Gerald A. Lieberman, author of "Education and the Environment" provides an innovative guide to creating a new type of environmental education that combines standards-based lessons with community investigations and service learning projects.

Learning Outside the Box

Lee Teitel, author of the book "School-Based Instructional Rounds" shares his evolving research on one of the most innovative and powerful approaches to improving teaching and learning.

Making the Rounds

Richard Weissbourd, lecturer on education at HGSE, discusses whether love can be effectively taught in schools, reflects on the state of sex-ed, and examines where love is best modeled in the media. 

Can Love be Taught?


Robert Kegan, professor at HGSE, discusses the mechanics, challenges, and excitement in teaching his new HarvardX course called, "Unlocking the Immunity to Change."

Unlocking the Immunity to Change

Temple Grandin, world famous animal scientist and autism activist, sheds insight into the way she thinks, reflects on the state of autism awareness, and even reveals her favorite Claire Danes movie.  

10 Minutes with Temple Grandin

Kathy Boudett and Liz City, co-authors of the book 'Meeting Wise,' reflect on how meeting planning can become a key strategy in the service of school improvement. 

Want To Run a Better Meeting?

Jerry Murphy and Metta McGarvey, faculty for the upcoming PPE institute, 'Inner Strengths of Successful Leaders,' share insight into the growing practice of mindful leadership. 


Inner Strength Leadership Training

Fernando Reimers, professor at HGSE, reflects on the increasingly important role global education plays in schools around the world. 

The Global Classroom

Anya Kamenetz, NPR's lead education blogger, sits down to discuss high-stakes testing in American schools and the effects they are having on children, teachers, and society. 

A Brief History of Standarized Testing

Rick Weissbourd and Eve Ewing, researchers at HGSE, examine how to speak with youth about turmoil, strife, and community challenges--with a particular focus on what has been happening recently in Baltimore. 

The Power of Listening

Jennifer Bryan, psychologist and author, discusses gender and heteronormativity with HGSE's Rick Weissbourd.

Healthy Identity Development

Dale Russakoff, author of "The Prize," examines the troubled education reform story of Newark and reflects on what can be learned from its failure to provide system wide reform. 


The Fallout of Education Reform in Newark

Tom Hehir, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, reflects on the state of disabilities education as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). 

The Evolution of Disabilities Education

Lisa Lahey, HGSE faculty and author of the book "An Everyone Culture" discusses a radical new model for unleashing your company’s (or schools’s) potential.

A New Way of Being at Work

Ellie Drago-Severson, professor at Teachers College, reflects on the value of constructive feedback, examining her new co-authored book, "Tell Me So I Can Hear You."

How To Give Good Feedback

Harris M. Cooper, professor at Duke University, explains the reasons why all children should be doing homework.

The Case for Homework

The Case For Homework

Author Karin Chenoweth talks about her latest book, "Schools that Succeed," and how educators can break down the link between academic achievement and socioeconomic status.

Karin Chenoweth

Schools that Succeed

Georgetown University Professor William T. Gormley, Jr., discusses the importance of teaching critical thinking skills, especially in these times of “fake news.”

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Researcher and Author Carla Shalaby shares what she discovered from following four "troublemakers" as they made their way at school.

HGSE

The Troublemakers at School

Stanford University's Denise Pope, also co-founder of Challenge Success, shares what we need to think about when it comes to choosing summer enrichment programs for our children, and offers some alternatives to children's rigid academic programs in the summer.

Kids Need a Break

Doris Santoro, an associate professor at Bowdoin, explores how many teachers are demoralized not burnt out in the profession. She also discusses how school leaders can stave off this phenomenon and gives sound advice for teachers.

Demoralized, Not Drained

Mandy Savitz Romer, senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, shares misconceptions about the profession, and how the school counselor role should change to better support children.

Full transcript: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/19/04/harvard-edcast-redefining-school-counseling

Harvard Graduate School of Education 

Redefining School Counseling

Harvard researchers Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine talk about what they discovered while studying nontraditional, innovative high schools, and what we can learn from the pockets of great work happening around the country.

Full transcript: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/19/05/harvard-edcast-search-deeper-learning

The Quest for Deeper Learning in High Schools

Sociologist Rebecca London knows recess is an afterthought in many schools day. Too often, it's just seen as a break or a way to get some physical exercise for kids. She wants to see educators rethink how to use that time to better support young students. In this episode of the EdCast, London shares ideas from her new book, "Rethinking Recess," how to create a more inclusive recess, and why taking away recess -- especially as punishment -- is a bad idea for kids.

Full transcript: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/19/10/harvard-edcast-why-we-need-rethink-recess

Why We Need to Rethink Recess

Many educators struggle with unconscious bias in their roles at school -- often in ways that can unknowingly perpetuate racism and negatively affect students. In this episode of the EdCast, Tracey Benson and Sarah Fiarman offer ways to address these issues directly and outline how educators can start this work in their schools. Benson, an assistant professor at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Fiarman, director of leadership development at EL Education, are authors of the new book, Unconscious Bias in Schools.

