The Perkins Platform

If you’re a black student or you’re poor, you’re far more likely to be punished than offered behavioral treatment when you misbehave.Electric!! - The word that comes to mind when you describe the show planned for you in November.  Our guest, Dr. David Ramey is going to discuss the findings of a recent study of more than 60,000 schools.  More details to be posted as we get closer to the broadcast date - Stay tuned.

Major media outlets have been dominated by the incident captured on cell phone videos at Spring Valley High School where a student was forcibly removed from a classroom.  Views on this incident has placed civil rights advocates, school and district leaders, student advocates, school officers and education experts at odds.  We have confirmed Dr. Jared Scherz and Mr. Curt Lavarello to participate with us on a discussion about the SC school incident and what we might learn from it.

Dr. Jared Scherz is the founder of TeacherCoach (www.teachercoach.com), an online platform that integrates personal growth with professional development.  As a clinical psychologist, author, and educational consultant, working with educators for over twenty five years, Dr. Scherz believes in the paradoxical theory of change, in that a greater understanding of what keeps a person or system stuck is needed before sustainable change is possible.  His work includes a number of issues including school violence prevention, the organizational health of schools, and the personal wellness of educators.

We also have Mr. Curt Lavarello - Executive Director of School Safety Advocacy Council. Curt Lavarello served as a 25+ year Law Enforcement Executive in South Florida. During his tenure as a police officer, Curt has held assignments on road patrol, detective bureau, gang task force unit, traffic division and 18 years as a school resource officer (SRO) and Patrol and SRO Supervisor. 

This will be an open, but guided forum.  Listeners are encouraged to phone in to express your opinions and suggestions.

*SPECIAL BROADCAST*

It is greatly anticipated that around the date of this broadcast, we will have learned or expect any day the decision of the NY State Supreme Court on the matter Lederman v. King.  Dr. Carol C. Burris, former NY State principal and author, shares her opinion about VAM and the courts pending or expressed opinon. *Stay tuned for more details*

Join us for what is guarranteed to be a lively discussion of the case and public sentiment about teacher performance and evaluation! Wednesday, October 21 - 2:00pm.

Join us on October 14 (2pm EST), when our guest, Dr. Damon Jones, discusses the findings of a recently published study in the American Journal of Public Health. This study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation suggests that kindergarten students who are more inclined to exhibit “social competence” traits—such sharing, cooperating, or helping other kids—may be more likely to attain higher education and well-paying jobs. 

Damon Jones, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Associate at Penn State’s Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, serving as a program evaluator and methodologist for several family and youth behavioral interventions and prevention programs.  A focus of his research has been toward understanding the public costs associated with behavior disorders, which has included authoring several publications on the potential economic value of effective efforts to improve developmental outcomes in children and youth.   He has several years of experience with cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit assessments as well as overseeing several project resource evaluations.  His work has also included investigations of health and mental health service needs for at risk populations, involving design of data collection streams for collecting detailed health services use information.  He received his Ph.D. in Quantitative Methods from Vanderbilt University in 2002.

This promises to be an amazing discussion.  Listen in and participate!  October 14 - 2:00pm EST.

Our September show features, Dr. Jordan Shapiro from Temple University in Philadelphia. Jordan Shapiro, Ph.D teaches in the Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University, where he's also the Associate Director for Digital Innovation for the College of Liberal Arts. He is a Forbes' leading columnist on global education, game-based learning, kids and culture. An internationally known speaker and consultant on education technology, school reform, and 21st Century child-rearing, his unique perspective combines psychology, philosophy, social theory, and mythology in unexpected ways. His book: FREEPLAY: A Video Game Guide to Maximum Euphoric Bliss looks at the way the video games of the past (and present) impact our sense of identity. His next book: One Player, Multiplayer, We: How Digital Play Will Put Community Back at the Center of Education will be released soon. (Twitter: @Jordosh).

His recent article in Forbes provokes us to think about the essential definition of education.  Is it access to information, facts and figures or is it something else?  Join us on Wednesday, September 23 at 2pm EST for this thought-provoking discussion on what achieving equity in education will take.

