Voices4Ed

On our last episode of 2017, we talk about the best and worst moments of the year.

From politics to #metoo, from wonderful moments inside classrooms and outside, 2017 was a big year. We want to thank all of the guests we’ve had on the podcast so far and are looking forward to a great 2018.

In this episode, Ikhlas visited a Panel on Millennials in Education Reform, hosted by the Fordham Institute in Washington DC.

She spoke with three panelists on how Millennials are involved in education and reform. Mendell Grinter, Founder and Executive Director of Campaign for School Equity. Lea Crusey, founder of Allies for Educational Equity Dakarai Aarons, Vice President of Strategic Communications for the Data Quality Campaign.

Ikhlas’s main interview is with Alyssa Schwenk, the Director of External Relations at the Fordham Institute. Alyssa was responsible for organizing the panel, and she chatted with Ikhlas about the report that the panel was based on, what Millennials can do for Education Reform, and her thoughts on the new Taylor Swift album.

Lane attends the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar, and interviews some of the unique voices at the summit.

First, we hear from two students at the English Modern School in Doha, Satine Dosdos, and Matthew El Chalouhi. They explain how their school works in Qatar and what makes a great teacher.

Lane interviews Zainab Mohamed, an educator who has worked for Teach for Qatar and talks about the issues facing Qatari schools and families when it comes to teachers, school choice and more.

Finally, Lane chats with Mike Feinberg, co-founder of KIPP, about what challenges the KIPP schools are facing, and what defines a great teacher.

Today on the podcast we're talking to two amazing moms of school kids, Erika Sanzi and Keri Rodrigues. How Erika and Keri do it all is beyond us, but in this episode, we dive into everything from advocating for kids to trying to find some down time with three boys running around the house.

Erika Sanzi lives in Rhode Island, is a former teacher and school board member, and the mother of three boys. She writes about education issues on her blog Good School Hunting as well as blogging on Education Post.

Keri Rodrigues lives in Massachusetts and is also the mother of three boys. She is the founder and Mom-in-Chief of Massachusetts Parents United, a parent advocacy group, and she writes about education and parenting topics at EduMom.org.

Erika and Keri recently launched Planet Mom Radio, their own platform for talking about a parent’s perspective of public education. In the interview, we mention that the podcast is forthcoming, but you can listen to their first episode now!

We finally got to sit down with David Johns and Dr. John King at The Inaugural National Black Male Educators Convening in Philly last month, hosted by The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice.

Last episode we chatted with Sharif El-Mekki and Vincent Cobb II, co-organizers of the Convening, which you can listen to here.

First, we speak with David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition and a PhD student at Columbia University. We discuss how to give students more of a voice in schools and conferences like this one, and somehow we end up talking about media portrayals of Black families—think Black-ish, Cosby Show and obviously T.I. & Tiny.

Next, we talk to Dr. King Jr., the president and CEO of The Education Trust, and formerly the secretary of education under President Obama from 2016 to 2017. He shares his personal story towards becoming an educator, and answers the question we all want to know: How do you get White people to care about teachers of color.

Ikhlas and Lane attended The Inaugural National Black Male Educators Convening in Philly earlier this month hosted by The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice. They got to hear from Black male educators from around the country on why they came to the convening and what we can do to get more Black male educators in the classroom.

They also talk to organizers of the event, Vincent Cobb II and Sharif El-Mekki, about why they planned the event, how to create a conversation beyond Black male educators themselves, and what parents and students can learn from the event.

Learn more at educationpost.org

Principals can really make or break a school. Today we’re discussing what principals do, what makes a good or bad principal, and how teachers and principals can work together to improve schools.

We're joined by former Minnesota Teacher of the Year Tom Rademacher and former Chicago principal LeeAndra Khan. We also chat with co-hosts of the EdCouple podcast and retired Chicago principals, Nate Pietrini and James Gray.

Learn more at educationpost.org