief Science Officer, Alicia DeHoyos, Dwight STEM Academy, South San Antonio ISD

Videos: Speakers at CSO launch event in San Antonio

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Meet the Chief Science Officer Students Who Brought the Program to Texas – Podcast Episode 199 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (November 14, 2019) English learners success in many ways depends on strong school leaders, many of whom are adjusting to both the growing numbers of English learners and the growing numbers of languages spoken in their school. Strong leaders innovate, inspire and empower their staff to serve their diverse populations. In this episode, Dr. Nilka Avilés talks with principal David Garcia about his dual language school and his vision of having not only bilingual students but biliterate and multicultural students who excel.

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Show length: 12:50

English Learner Success Depends on Strong Principal Leadership, by Nilka Avilés, Ed.D.

IDRA’s Framework for Effective Instruction of Secondary English Language Learners

Good Schools and Classrooms for Children Learning English: A Guide

Semillitas de Aprendizaje Early Childhood Training and Supplemental Curriculum

School Leaders Improve English Learner Literacy with Focus on Inferencing, by Nilka Avilés, Ed.D.

IDRA English Learner Literacy Coaching Services

Science Instructional Strategies for English Learners

Schools’ Duty to Educate English Learner Immigrant and Migrant Students, by Kristin Grayson, Ph.D.

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Principal Leadership for English Learner Success – Podcast Episode 198 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (October 23, 2019). After a little over a decade of relatively fair funding in Texas, policymakers adopted changes in 2005 that re-inserted new inequitable features into the system, and the state started to reduce its share of school funding. In this second of four episodes on school finance, Morgan Craven, J.D., IDRA national director of policy, talks with two other school finance experts: Dr. Albert Cortez, who led IDRA’s policy work and served as an expert witness in numerous school finance trials until his retirement in 2015, and Al Kauffman, J.D., who was the lead litigator for MALDEF and now is a professor at St. Mary’s Law School.

In the first episode in this series, they give a quick history school finance in Texas. In this second episode, they describe a chain of litigation resulting in a disastrous Texas Supreme Court ruling that struck a blow to students across the state.

Show length: 26 min.

Texas School Finance Reform: An IDRA Perspective

IDRA’s Fair Funding for the Common Good website

In school finance decision, the poor people have lost again, David Hinojosa, J.D., Texas Tribune, June 14, 2016

Conversation: Albert Kauffman and David Hinojosa on Texas School Finance, NowCastSA, May 18, 2016

The Latest Texas School Finance Equity and Adequacy Court Case – Round Six Texas Taxpayers and Student Fairness Coalition et al vs. Williams, by Dr. Albert Cortez, IDRA Newsletter, 2014

On school funding, the needed next steps will be hard, Houston Chronicle, May 13, 2016.

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Most Recent Fights for Fair Funding of Texas Schools – Podcast Episode 197 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (October 11, 2019). For schools to successfully educate their students, fair funding is essential. Five decades ago, a group of parents in Texas launched a court case that impacted the country when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in San Antonio ISD v. Rodríguez. The disappointing result also led to IDRA’s founding. Since then, IDRA has stood at the forefront of school finance reform efforts in Texas and served as a resource for grassroots and legal organizations involved in school funding litigation in several other states. While much has improved in Texas, the neighborhoods where students happen to live continue to markedly impact the quality of their education.

In this first of four episodes on school finance, Morgan Craven, J.D., IDRA national director of policy, sits down with two other school finance experts: Dr. Albert Cortez, who led IDRA’s policy work and served as an expert witness in numerous school finance trials until his retirement in 2015, and Al Kauffman, J.D., who was the lead litigator for MALDEF and now is a professor at St. Mary’s Law School. In this episode, they give a quick history of school finance in Texas. (Note: IDRA’s founder, Dr. José A. Cárdenas, literally wrote the textbook, Texas School Finance Reform: An IDRA Perspective.)

Show length: 29:51 min.

