The Perkins Platform

Joshua Freedman, CEO-Six Seconds,  joins us for a discussion on emotional intelligence and its importance in school leadership right now.  Six Seconds is a non profit organization dedicated to supporting people to create positive change while researching and sharing scientific, global, transformational tools & methods to support that goal. Joshua is a Master Certified Coach (ICF) and one of a handful of experts in the world with over 20 years of full-time experience implementing EQ with clients like FedEx, Intel, Etihad Airways, Amazon, Microsoft, all branches of the US armed services & the UN.  At the Heart of Leadership, an international bestseller, is his second of five books, six validated psychometric assessments and hundreds of articles and papers, including the world’s largest study on emotional intelligence, State of the Heart.  Tune in for a conversation with Joshua and the work his organization is doing across the globe!

Join us for a discussion on the RAPID-EC Study that's shaping the national conversation about the pandemic's effects!  The Rapid Assessment of Pandemic Impact on Development - Early Childhood Study (RAPID-EC) is an ongoing survey of nationally representative households with children ages 0-5 that gathers essential information on the needs, health promoting behaviors, and well-being of children and their families during this COVID-19 pandemic. These results can provide actionable data to key stakeholders to inform immediate and long-term policy decisions. We will hear from RAPID-EC Project Director, Dr. Phil Fisher, and renowned Policy Advisor and Scholar, Dr. Joan Lombardi. 

Dr. Philip Fisher is the Philip H. Knight Chair and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, where he serves as Founding Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center on the Developing Child and a member of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, both based at Harvard University. Philip’s research focuses on developing and evaluating early childhood interventions in socially and economically marginalized communities.

Dr. Joan Lombardi is a Senior Scholar at the Center for Child and Human Development at Georgetown University, focusing on global child development issues. She has been a policy advisor to organizations such as UNICEF, WHO, The World Bank and countless others. She also served as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood during the Obama Administration 2009-2011, and as the first Director of Child Care and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and External Affairs in the Administration for Children and Families during the Clinton Administration (l993-98).

How has the global pandemic changed the classroom and schools?  School leaders from around the country will be featured on this episode of the Perkins Platform to shed light on the challenges they have had to face at the start of this school year during COVID and going forward.  This panel of educators includes Ana Escobedo, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary in Santa Barbara, CA; Kevin Parkinson, Principal of Midtown Public Charter School in Jackson, MS; Lakeesha Ramdhanie, Head of Schools Academics of Kipp Metro Atlanta Schools; and Luis Torres, Principal of Community School 55 | Benjamin Franklin in Bronx, NY.  This impressive group of leaders will discuss what they have experienced opening and maintaining schools in virtual and hybrid modes.  Tune in on Wednesday, December 2 @ 2pm EST for this exciting and informative show!

Join us for a discussion on Adverse Childhood Experiences and the implications for ACEs during this global pandemic.  ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood and have an impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity.  This broadcast features Rene Howitt, founder of COPE24 | Changing Our Parenting Experience.  Rene has spent the last 12 years speaking across the country in over 240 educational institutions to thousands of students. Their stories of abuse, neglect, foster care and lack of permanency in their lives led to the founding of her non-profit child advocacy organization.  She believes that the way to break the cycle of abuse for the sake of future generations of children is through educating and providing our youth with a coping skill set that may not have previously modeled to them.  She is also an appointed member of Missouri’s Task Force on Children’s Justice and the Critical Event Review Committees.  Tune in on Monday, November 30 @ 5pm EST to hear this enlightening conversation.

This broadcast features educational consultant and motivational speaker, Lisa M. Wilson - Founder of C.A.R.E. Coalition on Anti-Racism Education.    Lisa is a passionate advocate and educator who believes every student deserves the opportunity to reach their divine purpose and highest learning potential.  She helps educators develop the necessary skills to connect with students through leadership and development sessions, like ‘How to Nurture an Antiracism Mindset’.  Lisa received her Master’s Degree from Azusa Pacific University, studying Education with an emphasis on multi cultural contexts within school organizations.  She is currently completing a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Capella University and engaged in Anti-Racist work all over the world.  Tune in on Wednesday, November 18 at 6pm PST / 9pm EST!

