The Perkins Platform

The global pandemic surrounding COVID-19 has shaken our world society at its core.  In the world of education, professionals are struggling to deal with feelings of anxiety, depression, stress and uncertainty.  Our guests are educators from around the United States who will talk to us about their emotional well-being and that of their colleagues in this time of social isolation.  Join us at 2pm EST on March 23.

Join us on Wednesday, August 14 at 2pm EST for an exciting discussion about the leadership for challenging urban contexts.  Our guest, Kimberly Neal is the founder of Believe Schools in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Kimberly was most recently the Managing Director of Secondary Education at KIPP DC. She worked closely with Turnaround for Children to ensure all schools at KIPP DC redesigned their systems to improve the student experience. Additionally, Kimberly developed network policies and procedures, supported special education, and oversaw the professional development track for upcoming school leaders. Kimberly also served as a turnaround school leader for a year at AIM Academy, KIPP DC.  There, she was instrumental in stabilizing the school and creating a culture of identity and academic achievement. The middle school grew 10 points on DC’s Public Charter Performance Metrics, almost reaching Tier 1 (highest distinction) status in one year of a turnaround.

Before KIPP DC, Kimberly was the founding principal for Muchin College Prep, a campus of Noble Network. Muchin has consistently ranked as a Tier 1+ High School and since its inception has ranked among the highest performing non-selective schools in Chicago. In 2018, Muchin outperformed all of Chicago Public Schools in the school quality framework. 

Kimberly is a seasoned school leader, social worker, leadership coach, and has consistently led significant academic performance in her schools while developing students from a whole-child approach.   

Kimberly earned her B.A. in Psychology and Criminal Justice from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, an M.S.W. from Washington University, St. Louis, and an M.Ed. from Teachers College-Columbia University.

This month's show is about recognizing the indicators of insitutional racism in schools and helping students to succeed in spite of the challenges.   Our guest, Jill Berkowicz, Ed.D. has spent her thirty - year career in education focusing on issues of equity and best practices in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and technology, as they affect the development of all learners in the K-12 system.  She co-authored The STEM Shift: A Guide for School Leaders with Dr. Ann Myers.  In addition they co-authored a blog, Leadership360 for the publication of Education Week, an independent news organization that has covered K–12 education since 1981.

Join us for an important and necessary discussion on June 19 at 2pm EST!

Trauma-informed practice in schools has recently gained international attention.  Today's guest, Julie Beem,  is an advocate for increasing the number of education professionals and schools that address the needs of students and families in need of support. 

Julie Beem been the Executive Director of the Attachment & Trauma Network since 2009, and over the last decade has watched ATN grow from a grassroots support group for those parenting children with trauma and attachment challenges to being a powerful voice in the field of trauma-informed education and parenting. Julie has a Bachelors in Secondary Education from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, MO and a Masters in Business Administration with emphasis in Professional Services Marketing from Avila College in Kansas City, MO.

We are delighted to have a second guest, Dr. Melissa Sadlin.  Dr. Sadin has served as a special education teacher and a building administrator. She is currently working as a director of special education. Publicly, Dr. Sadin has been vice-president of her local School Board, is on the Board of Directors of the Attachment & Trauma Network and serves as the director of the Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools Program. She has conducted research on the perceptions of teachers working to create trauma-informed classrooms. Dr. Sadin is a published author and has produced numerous webinars on children with attachment trauma in schools. Currently, Dr. Sadin works as an education consultant and developmental trauma expert providing professional development to school districts, municipal service providers and parents. As an adoptive mother, Dr. Sadin provides first hand expertise in her work with adoptive parents at conferences and in other formal and informal settings. Her first book, “Teachers’ Guide to Trauma” has recently been released. 

Join us at 2pm EST for this exciting topic!

Join us at 2pm EST with our special guest Ms. Helen Westmoreland as she discusses the challenges schools around the U.S. face engaging families and adult caretakers and some innovative strategies they use to overcome those challenges. 

Helen Westmoreland is the Director of National Parent Teacher Association's Center for Family Engagement, where she leads PTA’s efforts to empower parent leaders to be champions for transformative family engagement.

Prior to National PTA, Helen was Deputy Director at Flamboyan Foundation, where she co-developed their family engagement strategy. Previously, she worked at the Harvard Family Research Project and with community-based afterschool programs. She has provided consulting services and authored publications on family engagement, education organizing, out-of-school time, and scaling impact.

Helen received an MEd from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA from Duke University. She is also a proud graduate of South Carolina public schools and a new mother.