Full transcript: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/19/11/harvard-edcast-unconscious-bias-schools

Unconscious Bias in Schools

Although more children have developmental language disorder (DLD) than autism -- most people have never heard of it. Dr. Tiffany Hogan, the director of the Speech and Language Literacy Lab at MGH Institute, wants greater awareness of this language disorder, especially among educators and parents. In this episode of the Harvard EdCast, she discusses what DLD is and how it can affect children's learning ability.

Harvard Graduate School of Education

The Common and Yet Hidden Language Disorder

There's much debate in the literacy world about what's the best way to teach children to read. With two out of three children struggling to learn to read, the nation is questioning what actually works. Harvard Professor James Kim discusses why learning to read is so challenging and shares how his latest model called MORE offers another way.

Getting beyond the Literacy Debate

Getting Beyond the Literacy Debate

Harvard Lecturer Laura Schifter explains disproportionality and why so many students of color are placed in special education, often in separate classrooms from their peers. While income status is sometimes accepted as the reason behind this phenomenon, Schifter says that doesn't tell the full story. In this EdCast, Schifter shares recent research into this issue and discusses the challenges facing special education.

Racial Differences in Special Education Identification

Many school districts are facing challenging decisions about how to prepare and respond to the novel Coronavirus including whether to close and try distance learning. Harvard Epidemiologist Bill Hanage and Education Ethicist Meira Levinson explore the public health issue and its potential impact on schools and families. They also offer guidance for practitioners and parents.

Schools, Families, and the Coronavirus

This newest generation of college students know that algorithms tend to skew the truth online, but many feel it is par for the course. Alison Head, a researcher and director of Project Information Literacy, explores how algorithmic-driven platforms are shaping the ways college students access news and information and its potential to change the college landscape.

Harvard Graduate SChool of Education

College Students in the Age of Surveillance

With many schools closed around the country due to the Coronavirus,  educators and parents may have growing concerns about how long students can go without formal instruction. Jennifer McCombs, a senior policy researcher for the RAND Corporation, has long studied the effects of summer break on learning -- particularly for at risk students  from low-income families or students performing below grade level. In this episode of the EdCast, McCombs discusses how what we know from summer learning loss might guide educators, districts, and parents as they set forth on learning when school is closed.

Learning Loss and the Coronavirus

Despite family meal times being hugely beneficial to kids, only about 30% of families manage to eat together regularly. Anne Fishel, executive director of the Family Dinner Project, knows it's not always easy to find that time but it also doesn't have to be so hard. Through her work, she helps families find fun, creative, and easy ways to make meals a reality. As many families adjust to stay-at-home orders from the Coronavirus, there is a silver lining in that now there is time to enjoy a family meal or two.

The Benefits of Family Mealtimes

What is the role of schools in teaching students, especially students of color, how to face oppression and develop political agency? Are there ways that some educators succeed in doing this in one school but not in another school? Professors Daren Graves and Scott Seider were eager to find the answers and set out to research five mission-driven high schools over four years. In this episode of the EdCast, they share the ways that educators and school leaders can help young people better understand and challenge racial injustices.

Schooling for Critical Consciousness

With more than 55 million children out of school due to the pandemic, school leaders are facing the adaptive challenge of all time. The challenges go far beyond closures. Harvard Professor Deborah Jewell-Sherman shares what is on the minds of school leaders throughout the country, and advises how they can stay grounded and plan in such a difficult time.

School Leadership During a Crisis

The pandemic set off a race for schools to launch remote learning and to keep children from falling behind. But at what cost? In this episode of the EdCast, Harvard Lecturer Uche Amaechi discusses the tension that exists for schools trying to find a balance between continuing education in equitable ways among all students.

The Digital Divide and Remote Learning

Only about 14 percent of Native Americans attend college and many often leave before graduating. TaraJean Yazzie-Mintz has spent much of the past three decades working to improve access to education for Native people. In this episode of the Harvard EdCast, she addresses the barriers to higher education for Native people, and how higher education institutions can do a better job at welcoming and keeping Native people in this space.

Improving College Access for Native People

Noam Chomsky, linguist and philosopher, discusses Paulo Freire's writings, the future of online learning, and the things in the world he doesn't know. 

20 Minutes with Noam Chomsky

In the complex world of education, we keep the focus simple: what makes a difference for learners, educators, parents, and our communities.

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly podcast about the ideas that shape education, from early learning through college and career. We talk to teachers, researchers, policymakers, and leaders of schools and systems in the US and around the world — looking for positive approaches to the challenges and inequties in education. Through authentic conversation, we work to lower the barriers of education’s complexities so that everyone can understand. The Harvard EdCast is hosted by Jill Anderson, and produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The opinions expressed are those of the guest alone, and not the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Harvard EdCast

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