Have You Heard

Have You Heard digs up the original "zombie" issue in education: schools of education and their [insert criticism here]. Jack and Jennifer are joined by education historian Lauren Lefty to explore why this particular zombie can never be slayed.

Teachers are running for office this year in unprecedented numbers. Have You Heard talks to some of them and looks at why this educator-turned-candidate phenomenon represents a unique phenomenon. Hint: it's not just teachers who are on the ballot but the future of public education.

Have You Heard talks to Anand Giridharadas about his new book, Winners Take All, a scathing indictment of billionaire change makers who seek to "disrupt" public education while leaving the structures of inequality untouched.

In 1977, Have You Heard co-host Jennifer Berkshire climbed aboard a school bus headed for a soon-to-be integrated school. In this episode she explores what did - and didn't happen - in Springfield, Illinois, and why our vision of what's possible today seems so much smaller than it did 40 years ago.

Americans are big believers in the power of education. But they are also a national of hustlers. Have You Heard explores the intersection of the two with Bob Hampel, author of Fast and Curious: a History of Short Cuts in American Education.

Have You Heard explores LeBron James' partnership with the Akron Public Schools - and what makes it different from other high wattage education reform ventures. Rann Miller, who is an educator, writer and expert in all things LeBron, joins the convo.

What will the Supreme Court's recent Janus ruling mean for the future of teachers unions? Jon Shelton, author of Teacher Strike! Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order, joins Jennifer to "unpack" this complicated political moment.

Business journalist Andrea Gabor steps into the Have You Heard studio to make the case that education reform has learned all of the wrong lessons from the business world. She argues that the market-based measures and carrot-and-stick incentives that rule in schools today are wildly out of sync with the nurturing culture that the best schools foster.

A blockbuster book on the meteoric rise and implosion of the Silicon Valley blood-testing startup Theranos is chock full of lessons for education and those who would seek to disrupt it. Writer John Warner and host Jennifer Berkshire discuss Bad Blood, and what it tells us about "bad ed tech" and "bad ed reform."

Sociologist Carla Shedd steps into the Have You Heard studio to talk about the complicated interplay between school choice, segregation and gentrification in an unequal city.

Have You Heard talks to Audrey Watters, journalist and expert in all things #edtech, about "teaching machines," and the long (and almost completely ignored) history of efforts to automate the teaching profession.

Nearly a decade has passed since Scott Walker took on teachers and other public employees in Wisconsin, virtually eliminating their right to engage in collective bargaining. So what's the state of the state today? Public education and the question of how to fund it has emerged as a potent political issue and is driving what could be a big shift in the state's political makeup.

What does the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868 have to do with the wave of teacher walkouts sweeping the country today? More than you might think! Law professor Derek Black steps into the Have You Heard studio to talk about a forgotten history and why it's more relevant today than ever.

Have You Heard looks at what's behind state takeovers of school districts. As guest Domingo Morel explains, laws authorizing states to take over urban districts appeared as a direct response to Black power at the municipal level. Today, while takeovers come shrouded in the discourse of "achievement," the conservative logic behind them is unchanged: improving schools requires weakening the political power of the communities they are in.

Have You Heard discusses the rise of the "data boyz," the quantitative methodologists who increasingly determine what counts--and what doesn't--in education research. Special guest: UC Berkeley economist Jesse Rothstein.