Texas School Finance Reform: An IDRA Perspective

IDRA’s Fair Funding for the Common Good website

In school finance decision, the poor people have lost again, David Hinojosa, J.D., Texas Tribune, June 14, 2016

Conversation: Albert Kauffman and David Hinojosa on Texas School Finance, NowCastSA, May 18, 2016

The Latest Texas School Finance Equity and Adequacy Court Case – Round Six Texas Taxpayers and Student Fairness Coalition et al vs. Williams, by Dr. Albert Cortez, IDRA Newsletter, 2014

On school funding, the needed next steps will be hard, Houston Chronicle, May 13, 2016.

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Quick History School Finance in Texas – Podcast Episode 196 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (August 30, 2019). Following the tragic mass shooting at the Walmart in El Paso, the trauma does not end when the television cameras go away. The community is impacted, as are its school students and staff. In this episode, we sit down with IDRA education associate, José A. Velázquez, M.Ed., for whom El Paso is home. He describes the El Paso community and the back-to-school energy in the air during this season.

He is joined by Morgan Craven, J.D., IDRA national director of policy, and Michelle Martínez Vega, IDRA technology coordinator. They discuss the responsibility of school leaders for school safety and the critical importance of turning to research-based strategies to prepare for and respond to traumatic events. The IDRA EAC-South provides technical assistance and training to build capacity of local educators to serve their diverse student populations.

Show length: 16:03 min.

Legislative Solutions for Safe Schools Must Include School-Based Strategies that Help Educators and Support Students

IDRA Lists Concerns with Proposed Amendments to Title IX Gender Equity Regulations, January 30, 2019

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Impact of Mass Shootings on Schools – Podcast Episode 195 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (August 6, 2019). Over the last two decades, we’ve seen great improvements in engaging girls in math. They are as likely as males to calculus AB, statistics and chemistry. But they are less likely to take higher-level math courses and in college are much less likely to enroll in STEM fields.

In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Garcia and Kasia Razynska share three strategies for increasing girls’ performance and persistence through K-12 math. Stephanie is an IDRA education associate and Kasia Razynska is associate director of evaluation and continuous improvement for the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium.

Show length: 11:11 min

Five Best Practices that Add Women to the Equation – Preparing K-12 Girls for Mathematics, by Stephanie Garcia, Ph.D., & Kasia Razynska, IDRA Newsletter

Encouraging Girls in Math and Science: IES Practice Guide

Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. National Science Foundation.

STEM Pathways for Girls of Color: A Review of the Literature, by Paula Johnson, Ph.D., IDRA Newsletter.

Guiding Students to a Healthy Math Identity, by Deborah Peart, Edutopia

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Three Strategies for Engaging Girls in Math – Podcast Episode 194 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (July 22, 2019). The Chief Science Officers program was initiated in 2015 by Arizona-based SciTech Institute to elevate the voices of students in STEM. The program now exists in the United States and in other countries from Kuwait to Mexico. After the program was brought to San Antonio in 2018 by the Alamo STEM Ecosystem, a member of the International STEM Learning Ecosystem, IDRA will operate the program as it grows across Texas.

In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Garcia, Dr. Paula Johnson, and Michelle Martínez Vega give an overview of the program and how communities can form a circle of support for these student advocates wherever the program operates. Opportunities for local business, civic and community organizations include individual STEM mentors, field trip locations, meeting spaces and sponsorships. Stephanie and Paula are IDRA education associates and Michelle is IDRA’s technology coordinator.

Show length: 11:11 min

International CSO Program Comes to Texas

Video: Middle school Chief Science Officer, Alicia DeHoyos, Dwight STEM Academy, South San Antonio ISD

Videos: Speakers at CSO launch event in San Antonio

We welcome your comments and questions to the podcast. Send an e-mail to [email protected].

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, (download iTunes free if you don’t have it) or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Student Voice – Chief Science Officer International Program – Podcast Episode 193 appeared first on IDRA.