All Of The Above Podcast

The partisan push to ban books, curriculum, and pedagogy that helps students interrogate oppression continues rage. How can educators teach children to combat bias and racism when such topics are increasingly taboo and policed? What work needs to be done to put our ideals of liberty and justice into practice in our schools? Liz Kleinrock, who is an educator extraordinaire, a recipient of the Teaching Tolerance Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the author of the new book Start Here, Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School Community, joins the show to help us explore these issues.  But first, Jeff and Manuel take a look at recent headlines in education including a new study revealing racial bias in teacher evaluations and a sharp rise in public records requests as definitely-not-racist folks search for evidence of CRT in schools. → Get your Teach the Truth T-Shirt here! → View this episode on YouTube! AGENDA 0:00 - Welcome! 5:50 - Districts see increase in records requests 26

This Week: It’s America in 2022, and while right wing folk are literally threatening to kill kids of school board members across the country, we find ourselves in a media frenzy over the recall of three San Francisco Unified School District Board members. And what’s to blame?  Well, the LA Times, SF Chronicle, NY Times, the Atlantic, and the AP sort of agree. Kinda. Was it the effort to rename dozens of schools named after problematic, and arguably problematic, white folk? Was it the effort to make the legendary Lowell High School, an elite and predominantly Asian American school, a lottery based admissions school so its demographics would be more representative of the city?  Was it the pandemic safety practices that resulted in SFUSD having distance learning longer than most districts?  Was it backlash against an equity and racial justice agenda?  Is it the end of “woke” politics and doom for Dems in the midterms??!?!?!?! Manuel and Jeff attempt a reasoned discussion. Get your All of the

This Week: A fascinating article in The Progressive got Manuel and Jeff talking about some of our predictions of what’s to come once we have fresh, new state test scores this spring. The learning loss hawks are circling, and once the data is public and we’re able to quantify just how deficient and underperforming all of the kids are, and how exacerbated the equity gaps are, which we’ve always known have been there, what will come for our accountability systems?  Will we harken back to the NCLB, Race to the Top era of value added metrics, and high stake testing based teacher evaluations?  A working paper from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University shows little to no effect of the practices of that era, but will policy makers be wise enough, soon enough, to avoid repeating the sins of the past?  And what should we do instead? Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered.

Although most policy organizations and education leaders who advocate for educational justice maintain a secular voice and vision, there are those for whom building an equitable, humanizing public school system is a matter of religious faith. Zakiya Jackson, who serves as president of the Expectations Project, joins us this week to discuss the intersections of faith, educational equity, and policy advocacy. What does faith-motivated organizing look like as an approach to racial justice, and how does it fit within the broader context of education advocacy? But first, Jeff and Manuel take a look at recent headlines in education including a new program that targets the student debt crisis through community service and an interesting call from a collection of doctors to drop mask requirements in schools. → Get your Teach the Truth T-Shirt here! → View this episode on YouTube! AGENDA 0:00 - Welcome! 5:10 - California College Corps 19:45 - Time for mask-optional schools? 38:32 - Faith, equity, and advocacy  w

This Week: The Learning Policy Institute released a new report this week outlining the impacts of the teacher shortage on districts across California during the pandemic, how they’re responding, and what their researchers recommend as policy solutions.  The ideas range from the important but conventional - like better pay - to the wonky, like expanding teacher residencies and pipelines from community colleges. But, are these the right moves to not only bring more exceptional talent into the profession, nut to keep them over the long term? Manuel and Jeff discuss, and offer their ideas on what it’s going to take to make our way out of this nation-wide teacher shortage. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect, and discuss powerful stories in betwee

This Week: The Florida State Senate passes a bill that requires teaching that ensures white, and white adjacent folk, cannot be made to feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race,” joining the ranks of states and municipalities outlawing the teaching of truthful history.  The battle for the very soul of public education in the service of democracy continues. What does this mean for us? What should we do to resist these oppressive attempts to enshrine a white supremacist curriculum? Manuel and Jeff discuss. Oh, and there’s soldiers teaching school in New Mexico, and cops with guns, and without masks, teaching school in Oklahoma. Good times. **Special Event: Register here to see our most recent guest Dr. Annamarie Francois moderate a panel with CA Governor Gavin Newsom Neurodiversity and K-12 Education: Ensuring Equity in Learning for ALL Children on 1/26/22, 5pm PST Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt!

