In this episode - Sean is joined by guest host Dr. Steven Weiner to lead a panel discussion around the challenges in changing the educational system and barriers to implementing change. The panel examines the reasons why high school is particularly difficult to change and explores potential solutions for overcoming these barriers. In this episode Steven and team highlight ongoing projects at Arizona State University that support educational systems change and proposes ways for researchers to better communicate their findings to policymakers and educators.

Guest Information: 

Steven Weiner
Steven Weiner is a research analyst at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, where he brings an interdisciplinary lens to understanding transformative change within educational systems.

Ruth Wylie 
Ruth Wylie is the assistant director of the Center for Science and the Imagination and an associate research professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

Lauren Katzman 
Executive Director of Urban Collaborative Center, and Associate Research Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University

Janice Mak
Janice is a clinical assistant professor, focused on the intersection of computer science education, policy, and systems changein the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University 

Meg Astudillo
Meg is the Graduate Service Assistant for the Center on Reinventing Public Education

Links & Information: 

• Learning Future Collaborative: Designing the new American high school
• Learning Futures Podcast Episode 5, season 5: Designing the new American High School [listen on Simplecast - Apple Podcasts - Spotify]
• Reading Recovery program
• The reading wars: Kim, J. S (2008). Research and the reading wars. In: Hess FM When Research Matters: How Scholarship Influences Education Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.. pp. 89-111. [link to pdf]
• Action research: Clark, J. S; Porath, S; Thiele, J; and Jobe, M (2020). Action Research. New Prairie Press, Kansas State University Libraries. [link to pdf]
• ASU’s EDD program
• Bolman and Deal’s four-frame model
• Participatory approach
• IEPs, individualized education programs
• RTI & MTSS, Response to Intervention & Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
• Universal design for learning
• Zero Reject [link to Wikipedia]
• Manifestation Determination Reviews [link to AZ DOE policy]
• Section 504, civil rights legislation
• Arizona STEM Acceleration Project
• Schools of Opportunity, from the National Education Policy Center
• Lauren’s book: Effective Inclusive Schools
• Learning Labs in Wisconsin
• CRPE report (2022): The State of the American Student
• CRPE report (2014): Policy Barriers to School Improvement: What’s Real and What’s Imagined