Teach Kentucky is an educational organization that helps launch careers of college graduates in Louisville, Kentucky’s public schools.  The program is designed to recruit and retain high quality teachers.  How can aspects of this program be replicated in other states and urban centers around the US?  Join us for an exciting and informative conversation with Executive Director, Rowan Claypool!  Rowan is a serial social entrepreneur, having founded two long-term highly successful educational nonprofits in Louisville: Bulldogs in the Bluegrass and Teach Kentucky. Over the past 17 years, 343 participants have been recruited to teach in the greater Louisville area and 190 are still teaching in Kentucky. His programs have demonstrated a higher-than-average retention rate and are creating high impacts in education and economic development. Rowan is devoted to making his community a better place and he believes that talented young people are the way to do it.  In his words, “change the course of the river in young people’s lives and in the cities in which they plant themselves." Rowan received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University and received the prestigious Yale Medal in 2005. Join us for this broadcast on Tuesday, November 10 at 2:00pm EST.

Raising boys to men is a formidable challenge.  Add discrimination, poverty, inequality and institutionalized racism and you have considerable higher walls to scale.  In Baltimore, a group of educators are defying the odds and despite overwhelming obstacles making a difference in the lives of black boys.  This broadcast features the head of school, Archie Tyson, who will describe his journey to lead the school and how their committment to Baltimore is impacting the entire city.  Join us for this inspiring and powerful conversation!

Recent US events have catapulted a long-standing crisis in America to the forefront.  Black men in America have long been the target of unfair educational, judicial and social practices.  This reality reached fever pitch when George Floyd was brutally murdered at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, MN.  Now, around the clock coverage has begun on the other american experience suffered by black men.  During this broadcast, we will hear from a panel of young black men (adolescent to college student) from around the United States to describe their feelings about the attention now being placed on this issue.  Join us for what will surely be a provacative, informative conversation for educators and leaders about a sub-population they serve.

Across the US, parents and adult caretakers have been catapulted into roles as primary educators in ways not seen or anticipated.  This has caused a great deal of stress in homes particularly around the interactions between adults and children around school assignments and academic performance.  With the best intentions, adults are attempting to provide feedback to learners, but it doesn't always go as expected.  Today's guest, Claire McCarthy, MD, is a pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.  She is a guest writer and columnist for Huffington Post and a Senior Editor for Harvard Health Publishing.  Join us for a exciting, informative conversation with Claire as she provides some insight on constructive criticism.

There are a number of longitudnal studies on the impact summer break has on learning and content retention.  Today's broadcast features one of the foremost experts on the topic from the Northweast Evaluation Association, Dr. Megan Kuhfeld. Megan Kuhfeld seeks to understand students’ trajectories of academic and social-emotional learning and the school and neighborhood influences that promote optimal growth. Dr. Kuhfeld’s work covers a range of topics, including  longitudinal growth modeling, achievement gaps, and summer learning loss. It has been featured in Education Week, the Los Angeles Times, the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, and Applied Psychological Measurement.

Prior to joining NWEA, Dr. Kuhfeld completed a PhD in quantitative methods in education and a master’s degree in statistics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her dissertation was funded by a grant from the American Educational Research Association and was the recipient of the 2017 Brenda Loyd Outstanding Dissertation Award from the National Council on Measurement in Education. 

Additionally, we are delighted to welcome Fenesha Hubbard, professional development specialist with NWEA.  Fenesha joined NWEA in 2012. A former middle school math teacher, instructional coach, workshop facilitator, trainer, and consultant, she’s passionate about creating authentic learning experiences and helping others grow. She’s currently a content designer on the Professional Learning Design team at NWEA. Fenesha holds a BS in math from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MEd in instructional leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago.