Episodes

S3E5 – Watch your language! English classes are charged with teaching students “correct” language usage; linguists say there is no such thing. What are the social, racial and linguistic consequences of the way schools teach grammar and usage? This may well be the most exciting discussion of grammar you have ever heard! Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on Friday, October 16

S3E4 – What’s so special about special education? Special Education remains opaque to too many Americans. This episode aims to get past the stereotypes and explore the workings, history, and philosophy behind special education programs in US schools. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on Friday, September 25th.

Season 3, Episode 3 – Going the Distance: A history of remote learning Remote learning is not a new development in education. In this episode, we review the history, practices, pitfalls and potential future of remote learning as we enter a school year where the majority of U.S. students will be engaged in some form of distance education. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on Sept 18th

Season 3, Episode 2 – How it all began, Part II – Common for whom? We continue our quest to locate the origin(s) of public education in the United States, from Horace Mann’s Common Schools to the fight for racial equity in schooling. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on September 18th, 2020

Season 3, Episode 1 – How it all began, Part I – Satan, Jefferson, and Dictionaries How did we get here? We start off the third season of Ed Infinitum with a two-parter about the origin of public education in the United States…or…origins, plural? Things aren’t so simple, as we’ll soon see. Sources for this episode. Next episode will post on September 4th, 2020

S3E0 – There are no best practices Special Episode: How will in-person teaching and learning be conducted in a pandemic? What are the arguments for and against this practice, and where, if anywhere, is the roadmap for executing it? Sources for this episode. Next episode will post in mid-August as Season 3 begins.

S2E14 – School for Scandal, Pt 3 – The Inevitable Corruption We wrap up our three part series, as well as Season Two entirely, by looking at the sordid underbelly of the school accountability mania of the 2000s, the resulting scandals and even criminal prosecutions, and ask if any meaningful changes emerged in the way teachers and schools are assessed. The podcast will be going on hiatus for a few weeks while I start planning and recording Season#3. Next episode should air some time in mid to l...

S2E13 – School for Scandal, Pt 2: Value-Added Messes In part two of our series on the nationwide test cheating scandals of the late 2000s, we take a look at “Value Added Measurement” of a teacher’s impact on student learning, and how this deeply flawed construct lay at the heart of the malfeasance that followed. Click here for the list of sources used. Next episode will post on Friday, July 10th.

S2E12 – School for Scandal, Pt 1: The Bee-Eater Public education suffered a cascading series of scandals at the end of the last decade, when teachers and principals in towns and cities across 40 states were discovered to have cheated state accountability measures by altering student test results. We begin a three-part series exploring this national catastrophe with this week’s episode, where we focus on Michelle Rhee, controversial Chancellor of the Washington DC public schools, whose famous tak...

S2E11 – Principals of power: Fannie, Annie and Nannie In this episode we celebrate three groundbreaking and influential principals – Fannie Copland, Annie Cooper and Nannie Boroughs. All three are African American women who were either from, or spent most of their time in, Washington DC, and all overcame great odds to make their marks on American public education. Click here for sources. Next episode will post on Friday, June 26, 2020

S2E10- Race and justice in the classroom In a time of sustained worldwide demonstrations for racial justice, conversations about race and equity are becoming more pervasive than they’ve been in decades. We continue one of those conversations this episode, by exploring what “culturally responsive teaching” is, and some specific ways in which it attempts to address issues of race in school classrooms. Sources list here. Next episode will post on Friday, June 19th

S2E9 – Accountability at a crossroads Among the many aspects of schooling disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic is the system of accountability that has been the chief driving force in public education since 2001. This episode examines what that system looks like on the ground level of an urban school in Boston, as explained in an interview with school administrator Dr. Liana Tuller. She discusses how these powerful state evaluation mechanisms transformed her school for good and ill, and what chang...

S2E8 – What does injustice have to do with me? We cannot address school inequities by just focusing on underprivileged schools serving marginalized populations. We need to find ways to engage affluent white students in “high powered” schools with the idea that injustice, especially racial injustice, is something relevant to them, and something they too have an interest in changing for the better. I’m releasing this episode this week because of the Minneapolis protests in the wake of the killing...

S2E7 – Didn’t we solve this problem? Why American schools are more racially segregated than ever. As protests rage across Minneapolis in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, we need to remember that these protests are informed by more than just reaction to police brutality: they are about the historical and ongoing racial disparities not only in the realms of law enforcement and criminal justice, but also housing, health care and yes, education, in the United States. So I thought thi...

S2E6 – Teaching and learning in the shadow of COVID-19, two months in Schools are now 8 weeks into the “distance learning” modalities that COVID-19 has forced upon them. In our April 2nd episode, I interviewed three teachers from across the country at the outset of this new reality. They shared their experiences at the early stage of the transition, their hopes and fears and predictions for the future. Now that we’re a little further into that future, I’ve invited them back – as I had arranged w...

S2E5 – How past pandemics and crises changed schools COVID-19 is not the first epidemic or major crisis that has radically altered the structure of American public education. This episode surveys some of the changes, adaptations and even improvements that schools made in the wake of catastrophic events of the past. For sources for this episode, click here. Next episode will post on Friday, May 22

S1E4 – Sort-of-free speech: First amendment rights in schools Where and how do schools curtail free expression rights, and what is the history behind that? What do you, and do you not, have the right to say if you’re a student (or teacher) in a school…or even off-campus? Click here for a list of sources for this episode. Next episode posts on Friday, 5/15

S2E3 – Not so plain English – Educating English Language Learners When educational research and politics fall at odds, what happens to the students caught in the middle? Ten percent of students in the USA are English Language Learners, and that number is growing, yet for reasons both pedagogical and political, schools face an uphill battle in serving these children. Learn more in this episode. For a list of sources used in this episode, click here. Next episode will post on Friday, May 8th

S2E2 – The women behind the man behind progressive education Francis W. Parker became the great unsung hero of progressive education in America only because of several even lesser known, yet incredible, women who inspired, financed, and advanced his ideas. Learn more about all of them in this episode. Francis Parker Elizabeth Peabody Anita Blaine Zonia Baber Flora Cooke For a list of sources used in this episode, click here. Next episode will post on Friday, May 1

S2E1 – Unchartered Territory (or, What’s the deal with charter schools?) We kick off season two with a no holds-barred look at charter schools! Few issues in education are so divisive, yet so often misunderstood, than the issue of charter schools. This episode will explore the history behind charter schools, the many facets of the charter school debate, and the extremely messy body of research about charter schools’ impacts on students and communities. For a list of sources used in this episode...

S2E0 – Teaching and learning in the shadow of COVID-19 Season 2, Episode 0: At this moment in time there is no way to have an education podcast without a discussion of how COVID-19 has created sudden and radical shifts in how we teach and learn. As I’m readying Season Two’s episodes for release, I wanted to take some time first to speak with real teachers and see how they and their students are adapting, or trying to adapt, to these unprecedented times. On today’s show we interview three teacher...

Special episode – We’re all homeschoolers now The COVID-19 crisis has suddenly and unexpectedly made homeschoolers out of all Americans. In this episode, we take a look at the history of homeschooling, as well as present an interview with one local mom who has been homeschooling for the last six years.

Season 1, Episode 13: The insane secret history of the SATs, Part II We conclude Season One with part two of the bizarre, epic saga of the SAT test. Watch this website for updates as to when Season Two will start publishing, on our usual biweekly schedule…probably some time this summer.

Season 1, Episode 12: The insane secret history of the SATs, Part I The origins of the infamous SAT exam are worthy of epic movie treatment: Nazis! Communists! Hot dog vendors! Sharpen your number two pencil, then sit down and listen to part one of our season finale.