When it comes to making an impact on school outcomes, Harvard Professor Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell says we often overlook the power of relationships within the school. 

“I think the complexity of how relationships work is one of the reasons why the first place we often go when we're trying to improve schools is to something like policies and procedures,” she says. “It seems very concrete. Put the policy in place. Something's going to happen. Have a new procedure. People are going to follow it. Cross your fingers.”

But the real lever of change is in people. Bridwell-Mitchell studies the intricate dynamics of relationships within schools and how they shape outcomes for students, teachers, and institutions. 

“So all the time in organizations, we are shaping the interactions, the relationships people develop. And so from my perspective, we need to be much more intentional about what those efforts are accomplishing in terms of relationships and what impact they might be having on the outcomes that we desire,” she says, pointing out how seemingly innocuous decisions like where to put an office and what time to schedule a class can impact the social dynamic of an organization.

Relationships in schools are nested, where connections among individuals can ripple through classrooms, schools, and the educational system. However, figuring out how to more intentionally develop relationships can be challenging amid time constraints and policy demands. 

Still, Bridwell-Mitchell attests it is well worth the investment if schools want to transform for the long run. “Whatever great idea you think you have to make things better in your context, in your classroom, in your school, in your district-- how much you're going to get out of that -- the bang for the buck you invest,” she says. “What you get out of it will be so much greater if you can leverage relationships in the right way.”

In this episode, Bridwell-Mitchell shares how leveraging social networks can spark meaningful change, and why schools must embrace both the complexity and the power of human connection to achieve lasting success.

Andrew Tucker says the growing adoption of Portraits of a Graduate in K-12 education is a way to address gaps in education and prepare students to thrive in an evolving workforce. Portraits of a Graduate (POG) are frameworks, adopted by a state or district, that defines the skills and competencies students should have upon graduation, extending beyond academic benchmarks.

“For a long time-- maybe generations really-- in our K-12 system, we've really focused on a single metric for success, and that's been a four-year college degree,” says Tucker, director of policy at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). “We're beginning to recognize that there are other opportunities and other options for students and that we actually need to prepare students beyond just those minimum academic requirements that exist for enrollment into a four-year college.”

As part of a CASEL report this year, Tucker highlights how states and districts are adopting POGs to equip students with essential "durable skills" like critical thinking, collaboration, and emotional intelligence. About 20 states have created these frameworks. He explains that these portraits are developed with input from diverse stakeholders—educators, parents, employers, and community members—and aim to address the disconnect between what schools teach and the skills employers and society demand. Some states like Nevada, North Carolina, and Utah are implementing these frameworks and aligning them with career and social-emotional learning goals.

Tucker emphasizes a portraits potential to enhance student readiness for college, careers, and life, particularly as "human skills" become increasingly critical in an era shaped by AI and automation.

“We're in the era of AI. And artificial intelligence is going to be taking the place of a lot of the technical skills that people need. And what's going to be left? What's going to be left are these human skills,” Tucker says. “So we have to, as a society, and as an education system, and as a broader workforce system, we have to define these things in ways that there's a common language.”

In this episode, Tucker calls on educators and policymakers to embrace Portraits of a Graduate as a means to foster an equitable, relevant, and future-focused education.

Laura Chávez-Moreno says bilingual education inadvertently creates boundaries around Latinx identity by gathering Spanish-speaking students together.

“Bilingual education, rightfully so, has focused on language,” says Chávez-Moreno, an assistant professor at UCLA. “But there has to be also a recognition that bilingual education, because it is a part of schooling in the U.S., that it is also engaging in the process of creating ideas about race and about creating our ideas about racialized groups.”

In her new book, “How Schools Make Race,” she argues that while bilingual education aims to support students’ language and cultural identity, it often fails to address the broader racial dynamics affecting Latinx communities.

