UnboundEd Podcast

Former Education Secretary John King discusses the state of education in America today and what can be done to improve it. As Secretary of Education under President Barack Obama, John focused on increasing equity, improving educational outcomes for all students, and closing achievement gaps through the implementation of key administration priorities in areas including early learning, elementary and secondary education, special education, English language acquisition, and innovation. He has recently signed on to take the helm as CEO of Ed Trust.

Kristen Ehlman interviews Doug Sovde about the role of mathematics knowledge in who acquires power in a democracy, and how it is incumbent upon us to widen the net of opportunity. Previously, Doug has worked in supporting multi-state consortia and school districts in developing mathematical content and instructional supports in education. Doug was also a member of the writing team of the Common Core State Standards in mathematics, having principal responsibility for creating Appendix A to the mathematics standards.

With the adoption of the standards, the focus on supporting students who are behind grade level is more critical than ever. Yet, even with a clear roadmap of learning from grade to grade, students are still struggling and research shows us that there are huge, glaring inequities in the education system. On February 13, 2017, Kate Gerson, managing partner at UnboundEd gave a keynote presentation to over 800 educators in Orlando, FL at the Standards Institute. The Institute is a twice yearly training with learning pathways in ELA, math and leadership. Her keynote was focused on showing educators that there is a clear path to fighting the status quo through research that will challenge us to change mindsets and practices in order to support all students.

UnboundEd presents Judith Hochman, Founder and Chief Academic Officer of the Writing Revolution. Judith talks about writing instruction in schools, including common misconceptions about writing and how it fits into an integrated model of literacy instruction.

UnboundEd presents Cheryl Dobbertin, Director of Learning and School Improvement at Monroe #1 BOCES. Cheryl explores the role of reading and writing, giving voice to all kids in the classroom, reading levels, and pushing the boundaries with rigorous and diverse reading and writing experiences post Common Core.

Unbounded presents Bill McCallum, professor of mathematics and lead author of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Bill discusses in detail what some selected Standards for Mathematical Practice look like across elementary, middle, and high school grades, in addition to a few of the more interesting clusters and domains from the Standards.

UnboundEd presents Lindsay Tomlinson and Chris Hayes, veteran educators in Nevada Schools. Lindsay and Chris discuss the impact of the Common Core State Standards on administrative and instructional decisions, respectively, and the progressive role the standards have played in elevating teacher expectations, advancing student knowledge, and shifting the cognitive lift to students in the early elementary grades.

UnboundEd presents a conversation with Judson Odell, CEO of Odell Education, and Diana Leddy, Co-founder of the Vermont Writing Collaborative. In this discussion, Judson and Diana explore the vital role of research from Kindergarten through grade 12 and the skills students build and take away through the inquiry process.

Diana Leddy and Amy Rudat discuss close reading and research packs. UnboundEd presents Diana Leddy, co-founder of the Vermont Writing Project. Diana explains how close reading benefits all early elementary students, and how the Read Aloud Project and Research Packs engage students in topic-based inquiry through multiple reads of complex text.

UnboundEd presents David Liben, one of the lead authors of the Common Core State Standards Appendix A, as well as a former teacher and administrator. David discusses the ways in which new standards are succeeding in advancing knowledge, changes in students’ comprehension of pivotal moments in a text since implementation of CCSS, and several different programs offering alternatives to current trends in curricula. He addresses close reading and topic-based study, as well as the value of reading several texts in series on a single subject.

UnboundEd presents Judson Odell, Chief Executive Officer of Odell Education. Judson discusses the unique place of argumentation in the Common Core State Standards, the demand for critical thinking in our world and workplace, and the challenges that accompany implementing rigorous curriculum that pushes students’ thinking in the new era of education.

UnboundEd presents Dr. Dan Willingham. Dan discusses the practical application of the latest scientific research in cognitive psychology to the field of education, including the importance of phonics instruction and read alouds to the development of reading skills and vocabulary, the importance of contextualization in reading comprehension, and the benefits of repetition and vocabulary reinforcement on knowledge retention.

Andrew Chen and Peter Coe discuss how and why the standards are different than what came before. UnboundEd presents a conversation with Andrew Chen that touches on the history of math standards in the United States, how rigor is like baseball, and what coherence really means.