Join us with our special guest Dr. Jeff Roth for a conversation on how to initiate and lead crisis response teams in the urban school districts. Dr. Jeff Roth joined the Brandywine School District in Delaware where he initiated Operation Cooperation — a school-wide approach to conflict resolution, helped initiate and lead the district Crisis Response Team, and was named School Psychologist of the Year by the Delaware Association of School Psychologists. He developed Instructional Support and Positive Behavior Support teams, a social skills curriculum, and a program of self-directed professional development for school psychologists. He was trained in the PREPaRE Model, Critical Incident Stress Management, Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), and Red Cross Disaster Mental Health. He is an American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health volunteer. Dr. Roth received his undergraduate degree in psychology at Temple University. After serving in the Air Force, he practiced social work and returned to graduate school at Temple where he earned his doctorate. During graduate school, Dr. Roth worked as a recreational therapist at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and taught graduate courses at Arcadia University. He is a licensed psychologist in Delaware. Dr. Roth is an adjunct professor at Wilmington University, Delaware. He co-developed a mentoring program for new school psychologists for the state Department of Education. Dr. Roth authored School Crisis Response: Reflections of a Team Leader (2015) and co-edited Perspectives on School Crisis Response: Reflections from the Field (2018).?

For April's show, we are delighted to announce Dr. Ted Thornhill's presence. Dr. Ted Thornhill is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, FL. Prior to joining FGCU, he taught at Earlham College in Richmond, IN and St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. He holds a BA in Sociology and Ethnic Studies from Florida Atlantic University, an MS in Applied Social Research from Florida State University, and an MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Thornhill’s research and writing focuses on the ways in which contemporary forms of racism, color-blind ideology, and institutional policies and practices promote racial inequality, particularly in k-12 and higher education, the labor market, and the criminal “justice” system. He recently completed a nationwide audit study that investigated how white college admissions counselors at private colleges and universities intra-racially screen black prospective students. This spring Dr. Thornhill is teaching a course titled White Racism that made national and international headlines.

Join us for a conversation on topics of introverted students in the classroom with Dr. Kathy Schultz. Dr. Schultz is Dean and Professor of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. Prior to this appointment, she was Dean of the School of Education at Mills College in Oakland, California from 2010-2016. She served as professor and director of the teacher education program at the University of Pennsylvania from 1997-2010 where she founded and directed the Center for Collaborative Research and Practice in Teacher Education. During that time, she was the faculty director of the Philadelphia Writing Project and served on the Empowerment Board (School Board) of the Chester Upland School District. Her scholarly work has focused on the research, development, and dissemination of practices that support new and veteran teachers working with marginalized populations in high poverty areas. Her two recent books, Listening: A framework for teaching across differences and Rethinking classroom participation: Listening to silent voices address these issues. She is currently working on a book on the role of distrust in educational reform that draws on her work in Oakland and as a school board member and leader of professional development in international settings. Since coming to Boulder, one of her areas of focus has been to work with the faculty to develop place-based partnerships including student teaching, professional development, research, policy, and community-engaged projects in three areas: Northeast Colorado, Lafayette (in Boulder County), and the Five Points area of Denver. She has been particularly interested in working closely with colleagues in Northeast Colorado to develop recruitment and retention strategies for rural teachers as a way to address the teacher shortage in that area and across rural communities in Colorado.

On March 7, join us with Mr. Thomas Whitby to hear his work on how connectedness empowers learning. Mr. Whitby is the author of The Relevant Educator: How Connectedness Empowers Learning, and The Educator's Guide To Creating Connections. He is @tomwhitby on Twitter with 81,000+ followers. Tom retired from Public Education after serving 34 years as a secondary English teacher and spent an additional six years as an adjunct Professor at St Joseph’s College in New York. He is a Co-Creator of #Edchat, an award-winning education Twitter discussion group. He is an education Blogger for My Island View, and for EDUTOPIA. He hosts the weekly Edchat Radio Show on the BAM Radio Network. He created the Educator’s PLN, a global Ning site, where approximately 20,000+ educators share and collaborate daily. Whitby has served as a contributing Editor while developing SmartBlog on Education for SmartBrief, and has written about Social Media in Education for several national educational journals. He is the founder of several educational groups on LinkedIn, the largest being 19,000+ members, the Technology-Using Professors Group. He participated on The U.S. Department of Education's planning committee for Connected Educator Month since 2012.

Join us with our special guest Dr. Ellie Drago-Severson for a conversation on giving feedback to educators. Dr. Ellie Drago-Severson is Professor of Education Leadership and Adult Learning & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University.  A developmental psychologist, Ellie teaches, conducts research, and consults to school and district leaders, teacher leaders, coaches and organizations on professional and personal growth and learning; leadership that supports principal, teacher, school, and leadership development; and coaching and mentoring in K–12 schools, university settings, and other adult education contexts domestically and internationally.  She is also an internationally certified Immunity to Change coach who works with teacher leaders, coaches, superintendents, principals, assistant principals, and other leaders to build internal capacity and achieve goals.  Her work is inspired by the idea that schools must be places where adults and children can grow, and she is dedicated to creating the conditions to achieve this and to helping leaders and educators of all kinds to do the same on behalf of supporting adults and youth.