The Learning Curve

On this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Mary Tamer of MassPotential speak with Dr. Richard Phelps, the author of Pioneer Institute's recent paper, Post-MCAS Assessments and Accountability in Massachusetts, to unpack the past, present, and future of K-12 accountability in the Commonwealth. Looking back at the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA), Dr. Phelps explores how rigorous academic standards and the original MCAS testing system helped propel Massachusetts to the top of national and international rankings in reading, math, and science. Phelps explains how Massachusetts’ 2010 adoption of Common Core national standards and the shift away from the original MCAS framework led to a dramatic decline in academic performance on NAEP after 2011. Shifting to today, Dr. Phelps discusses the implications of the 2024 ballot initiative that eliminated MCAS as a high school graduation requirement. He outlines the major takeaways from Post-MCAS Assessments and Accountability in Massachusetts, including recommendations for statewide end-of-course exams, as well as the weaknesses of portfolio assessments. He underscores why strong, independent academic oversight is essential in a post-MCAS landscape. He advocates reinstating an independent Office of Educational Quality and Accountability to deliver transparent, data-driven evaluations of school districts and ensure Massachusetts maintains high academic expectations for all students.

On this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with David Hodges, a school choice attorney with the Institute for Justice, and Ariella Hellman, director of government affairs for Agudath Israel of New England. Together, they discuss the U.S. First Circuit case Hellman v. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, exploring how Hodges and the IJ team are shaping legal arguments around private school choice and religious liberty. They also explore how Hellman’s personal journey as a mother, lawyer, and advocate highlights the real-world stakes of centuries-old anti-aid laws. From the influence of U.S. Supreme Court rulings like Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, and Carson, to the ongoing negative impact of Massachusetts’ 1850s Know-Nothing Amendment, Hodges and Hellman explain how a positive ruling could expand educational access and opportunities for families of faith across the Bay State. They talk about their experience working together on this U.S. Circuit case, exploring some of the challenges within the Massachusetts legal process. In closing, Hodges and Hellman offer an inside look at the legal battles and personal determination necessary to shape the future of education law in the Bay State and across the U.S.

In this episode of The Learning Curve, we celebrate Black History Month as co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with A’Lelia Bundles, an accomplished journalist, television producer, and biographer of Madam C. J. Walker, about the life, legacy, and enduring significance of her remarkable great-great-grandmother. Ms. Bundles traces Walker’s journey from her birth as Sarah Breedlove in post–Civil War Louisiana through an orphaned childhood marked by poverty, labor, and faith, and into her formative years in St. Louis, where church, music, and education shaped her ambitions. She explores how Breedlove’s experiences with marriage, motherhood, and economic hardship informed her entrepreneurial drive, leading to the creation of innovative hair-care products and the launch of the Madam C. J. Walker brand. Bundles discusses Walker’s development of a national training network that empowered Black women economically, her rise as America’s first self-made female millionaire, and her philanthropic leadership. She also highlights Madam Walker's Westchester County, NY,  mansion estate "Villa Lewaro" as a Harlem Renaissance hub, and explores the cultural impact of Self Made. In closing, Ms. Bundles reads a passage from On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker.

On this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Great Hearts Academies’ Dr. Helen Baxendale speak with Jay Tolson, editor of The Hedgehog Review and author of Pilgrim in the Ruins: A Life of Walker Percy. Tolson delves into the literary legacy of Walker Percy, the celebrated 20th-century Southern Catholic novelist. He explores how Percy’s many personal hardships and family tragedies shaped his voice as a writer, and Percy being mentored by his uncle William Alexander Percy of Greenville, Mississippi. Mr. Tolson also describes the lifelong friendship Walker Percy formed with the American novelist and Civil War historian Shelby Foote. He also discusses how Percy being stricken with tuberculosis was pivotal to his Catholic conversion and literary mission, as well as Percy’s first novel The Moviegoer, which examined the human search for meaning within 20th-century America's often soulless media culture, winning the 1962 National Book Award. Mr. Tolson concludes the episode by reading an excerpt from his award-winning biography, Pilgrim in the Ruins: A Life of Walker Percy.

To commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, The Learning Curve guest host Andrea Silbert, President of the Eos Foundation, speaks with Ruth Franklin, former editor of The New Republic and author of The Many Lives of Anne Frank. Ms. Franklin reflects on the enduring literary significance of Anne Frank’s diary while providing an overview of her life and the wider historical context of World War II and the Holocaust. Drawing on her extensive research, Franklin discusses her approach to understanding Anne Frank not only as a symbol of Jewish persecution and the Holocaust, but as a young girl whose life offers universal lessons due to being tragically shaped and ultimately destroyed by the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. She describes how the Frank family’s daily routines in the Secret Annex were upended and explores the power of Anne’s writing, emphasizing how her personal reflections while in hiding remain a courageous human record of life under Hitler’s antisemitic tyranny. Ms. Franklin also highlights the role Anne’s father played in posthumously editing and publishing the diary, shaping the memoir that would become widely known and honored around the world. Ms. Franklin closes by reading an excerpt from her book, The Many Lives of Anne Frank.

