The Perkins Platform

Our December show will share some new findings on what happens to student preparation in preK during their elementary experience.  Our special guest is Dr. Dale Clark Farran.Dale Clark Farran is a professor in the departments of teaching and learning and psychology and human development in Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. She is also the interim director of the Peabody Research Institute. Farran has been involved in research and intervention for high-risk children and youth for her entire professional career. She has conducted research at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the Kamehameha Schools Early Education Project in Hawaii.Farran is the editor of two books both dealing with risk and poverty, the author of more than 80 journal articles and book chapters and a regular presenter at national conferences. Her recent research emphasis is on evaluating the short and long term effectiveness of alternative preschool programs for preparing children from low-income families to be successful in school. Currently she is directing a longitudinal evaluation of Tennessee's prekindergarten program. Join us and call in for what will certainly be an amazing show!

Join us with our special guest Sam Brinson dialing in live from Uruguay!“Education isn’t something you can finish,” once quipped Isaac Asimov, a point that rings true now more than ever. We’re reveling in information nirvana while relying on outdated learning habits that don’t stack up. All the world's knowledge is at our fingertips, we're able to consume whatever we want whenever we want it—but this, unfortunately, doesn't guarantee that we will make the best use of our time or that we will remember what we think we're learning. If we're going to raise the collective intelligence and creativity of the world at large, education must escape the school system and become an activity pursued by people of all ages and from all walks of life. The first step in this process is learning how to learn. Among Connecting the Dot’s most valuable insights: - What happens in the brain as we experience and learn - How technology and science are driving a need for continued education - Why our ability to plan and predict rests upon our knowledge - What we should focus on to become an expert - How to avoid the many biases and fallacies in our current learning methodologies Connecting the Dots will lead you on a journey through the brain, the mind, the environment, and the future, providing a well-rounded picture of why learning is essential and how to best achieve it. (Taken from Amazon.com description on Sam's latest book)Author Sam Brinson will join us on October 19 at 2pm to discuss what he has learned in his travels and share from his book, Connecting the Dots. Sam is a writer and researcher with interests brain research, personal development and creative expression who lives in Montevideo, Uruguay

Join us for what promises to be one of our most engaging shows ever.  Discourse about politics and the political arena have almost become taboo in our public schools.  Our guest in September will explain why we should engage our schools in significant ways to help our children understand their civic responsibilities.  Our guest is Louise Dubé who serves as the Executive Director of iCivics. Louise discovered the power of education in the early 1990’s as a co-founder of CASES, a New York alternative-to-incarceration program where education helped re-shape lives.  Inspired by a deep commitment to learning, she has devoted her career to ensuring that all students are prepared for active and thoughtful citizenship and life. Louise has successfully led growth organizations that make and deliver engaging educational technology.  Most recently, she was the Managing Director of Digital Learning at WGBH.  At WGBH, Louise helped launch PBS LearningMedia, a platform reaching over 1.5 million educators.  Previously, Louise served as President of Pangea Tools, an educational software start-up successfully acquired by Houghton Mifflin.  As President of Soliloquy Learning, Louise structured the sale of the company to Scientific Learning where she served as Vice President and General Manager of Speech Products.  Louise began her career as an attorney in Montreal, Canada, and holds a law degree from McGill University, as well as an MBA from Yale University.   Louise has been recognized as a Draper, Richards, Kaplan Social Entrepreneur.  During her tenure, iCivics won the MacArthur Foundation’s Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.Remember - Call in and BE THE DISCOURSE.  Wednesday, September 14 - 2pm.

American schools have long been scheduled around an abandond agrarian life-style.  Our guest is part of a national movement to adjust school start times that are developmentally appropriate. Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom is a Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on educational leadership, professional development of teachers, the politics of school change, and the role of standards in school reform. Dr. Wahlstrom is an experienced school administrator and classroom teacher, and she is the recipient of the MASCD National Research Award for her ground-breaking study of the effects of later starting times for high schools. She was also the Primary Investigator for the 5-year Learning from Leadership national research study funded by the Wallace Foundation which examined the link between educational leadership and student achievement. Publications include one book, several book chapters, and numerous journal articles and technical monographs used by educational leaders to shape policy decisions across the US. Call in at 2pm to participate in what will be an amazing conversation!

This week's show will be a dynamic review of the guests that appeared on the show and what some of the most important take-aways are.  We will have a cadre of education leadership professionals joining Dr. Perkins in his studio live in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Call in and join us for the discussion.Wednesday, July 13 - 2pm EST.