Our guest in August is Dr. Camille Farrington - Senior Research Associate, Consortium on Chicago School Research, will discuss her research on urban high schools.  She will discuss the psychological and systematic barriers to success and the ways we might redesign these schools for greater success with adolescents.  Given that the model we currently use is more than 100 years old, she proposes some innovative solutions to the roadblocks faced in many urban centers.  Join us at 2pm EST on August 12 for what promises to be a enlightening discussion.

Camille A. Farrington is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Chicago, Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), studying policy and practice in urban high school reform. She is a national expert on “noncognitive” factors in academic settings. Dr. Farrington is the author of Failing at School: Lessons for Redesigning Urban High Schools (2014, Teachers College Press); lead author of Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance (2012, CCSR); and co-author of Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework (2015, CCSR). Throughout her work, Dr. Farrington draws on fifteen years’ experience as a public high school teacher and National Board Certified Teacher Mentor. She received a B.A. from the University of California Santa Cruz, teacher certification from Mills College, and a Ph.D. in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In today's show, Dr. Perkins will discuss his framework for improving school experiences around the globe.  Over the last 15 years, Dr. Perkins has traveled extensively discussing school climate and educational contexts.  He is a respected expert on educational design and innovation and has been a consultant in the Republic of South Africa, Brazil, China and Thailand.   Listen in today and hear about how and why educational professionals have and should work to provide dynamic educational settings where children can experiment and grow.

Our current series on school improvement initiatives has focused on a variety of strategies.  All of which have required buy-in and support from a range of stakeholders including but not limited to teachers, students, parents, community members and policy developers.  This broadcast solicits the input from those on the front line responsible for the leadership of these inititatives at the building level -- the principals.  We invite prinicpals at all levels, from all regions, at all experience levels to call in and share with us the great successes, challenges and nuggets of advice on this topic.  We want to hear your solutions to challenges you might have.

Call in at 347-826-9029!  May 14 - 2:00pm EST

In April, our guest is Dr. Warren Simmons, executive director, Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University.  AISR is a national policy research and reform-support organization that works with urban districts and communities to improve the conditions and outcomes of schools, especially in urban communities and in those attended by traditionally underserved children. Their work focuses on three crucial issues in education reform today: school transformation, college and career readiness and expanded learning time.  We will speak with Dr. Simmons and Dr. Jesse Register, Director of Metro Nashville Public Schools. MNPS is currently engaged with the Annenberg Institute to improve achievement in that district.  Listen and learn what is happening in Nashville.

Join us for what promises to be an incredible discussion on April 23 at 2pm EST.

SPECIAL BROADCAST!

This lively and illuminating conversation about New York City’s public schools will focus on NYC’s educational successes and failures, the Bloomberg agenda and its impact, the Common Core roll out, privatization, charters, assessment, teacher quality, and what future direction lies ahead for our schools. It will feature, Mr. Eric Nadelstern (former Deputy Chancellor) and Ms. Willen (Director-Hechinger Institute) With nearly a century of expertise between them, they will also offer words of wisdom and caution for the de Blasio administration.

Eric Nadelstern is a Professor of Practice in Educational Leadership at Teachers College/Columbia University where he directs the Summer Principals Academy.  Prior to accepting this position, he was the Deputy Chancellor for the Division of School Support and Instruction for the New York City Department of Education from 2009-11, overseeing instructional and operational support to the city's 1700 schools.  He is the author of Ten Lesson from NYC Schools published by Teachers College Press.

Liz Willen is editor of The Hechinger Report and director of The Hechinger Institute. She is a former senior writer focused on higher education at Bloomberg Markets magazine. Willen spent the bulk of her career covering the New York City public school system for Newsday. She has won numerous prizes for education coverage and shared the 2005 George Polk Award for health reporting with two Bloomberg colleagues. Willen is a graduate of Tufts University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and an active New York City public school parent.

Join us for this show with at live studio audience on April 12 at 3:30 EST.