Chávez-Moreno believes that more could be done to integrate discussions of race and ethnic studies. “There's this national debate in the U.S. about whether schools should or not teach about race, and sometimes that gets called like attacks on critical race theory. I use that in scare quotes because it's really not critical race theory, but it's used…” she says. “It's causing a lot of fear in terms of what teachers can do. And instead of having that debate, we should recognize that schools teach about race already, whether we like it or not, in indirect and direct ways. But we should recognize that in order for us to then improve how we teach about it, we really need to take a more systematic approach to how teachers engage in this work. And unfortunately, that's not happening in our schools.”

She calls for an "ambitious" teaching model that would prepare educators to guide these conversations thoughtfully, helping students gain a deeper understanding of their place within a racialized society. 

In this episode, she discusses how bilingual education programs influence the racialization of Latinx students and how a more nuanced approach could enhance bilingual education and better equip students to understand the complexities of race in the U.S. 

The superintendent’s role is challenging and always evolving but too often educators step into this leadership position not fully prepared for what’s ahead. As a position with high turnover and equally high isolation at times, Lindsay Whorton, The Holdsworth Center president, says we need to be more upfront about the role if we are to attract, support, and retain leaders.

“What we have to do is be honest but also be encouraging and celebrate what an incredible opportunity it is to be in these roles. Yeah, it's going to be hard and there's going to be these pressures. And it's a really complex, intellectually, emotionally, physically demanding job,” she says. “And it represents an incredible opportunity to facilitate a conversation in your community to help advance your district to do the right thing for kids and to really make a significant difference in the lives of both the students who are in your school system today and in the future.”

The transition to a superintendent role often surprises those coming from senior leadership, as it requires them to assume a broader, more public-facing leadership stance. Many new superintendents feel "discomfort" or even disillusionment when realizing how drastically their responsibilities have expanded, including heightened community visibility and accountability. 

“What gets tricky is when that sense of discomfort turns into maybe I'm not capable, maybe I don't have the confidence, maybe this isn't something that I can do,” she says. “And so we think by helping people understand that it is normal to experience what we're calling a shift in professional identity, people can be a little bit less destabilized by that experience and can learn through it and get to the other side of feeling more prepared, more capable, more confident about the role that they have as a superintendent.”

Whorton explains that navigating the superintendency successfully demands strong relational skills, strategic vision, and adaptability. A key component to long-term success, she notes, is the ability to foster strong board relationships, even as boards may change or challenge the superintendent’s direction. Additionally, Whorton advocates for recognizing the superintendency as a role that requires community leadership and suggests a shift toward viewing superintendents as central civic figures.

In this episode, Whorton discusses whether the superintendent position has changed and why it’s necessary to reframe the role to inspire a new generation of leaders to step into this role. 

Edward Clapp wants education to shift from a traditional, individualistic view of creativity toward a participatory, socially distributed perspective. Clapp, principal investigator at Harvard’s Project Zero and co-author of, “The Participatory Creativity Guide for Educators,” doesn’t see creativity as a personal trait some people "possess" or "are," instead he proposes that everyone can "participate" in creativity. 

“Young people play a variety of roles when they participate in creativity, each leveraging their own talents, skills, background experiences, and cultural perspectives,” he says. “So, it's this more socially distributed approach to understanding what creativity is -- that isn't held within the skulls and skin of individuals. It's putting creativity in a social space so that everyone can participate in creativity in the unique ways that they have to do so.” 

Clapp talks about the “eight crises of creativity,” where challenges stem from individualism, such as the misconception that some kids are inherently more creative, and from a "culture of power" that overlooks the social and cultural dynamics of creativity. Clapp argues that an individualistic view limits students by creating exclusive standards of creativity, often alienating those who don’t fit these norms. “Creativity is not socially and culturally neutral -- it’s socially, culturally charged…” he says. “I saw the posters growing up as a kid, of Charles Darwin, and Vincent van Gogh, and Albert Einstein. More contemporarily, we'll have Steve Jobs up there-- all the dead white guys who are these icons of creativity. And creativity literally-- it literally, from that perspective, doesn't look like the majority of our students. So young people will look at those icons and say, right away, ‘I just don't even look like that person.’ To counter these issues, Clapp advocates for participatory creativity in classrooms. For example, teachers can shift focus from "creative icons" to the evolution of ideas, inviting all students to engage. 