To educators like UCLA’s Dr. Annamarie Francois, schools aren’t just sites for reading and math, but instead are the moral, political, and social centers of our democracy. As the Executive Director of UCLA’s Center X, Dr. Francois has led decades of leadership and innovation efforts to support marginalized school communities. She joins us this week to explore how educators and schools of education should meet the moment and defend a humanizing, democratic vision of schooling. But first, Jeff and Manuel take a look at recent headlines in education including a proposal in California to eliminate attendance-based school funding and a call in Forbes (yes, that Forbes) to address the looming teacher crisis facing our schools. → Get your Teach the Truth T-Shirt here! → View this episode on YouTube! AGENDA 0:00 - Welcome! 7:12 - CA may eliminate ADA funding formulas 19:30 - What to do about the teacher crisis? 33:07 - Schooling for democracy w/ Dr. Francois 1:12:50 - Abbott Elementary is dopeness! DO-NOW STORIES:

This Week: With the COVID infection graph approaching an upward, vertical line, schools across the country open after the holidays, and the great experiment with the lives and health of the nation’s youth (and school staff) begins. Chicago teachers make headlines for forcing a temporary move to distance learning, while numerous smaller districts are forced to do the same by the sheer magnitude of the effects of Omicron. Manuel and Jeff look at the data, the obvious risks to health, and ask, are we the crazy ones???  Doesn’t it make sense to temporarily go virtual, until we move past the massive spike in cases? Apparently not. Let corporations and the learning loss hawks rejoice! Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect, and discuss powerful storie

This Week: If you understood the assignment, you’re on break right now, spending time with loved ones, not checking work email, silencing your alerts, and just relaxing. And, we got you covered with an AOTA special passing period this week, a holiday news roundup. A lot has been happening, even while most schools around the nation are closed. The anti CRT madness is working to ban books in TX libraries, one Joseph Robinette Biden extends the “pause” on student loan payments to May 1st, CA says it will be giving free at-home COVID tests to every kid, and many UCs and CSU campuses will be starting remotely in January to prepare for a likely post holiday omicron wave, and requiring boosters. Ready? Let’s do this. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect,

This Week: Winter break is here, at least for some of us, and not a moment too soon.  As the omicron variant rages across the globe, and in many parts of America too, schools are closing or on high alert not just because of the pandemic, but because of worries about TikTok inspired violence on school campuses. Man, it’s time for a break. Manuel and Jeff dig into it and share some love for the late, great bell hooks. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect, and discuss powerful stories in between our full episodes. Watch, listen and subscribe to make sure you don't miss our latest content! Website: https://AOTAshow.com Stream all of our content at: linktr.ee/AOTA Watch at: YouTube.com/AlloftheAbove Listen at: apple.co/38QV7Bd and anchor.fm/AOTA Fo

This Week: As the holiday season is here, the US Surgeon General releases an Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health, and the LA Times drops an article detailing a rise in “threats, fights, and misbehavior” in this still-in-a-pandemic, but post pandemic school year. But all student behavior tells a story, so what story are our children telling us right now? And, by the way, didn’t we know this was going to happen 18 months ago? What gives? Manuel and Jeff unpack what’s happening in schools, and discuss the path to hope and change as we approach the end of one of the most challenging semesters in memory. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect, and discuss powerful stories in between our full episodes. Watch, listen and subscribe to make sure you do

This Week: Michael Bloomberg, billionaire former NYC mayor and presidential candidate who nobody wanted to hear from, announced this week that he will be spending $750 million to promote charter school expansion across the nation over the next 5 years.  In a scathing opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal he states that “American education is broken” and that charter schools are a “proven alternative.” Mike’s gloves are off in the war on one of the bedrock public institutions in any democratic (small d) society. Manuel and Jeff discuss what this means for educators, and tell mayor stop-and-frisk where he can put his performative rhetoric about  caring or Black, Brown and low income communities. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect, and

The pandemic hastened what was already a rapidly-evolving relationship between schooling and technology. Although millions of students have now been assigned their own devices and logins for a litany of online platforms, the digital divide still persists and students in both rural and urban neighborhoods continue to struggle with limited connectivity. This week we’re joined by Ken Shelton--one of the dopest voices in edtech--to explore the current state and future possibilities of educational technology as a tool for reimagined schooling! But first, Jeff and Manuel explore recent headlines in education including a study about “screen free” zones in college lectures and intriguing new data about the college gender gap. → Get your Teach the Truth T-Shirt here! → View this episode on YouTube! AGENDA 0:00 - Welcome! 6:22 - Should colleges offer “screen-free” zones? 21:40 - New data on college gender gap 35:41 - Techquity with Ken Shelton! 1:10:15 - LAUSD hosts Black college fair DO-NOW STORIES: New Study Looks