In this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Public Schools speak with Dr. Lerone Martin, Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor at Stanford University, and Dr. Jason Miller, Distinguished Professor of English at North Carolina State University. They explore the religious, literary, and historical foundations of MLK’s thought and rhetoric, highlighting his vision of saving the soul of America and promoting human dignity. Dr. Martin discusses MLK’s early spiritual leadership in Montgomery, AL, the influence of the Old Testament prophets, and the role of largely female-led grassroots activism in the 1955–56 Bus Boycott. Dr. Miller examines Langston Hughes’s poetry, including “Harlem (A Dream Deferred)” and “Mississippi –1955,” and how it shaped King’s sermons, speeches, and approach to civil rights leadership. Their conversation also covers key moments in King’s career, including co-founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Freedom Rides, the 1963 March on Washington, and his Nobel Peace Prize. In closing, Dr. Miller reads a passage from his book, Origins of the Dream: Hughes’s Poetry and King’s Rhetoric.

In this week's episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy and Great Hearts Academies’ Dr. Helen Baxendale interview award-winning author and biographer Dr. Jung Chang, whose international bestsellers have illuminated three generations of her family's experiences across 20th- and 21st-century China. Dr. Chang reflects on the powerful lessons drawn from the lives of her grandmother, mother, and herself under Chairman Mao’s tyranny, emphasizing the importance of personal memory in confronting totalitarianism and educating younger generations. She discusses the role of her memoir alongside works by figures such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Elie Wiesel in exposing the tragic human cost of 20th century’s most murderous regimes. Turning to her co-authored biography, Mao: The Unknown Story, Dr. Chang offers her assessment of Mao’s character, the catastrophic loss of over 70 million lives under his Communist rule, and the enduring myths and lies surrounding his despotic legacy. She explores China’s rich pre-Communist history, including the often misunderstood reign of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the central role of women in shaping modern China, and her motivations for writing Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister. She also examines Chairman Deng Xiaoping’s (the “Architect of Modern China”) economic reforms in the late 1970s, President Xi Jinping’s revival of Maoist-style political state control, and concludes with a moving discussion of Fly, Wild Swans, as a tribute to her mother, including the final chapter on why she could not return to China to be at her mother’s deathbed.

In this week's episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Center for Strong Public Schools’ Alisha Searcy discuss state and national K-12 education reform with Katherine Haley, Founder and Partner of the Oak Rose Group and President of the Arizona State Board of Education. Haley shares her remarkable career journey from Capitol Hill—where she served as chief policy advisor to former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner—to leading education reform in Arizona. She discusses founding the Oak Rose Group to advance human flourishing through strategic consulting, and her work on the Arizona State Board of Education, where she addresses the state's academic challenges on NAEP despite robust charter public and school choice programs. Ms. Haley provides an insider's perspective on the political dynamics of federal education lawmaking, the influence of special interests, and the complexities of programs like IDEA, Title I, and the DC voucher program. She examines why American K-12 education struggles to improve despite massive expenditures exceeding $800 billion annually, and offers advice for what governors, legislators, local officials, and parents can do to dramatically transform academic outcomes for America's schoolchildren.

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Public Schools speak with Julie Young, Julie Petersen, and Kay Johnson, co-editors of Pioneer Institute’s new book, Virtual Schools, Actual Learning: Digital Education in America. They explore the evolution of online education in the U.S., from the founding of Florida Virtual School (FLVS) to the innovations at ASU Prep Digital. Young, Petersen, and Johnson discuss key principles of educational leadership, pivotal historical milestones in virtual schooling, and the early challenges of creating student-centered, technology-driven learning models. The co-editors highlight lessons from states’ high-performing digital programs, the role of state regulations, and strategies for addressing national learning loss, including insights about shortcomings of remote education during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also examine state funding structures, policy best practices, and critiques of online education, including concerns about equity of access. They discuss the book’s policy recommendations, offer a forward-looking vision for “unbound” learning, as well as the future of K-12 digital education across the globe. In closing, Julie Young reads a passage from Virtual Schools, Actual Learning: Digital Education in America.

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Ark. Professor Albert Cheng and American Federation for Children’s Shaka Mitchell speak with Erika Donalds, America First Policy Institute’s Chair of Education Opportunity and Chair of the AFPI-Florida State Chapter. A nationally recognized education policy expert, Ms. Donalds shares the formative educational experiences that shaped her passion for school reform. With experience founding or working with multiple classical charter public schools over her career, she offers insight on how the U.S. can address its declining reading and math scores through higher-quality academic curricula. She discusses how education policy can better suit students' needs, strengthen school choice programs. She also highlights Florida’s leadership in expanding school choice and outlines core principles for strengthening parent-driven choice programs across the nation. Concluding the interview, Ms. Donalds reflects on the country’s persistent struggles with teaching basic U.S. history and civics education; the federal education tax credit program; and importance of returning the U.S. Department of Education's policymaking and spending to the states, localities, and parents.