KQED’s Ki Sung talks to health educator Shafia Zaloom about her book Getting Real About Sex Ed: What Today's Students Need. Zaloom shares advice for parents and educators wondering how to navigate authentic conversions with young people.

KQED's Ki Sung talks with clinical psychologist and author Ross Greene about why traditional discipline strategies often fail students, and what educators can do instead. Greene explains his Collaborative & Proactive Solutions model, which shifts the focus away from rewards and punishments and toward identifying the unmet needs and unsolved problems behind student behavior.

KQED’s Marlena Jackson-Retondo reports from Bellevue Elementary in Santa Rosa. Abrupt cuts to AmeriCorps funding last year impacted the school-based tutoring there. Principal Nina Craig explains how the loss of tutors affected instruction and student relationships, while new AmeriCorps members, Maya Nurse and Elena Zeoli, describe stepping into classrooms with limited time and resources. This episode explores how even a few missed months of literacy support reduces how many students can be served.

In this episode, KQED’s Marlena Jackson-Retondo visits the band room at Roosevelt Middle School in Oakland and speaks with longtime music teacher Randy Porter, who is retiring after 40 years in Oakland Unified schools. Porter shares how introducing students to experimental jazz, including the music of Sun Ra, helps young musicians explore creativity and possibility.

In this episode KQED’s Marlena Jackson-Retondo speaks with Scott R. Levy, adjunct lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and a former school board member, about why school boards matter more than ever. Levy’s new book, Why School Boards Matter: Reclaiming the Heart of American Education and Democracy,  explains how school boards function, how their power has shifted over time and how school boards can serve as a rare space for civic engagement and democratic participation.

Lillian Zhang is a financial and career educator. Her book, "The New Money Rules: The GenZ Guide to Personal Finance" covers how to eliminate debt and offers non-judgmental advice on saving and investing. Zhang talks to KQED's Marlena Jackson-Retondo about the tips she gives to young people managing their own finances for the first time.

This month MindShift is sharing an episode from MIT's TeachLab podcast. Hosts Jessie Dukes and Justin Reich have interviewed teachers, school leaders, and students about how the debut of ChatGPT and Generative AI is actually playing out in schools. 

They’ve compiled their learnings into a mini series called the Homework Machine.

Listen to more episodes here: https://www.teachlabpodcast.com/

KQED's Ki Sung talks to longtime MindShift contributor and child development expert Deborah Farmer Kris. In her book "Raising Awe-Seekers: How the Science of Wonder Helps Our Kids Thrive," she shares how exploring the emotion awe can help students engage with classwork and also open us all up to connecting more with our communities.

This month MindShift is sharing an episode from our friends at KQED's Close All Tabs. Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor. 

Host Morgan Sung talks to Max Spero, founder of the AI detection company Pangram Labs, MindShift reporter Marlena Jackson Retondo and educator Jeremy Na about three different approaches educators are adopting to deal with AI in their classrooms.
Listen to more episodes here: https://www.kqed.org/news/program/close-all-tabs

Host Ki Sung takes listeners inside some of the public libraries that have made significant transformations to better serve community needs. Inspired by Chicago’s pioneering YOUmedia model, similar teen-centered library programs are now thriving in cities like New York and San Francisco.  These teen spaces support not just digital learning and creativity, but also emotional well-being and community-building after the isolation of the pandemic. Listeners will hear directly from students, and librarians about how these innovative programs are helping teens flourish, proving that libraries can be much more than just places for books—they can be places to belong.