In this episode, Clapp explains the participatory approach to creativity, and how it can empower students by validating diverse contributions and helping them develop purpose in the world. 

Sexual misconduct by school employees is more prevalent than many of us want to believe, according to Charol Shakeshaft, a distinguished professor in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. Many times, school culture gets in the way of stopping this abuse from happening. 

“What I find is that teachers see things, kids see things, administrators see things, parents see things. And what they see are what I call red flags of possible problems, but certainly what they see are boundary crossings,” Shakeshaft says. “Teachers are crossing a professional boundary, and they don't report it. And they don't report it for lots of reasons. The foremost reason they don't report it is because they don't realize they're supposed to report it. Nobody's taught them or helped them understand that these are signs that a child might be being targeted for sexual misconduct.”

For decades, Shakeshaft has studied sexual misconduct by school employees and served as a lead expert witness in hundreds of cases. In her book, “Organizational Betrayal: How Schools Enable Sexual Misconduct and How to Stop It,” she unveils a problem that is deeply entrenched in our schools and calls for greater awareness and action to protect students.

Recent studies estimate about 17% of students report being the target of sexual misconduct by a school employee. “We expect our schools to be places that are looking out for our kids, and the people there are kind and good. And in fact, most of them are. Most of them are people who care about kids, who care about people, who are honest, who have good ethics. That's the good part,” Shakeshaft says. “But as in every profession, there are those who aren't. That's the sad part.”

In this episode, Shakeshaft stresses how educators are responsible for reporting suspicious actions without having to determine whether the behavior is truly harmful and shares strategies for educators and families to recognize, report, and prevent these incidents from happening in their schools.

Elliot Haspel believes universal childcare can happen in America, especially because it affects everyone across red and blue lines. Haspel, senior fellow at Capita, says part of the challenge is recognizing that childcare is something Americans seen as a public good. 

Reflecting on the history of childcare in America, Haspel points out how certain policy failures, particularly the Comprehensive Child Development Act in the 1970s, have led to where we are today. “We've never gotten to this point in the country of really reckoning with, what is childcare and individual responsibility? Is it actually something that should be more of a right, that should be more seen akin to public education, or libraries, or parks, or roads, where society has a vested interest in supporting the family?” he says.

 He highlights two key obstacles: inclusivity (recognizing informal caregivers and stay-at-home parents) and funding, with a necessary budget estimated at over $150 billion annually. 

“Fundamentally, if you want a functional childcare system in this country that works for families, and works for children, that works for the educators, and it ultimately works for communities, and the economy, and society at large -- it has to start with robust, permanent, dedicated amounts of public funding,” Haspel says. “And we've never done anything like that in this country without first deciding, as a nation, that it is a value that we hold.”

He envisions a future where childcare is seen as a right and advocates for a large, sustained public investment. He points to other countries, like Canada and Germany, that have successfully reformed their childcare systems, showing that change is possible. Haspel emphasizes the need for a cultural shift to prioritize childcare, which he believes will lead to broader societal benefits.

In this episode, Haspel discusses the challenges and potential solutions for universal childcare in the U.S. 

Drawing from her research and interviews with boys over the past three decades, Niobe Way, a professor of developmental psychology at New York University, reveals how boys in early adolescence express a strong desire for close, emotionally intimate friendships, but as they grow older, societal pressures cause them to suppress these feelings. She calls this a crisis of connection and it’s affecting all of us. 

“This crisis of connection is not just for boys and young men. It's with everybody where we're starting to disconnect from our emotional sensitivity, our need for relationships, our need for intimate relationships, not just with a romantic partner, but with friends, as we grow older…” Way says. “Even our notions of maturity, it's the same notions as manhood. It's about being independent, self-sufficient, autonomous, stoic. It's not about being emotional, being sensitive, being able to be mutually supportive with another person.”

