For Podcast Listeners: Public Ed Defender Syllabus 1.0
Using selected podcast episodes, here is an overview of high-stakes testing, teaching conditions, privatization and “choice,” DEI, censorship, and public ed disruptors.
This is a version of the Public Ed Defender Syllabus 1.0, but for podcast listeners. The original version shared articles.
While candidates who support inclusive, well-funded public schools performed quite well during the midterms of 2022 and municipal elections in 2023, underlying educational battles will continue to stymie progress unless we arm ourselves with awareness that leads to strategic actions. This syllabus attempts to cover the major issues in public education today. Please comment with your feedback, questions, and suggestions. What podcast episodes would you add to the syllabus? The idea for this collection was inspired by 2017’s “The Charlottesville Syllabus,” by the University of Virginia Graduate Student Coalition for Liberation.
Table of Contents
Introduction
High-Stakes Testing
Teaching Conditions
Privatization and “Choice”
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Censorship
Public Ed Disruptors
Afterword
Introduction
“In Defense of Public Education”
Only public schools have as their mission providing opportunity for all students. The founders believed that an educated citizenry is essential to protecting our democracy. Four strategies can help transform our schools to realize the promise and purpose of public education: expanding community schools, scaling experiential learning, addressing staff shortages, and deepening the partnerships between families and educators.
There is a potent network of elected officials, advocacy groups, funders, and think tanks that are pushing an extreme agenda to do away with public education.
High-Stakes Testing
“Rethinking Standardized Testing”
Standardized tests don’t accurately measure student learning and growth. They are inequitable and ineffective at gauging what students actually know.
Teaching Conditions
“The Rise and Fall of the Teaching Profession”
The teaching profession is in the worst shape of the past 50 years, based on indicators like whether students want to go into teaching, the prestige of teachers, and the job satisfaction of teachers themselves.
Privatization and “Choice”
Claims that charter schools outperform public schools need to be scrutinized. Further, while the charter school movement may have begun with the interests of children at heart, it has been taken over by those with a far bigger and much different agenda.
Voucher programs, on balance, can inhibit academic growth, especially for vulnerable kids. In aggregate, students who take vouchers and move from public schools to private schools exhibit learning losses akin to those seen after the pandemic or Hurricane Katrina.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
“Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?”
Racism actually costs all Americans, by allowing wealthy conservatives to take away resources from all of us. Rather than share the benefits of government with Black people, many white Americans have sought to end benefits for everyone. This history helps explain why America doesn’t have well-funded schools.
“Nicole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Fight Over U.S. History”
Accurate history is unsettling. The narrative backlash against the works of Hannah-Jones and Coates enables anti-democratic agendas such as voter suppression. But only if we acknowledge how truly immature full democracy is, we’ll be armed to protect and advance it.
“Queer Families & the Classroom”
Most teachers want to be supportive and inclusive, but might not have sufficient confidence, knowledge, or tools. Beyond sound policies and good intentions, it takes work to make sure LGBTQ families are welcomed in school communities.
“Making School a Safe Place for LGBTQ Students”
Educators set the tone for how students treat each other. Allies need to educate themselves on the terminology and the issues, and glsen.org is a great resource. There are many opportunities to be more inclusive, which helps improve LGBTQ students’ outcomes.
Censorship
“Stop Banning Books: Jonathan Friedman”
We’re currently experiencing an eruption of anger against schools, books, school librarians, and teachers for allegedly engaging in something dangerous. For example, anything about diversity and inclusion is labeled as critical race theory. Libraries were actually put inside schools to encourage literacy and development, civic engagement, and exploration that is very healthy for a society. Politicians are increasingly trying to label whatever they don't like in schools as something that should be censored, and there are efforts to defund or close libraries.
“Stop Book Banning: A Special Episode of Fated Mates”
Book bans in schools and libraries are at their highest since the the American Library Association started collecting data. Bans are happening around the country, in every state, and disproportionately affecting books by and about LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC people.
Public Ed Disruptors
“The War on Public Education is Escalating - with Jennifer Berkshire”
There are authoritarian attempts to takeover school boards, state bills establishing censorship, and an under-covered push for school privatization. The Right’s attack on public education is about maintaining traditional hierarchies of wealth, race, gender, and religion. And unfortunately, certain Democrats’ neoliberal ideas about education “reform” have only paved the way for this undermining of public education.
Corporations, foundations, and individuals who have pushed for charter schools and vouchers have failed to fulfill their promises and have negatively impacted public schools.
Afterword
This syllabus attempts to cover the important topics from a wide variety of podcast shows and therefore perspectives. For your future convenience, basically all of these subject are super well covered by “Have You Heard.” So, if there is just one show that you begin following after using this syllabus, have it be that one.