The Perkins Platform

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!

Our show on February 17 features a well-respected psychologist, Dr. Art Markman.  Dr. Markman is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the Founding Director of the Program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations.  Art's research explores thinking.  He has studied the way people form and use analogies, the mechanisms of decision making, the modes that allow people to form categories, and the influences of motivation on reasoning.   He consults for companies interested in using Cognitive Science in their businesses.  Art is also on the scientific advisory boards for the Dr. Phil Show and the Dr. Oz Show.  He got his ScB from Brown University and his PhD from the University of Illinois.  Before coming to the University of Texas, Art taught at Northwestern University and Columbia University.  Join us at 2pm on February 17 for what promises to be a dynamic show!

School reform is often thought of in terms of school and district initiatives.  Our guest this month, Gene Thompson-Grove, will discuss how her career working with teachers and leaders to inact change at the classroom level in schools and district has made a difference.   She will also discuss the challenges to this work in the way schools are currently configured and operate.

Gene Thompson-Grove’s work focuses on building the capacity for transformational learning. She has 35 years of experience leading seminars on creating professional learning communities, coaching collaborative learning groups, examining student work collaboratively, developing facilitative leadership skills, and designing and facilitating adult learning experiences. She is a founding Board member of the School Reform Initiative (SRI).  Ms. Thompson-Grove began her career in Watertown MA as a high school and middle school English teacher.  She has a B.A. in English and Secondary Education from Boston College and received her M.Ed from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

Join us for what will be a great discussion.

Our January 13 show features Dr. Kati Haycock, President of the Education Trust in Washington, DC.

Kati Haycock is one of the nation's leading advocates in the field of education.  She currently serves as President of The Education Trust. Established in 1996, the Trust works for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels, pre-kindergarten through college.  The organization’s goal is to close the gaps in opportunity and achievement that consign too many low-income students and students of color to lives on the margins of the American mainstream. 

Known for years as a powerful force on education policy, The Trust is often described as “the most important truth teller” in American public education.  But the organization also works hand in hand with educators and civic leaders in their efforts to transform schools and colleges into institutions that serve all students well.

Join us for a fantastic show on January 13 at 2pm for what promises to be a very informative show!  Call in and "be the conversation".

Our December 2015 show features Dr. Seth Gershenson's research on how student-teacher demographic match effects teacher expectations.

Seth Gershenson is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy in American University’s School of Public Affairs and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA Bonn). His primary research interests are in the economics of education, specifically issues relating to teacher labor markets, parents’ and students’ time use, summer learning loss, the development of character skills, and the role of expectations in the education production function.  Dr. Gershenson’s research has been supported by the W.E. Upjohn Institute, the Spencer Foundation, and the American Educational Research Association and has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Economics of Education Review, American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Education Finance and Policy, and Educational Researcher. More information about his research is available on his website: http://www.sethgershenson.com/. 

Join us at 2pm on December 16 for a powerful discussion on some groundbreaking research.

Join us for a special double feature broadcast.  On December 9, our special guests will be Dr. Gary Orfeld of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles and Ms. Abby Norman, Guest Writer for the Huffington Post and Public School Teacher.  During the first half hour, we will talk with Dr. Orfield about the status of the desegregation efforts as a matter of public policy in the United States.  We will also discuss trends and future expectations as well as public concern over our public schools. And in the 2nd half hour, we will hear from Abby in her reflections on teaching in "black" schools and what she has learned as a white educator.  She has published two thought-provoking articles in the Huffington Post that are sure to stir emotions.

Gary Orfield is Distinguished Research Professor of Education, Law, Political Science and Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Orfield's research interests are in the study of civil rights, education policy, urban policy, and minority opportunity. He was co-founder and director of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, and now serves as co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA. 

Abby Norman lives in the city of Atlanta. By day she teaches in a suburban school, and by night mothers her two daughters in partnership with her husband. She has taught in a variety of schools and has witnessed first hand the inequality of education in America. She is currently seeking representation for her book about being a failing teacher at a failing school. 

Join us - Call In - Be The Discourse.  December 9: (2 - 3pm) EST.