This loss of connection along with a culture steeped in toxic masculinity leads to emotional isolation, and contributes to rising rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and even mass violence. Often times society blames mental illness for the latter, but Way contends that our need to individualize these problems, rather than seeing them as cultural issues creates a cycle of not listening and blame. 

“The point that we're not asking is, why are they having mental health problems? I mean, what's leading them to be that mentally ill? What is leading them to do that? What's causing that? And why are so many young men at this point-- because the numbers are almost every day that we have a mass shooting-- why are there so many high numbers of young men, white, privileged young boys have mental illness? Why?,” Way says. “Once you start asking why, then you start seeing a cultural story of the way we're raising our children. And I'm going to implicate everybody, including me. We are absolutely raising our children to go against their nature by only valuing one side, by valuing academic achievement over kindness.”

In the episode, Way advocates for a rethinking of not only how we raise boys, but all children, stressing the value of fostering emotional intelligence, empathy, and deep connections with others.

The explosion of artificial intelligence exposed many benefits and challenges for children interacting with AI, especially in educational and social contexts. 

“The big question becomes whether children can benefit from those AI interactions in a way that is similar to how they benefit from interacting with other people,” says Ying Xu, an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “So if we talk about learning first, my research, along with that of many others, show that children can actually learn effectively from AI, as long as the AI is designed with learning principles in mind.”

Xu studies the impact of AI on children’s development. She highlights that children can learn effectively from AI when it’s designed with proper learning principles. For instance, AI companions that ask questions during activities like reading can improve children's comprehension and vocabulary. However, Xu emphasizes that while AI can simulate some educational interactions, it cannot fully replicate the deeper engagement and relationship-building that come from human interaction, particularly when it comes to follow-up questions or personalized conversations that are important for language and social development.

“There is the excitement that AI has the potential for personalized learning and to help students develop skills for this AI-driven society. But like many of you, I share the same concerns about the outlook of this, what we call the "AI generation,’” she says. “There are so many questions, we don't have answers yet. When we talk about children's ability to actually find answers and learn on their own, and is using "hey" to command or activate AI makes kids forget about politeness. And perhaps the most worrisome to a lot of people is whether children would become more attached to AI than to the people around them.”

In this EdCast episode, Xu shares what we know so far about how AI impacts children’s development and the importance of AI literacy, where children are taught to understand the limitations and potential misinformation from AI, as well as the need for both developers and educators to promote critical evaluation of AI-generated content.

The 2024 Election is anything but easy to teach in a classroom today  where fears range from community backlash, restrictive state policies, and job security. For many teachers, the election is a topic to avoid, but Eric Soto-Shed, lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, insists we're missing a real opportunity by doing so.

“We’re at a crisis right now in terms of Americans belief in our fundamental democratic system – not for this candidate or that candidate but does the system work…” Soto-Shed says, noting a recent Gallup poll shows only 28 percent of Americans are satisfied with democracy. “I think that’s a tragic number. And I think schools are the place where we can get folks not only engaged in the process, but also connected to the process, believing in the process.”

He sees teacher expertise and classrooms as a place to create a nurturing learning environment for students. Teaching the election can foster civic engagement, as data shows students are more likely to vote and trust democratic processes when educated on them.

“We can't avoid these hard conversations because they're going to happen anyway. It's just a swipe away on a phone or click on the dial. And students are going to be exposed to these rhetoric charged topics, really disparaging comments, different points of view. Why don't we use our schools as a place where we can really have real meaningful deep conversation around differences, around important issues?” he says.

In this episode of the EdCast, Soto-Shed offers strategies for navigating these challenges, such as focusing on critical thinking skills, connecting election topics to broader course themes, and presenting issues factually without heavy bias. Finally, he highlights the emotional and logistical challenges of post-election classroom discussions, particularly during highly contentious election cycles.