This Week: The state of New Hampshire passed a so-called anti “CRT” law back in June, but just this month rolled out its mechanism by which people can report educators for teaching truthful history. In response, a right wing group called Moms for Liberty (of course it is) organized a $500 bounty for the first person who successfully turns in an educator to the state. This is the latest, if perhaps most disturbing, iteration of the wave of white supremacitst policies sweeping states and municipalities across the United States. From book banning, to wild conspiracy theories about white victimhood, it’s getting real out here folks. Fascism is afoot. Manuel and Jeff break it down this week, and talk about what some of our responses might be. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a c

Despite knowing that the pre-pandemic approach to schooling wasn’t working for whole swaths of students, many school leaders are struggling to make good on all that “reimagine” talk that was swirling around prior to this school year.  Given the ongoing structural barriers that principals and their schools have to contend with, how does one build and sustain a model that meets students’ needs? This week we’re joined by Michael Essien, a school leader in San Francisco known for his work around a “whole school approach” that creates a school community that’s humanizing for young people. What does this look like, and what’s missing from many of the traditional models of school culture and discipline? But first, Jeff and Manuel discuss recent headlines in education including a stark warning from the UN about climate curriculum and a district in Nebraska that’s hiring its own students to be language interpreters. → Get your Teach the Truth T-Shirt here! → View this episode on YouTube! AGENDA 0:00 - Welcome! 5

This Week: A stunning set of survey results from intelligent.com shows that thirty four percent - more than one of every three - white college applicants has falsely claimed to be a person of color on a college application, including nearly half of all white male respondents. What the heck is happening yall? Is it a bad dream? Is it some twisted form of reverse, reverse racism? Sadly, it also seems to be working, with 75% of those who lied about their race being admitted to the colleges they lied to. This story is nuts. Manuel and Jeff get into it and discuss what this all means and what to do about it. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect, and discuss powerful stories in between our full episodes. Watch, listen and subscribe to make sure you don't

As ethnic studies becomes a high school graduation requirement in California and national battles over teaching about race and racism continue to rage, what does the road ahead look like for expanding this critical discipline? And as more regions adopt courses in ethnic studies, what considerations need to be made for it ending up in the hands of educators who are untrained, who haven’t studied the discipline themselves, or who seek to undermine the curriculum? Veteran ethnic studies teacher and decorated leader Roxana Dueñas joins the show to help us explore these issues! But first, Jeff and Manuel take a look at recent headlines in education including the debate over vaccine mandates for students and a look at what the research says about gifted and talented education. → Get your Teach the Truth T-Shirt here! → View this episode on YouTube! AGENDA 0:00 - Welcome! 6:40 - The long history of vaccine mandates in schools 24:50 - G.A.T.E. debate heats up 47:26 - Ethnic Studies in K-12 w/ Roxana Dueñas 1:24:48 -

This Week: The LA Times drops a bombshell article highlighting the negative effects of the pandemic on test scores and grades, and a clickbait headline that LA’s students “need help now.” Surprise, surprise, the pandemic wasn’t good for the city’s most marginalized kids and communities, right? We went into this year talking a big game about “reinventing” and “reimagining” education, but didn’t move any of the goal posts. Same rules, same structures, same accountabilities in place, and very limited space to address the real needs of kids and educators alike. Manuel and Jeff discuss the meaning of it all. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect, and discuss powerful stories in between our full episodes. Watch, listen and subscribe to make sure you don't

This Week: Jeff being on vacation means that we needed to order a sub for this week’s Passing Period! Manuel and the substitute (ahem…“guest teacher”) explore the recent wave of headlines regarding the national substitute teacher shortage and ponder what this means for students, teachers, and the school system going forward. Is boosting sub pay enough, and will this get worse before it gets better? Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA Podcast extra that gives us a chance to check-in, reflect, and discuss powerful stories in between our full episodes. Watch, listen and subscribe to make sure you don't miss our latest content! Website: https://AOTAshow.com Stream all of our content at: linktr.ee/AOTA Watch at: YouTube.com/AlloftheAbove Listen at: apple.co/38QV7Bd and anchor.fm/AOTA Follow us at: Facebook.c

This Week: CA Governor Gavin Newsom is flexing, fresh off the unsuccessful recall attempt.  This week the gov signed a suite of bills into law that will bring nearly $124 billion in education spending to the state, and bring about the highest per pupil funding in the state’s history. There’s something for everyone in these bills - protocols for schools to screen students for mental health, expanding broadband to the state’s many wifi deserts, expanded pre-K, a first in the nation requirement for ethnic studies for graduation, and free pads and tampons in bathrooms in low income areas. Of course, the devil is always in the details of implementation, but Manuel and Jeff discuss reactions and what this all could mean for schools in the nation’s most populous state. Get your All of the Above swag, including your own “Teach the Truth” shirt! In this moment of relentless attacks on teaching truth in the classroom, we got you covered. https://all-of-the-above-store.creator-spring.com Passing Period is an AOTA P