Join us on June 15 for a show to explore a increasingly explore question on whether or not the race of the teacher and principal impact student and school performance.  Our guest is Dr. Jason Grissom from Vanderbilt University. Jason A. Grissom is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. His research utilizes large-scale survey and administrative data, as well as interviews and observations, to explore numerous topics in K-12 education policy and leadership. He has conducted research on teacher and principal evaluation, mobility, and decision-making, and has authored numerous studies on educator diversity that investigate how the race and gender composition of the K-12 public education workforce matters for the distribution of resources and outcomes among diverse groups. A 2011 article he coauthored in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management on how teacher-principal race congruence affects teacher job outcomes won the Wilder Award for Scholarship in Social Equity and Public Policy. His research has been supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation. Grissom also co-edited the book Improving Teacher Evaluation Systems: Making the Most of Multiple Measures (2016, Teachers College Press). He holds a Masters degree in Education and a PhD in Political Economics from Stanford University.Join us and call in on June 15 at 2pm for another dynamic  installation of the Perkins Platform!

The expert opinions on the benefits of diverse classrooms are spilt.  Some studies demonstrate student progress in racially isolated classrooms while others demonstrate great benefit to diverse settings.  Our guest this month, Dr. Amy Stuart Wells is the co-author of a report supported by the Century Foundation that supports the latter. Amy Stuart Wells is a Professor of Sociology and Education and the Director of the Center for Understanding Race and Education (CURE) at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also the co-Director of the Public Good, a non-profit public school support organization for racially and ethnically diverse schools. In February, 2016, Wells and her colleagues published a Century Foundation report on the Educational Benefits of Racially Diverse Schools and Classrooms. Her research and writing has focused broadly on issues of race and education and more specifically on educational policies such as school desegregation, school choice, charter schools, and tracking and how they shape and constrain opportunities for students of color.  Wells’ on-going research project, “Metro Migrations, Racial Segregation and School Boundaries,” examines urban and suburban demographic change and the role that public schools and their boundaries play in who moves where. The final report from the suburban research phase of that project, Divided We Fall: The Story of Separate and Unequal Suburban School Districts 60 years after Brown, was published in Spring 2014; related articles were published in the Washington Post Answer Sheet, The Atlantic CitiLab, and Long Island Newsday. She received her Ph.D. from Teachers College in 1991. She was an Assistant, Associate and Full Professor at UCLA 1991-2001. She has been a professor of Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University since 2001. Please join us for an exciting show on May 11 at 2pm!

April promises to bring a dynamic show for us on the 13th.  Paul J. Zak is a scientist, prolific author, and public speaker. His book The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity was published in 2012 and was a finalist for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize. He is the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics, Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Zak also serves as Professor of Neurology at Loma Linda University Medical Center. He has degrees in mathematics and economics from San Diego State University, a Ph.D. in economics from University of Pennsylvania, and post-doctoral training in neuroimaging from Harvard. He is credited with the first published use of the term "neuroeconomics" and has been a vanguard in this new discipline. He organized and administers the first doctoral program in neuroeconomics. Dr. Zak's lab discovered in 2004 that the brain chemical oxytocin allows us to determine who to trust. His current research has shown that oxytocin is responsible for virtuous behaviors, working as the brain's "moral molecule." This knowledge is being used to understand the basis for civilization and modern economies, improve negotiations, and treat patients with neurologic and psychiatric disorders. Dr. Zak's work on oxytocin and relationships has earned him the nickname "Dr. Love." His current work applies neuroscience to improve marketing and consumer experiences, and to build high performance organizations. Join us at 2pm for an amazing show.

Join us on March 30 for what promises to be a thought-provoking show. Michael J. Dumas is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the Graduate School of Education and the African American Studies Department. He earned a Ph.D. in Urban Education with an emphasis in social and educational policy studies from The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. His research sits at the intersection(s) of the cultural politics of Black education, the cultural political economy of urban education, and the futurity of Black childhood(s). His publications have appeared in such journals as Teachers College Record, Race, Ethnicity, and Education, and Educational Policy. A forthcoming article in Harvard Educational Review offers a critical reimagination of Black boyhood, and another in Urban Education explores the possibility of BlackCrit, as an extension and complication of Critical Race Theory in education.Call in and participate and be a part of the discourse!-bp

Join us on March 23 as we discuss the wonder of neuroscience and how we can use it in our everyday learning environments. Margie Meacham, "The Brain Lady," is a scholar-practitioner in the field of education and learning and president of Learningtogo. She specializes in practical applications for neuroscience to help people learn. Margie's clients include all types of businesses, schools and universities. She writes a popular newsletter on the science of learning and has published her first book, Brain Matters: How to help anyone learn anything using neuroscience. She lives in rural Arizona with her husband, mother in law and four precious terriers. Margie is a popular speaker, guest lecturer and learning consultant. In her free time, she enjoys golf, the arts and long walks in the beautiful Arizona desert.Tune in at 2pm!