In this episode we experiment with a different format. Co-host Dr. Maria Piantanida offers a review of The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Muller a professor of history at the Catholic University of America. Dr. Piantanida highlights key ideas in the book and recommends it as useful reading for anyone concerned about the inappropriate and oppressive use of narrow performance measures. It can serve as a starting point for conversations among educators, the public, and policy makers as they strive to create realistic and meaningful systems to evaluate the quality of educational endeavors. 

This episode features our conversation with Josie Barnes who is beginning her junior year in high school. The school Josie attends structures its calendar so that students are able to take a multi-week intensive course a couple of times a year. We talk about Josie’s experience during January 2023 when she chose a course on global health. She focused her writing project on health issues of Native Americans and efforts by some individuals in the Seattle area who are working to reclaim their knowledge of healing plants. We talk with Josie about her interest in the topic, what she learned, and her talents as a writer.  

From an early age, Duncan Barnes has had a passionate interest in animals. Emerging from this passion has been a desire to pursue a career in veterinarian medicine. During this episode, we talk with Duncan about his interest and what he has been doing to prepare himself to study veterinarian medicine. Now entering his senior year in high school, Duncan shares how he has begun to pursue this career path, including his work at a clinic and his participation in a special summer program at Amherst University.  

This episode features Tyler Samstag who jointly is the director of Remake Learning and also leads transformED, an initiative at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit that supports schools in starting, scaling, and sustaining transformational change. During our podcast Tyler discusses the mission of Remake Learning and also provides information about the Moonshot Grants and the Tugboat Grant and much more. Their work encourages educators to think radically, dream big, and inspire a better future.  

Tyler started his career as a special education teacher in New York City, implementing research-based literacy interventions in both traditional and alternative academic settings. Later, while living in Boston, Tyler completed an internship with the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), a nonprofit education R&D organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning and was a member of the IDEO Bits + Blocks LAB at the Harvard Innovation Lab, a program to develop new ventures around the technologies inspired by Bitcoin and blockchain. Interested in applications of human-centered design in education and nonprofit sectors, Tyler has facilitated an array of interactive workshops on design thinking and rapid prototyping at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and MIT. 

Tyler is a Pittsburgh Public School graduate, an AmeriCorps alum, holds a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in English Education, and graduated from the Mind, Brain, and Education program at Harvard University, where he was an Urban Scholars Fellow. 

For additional information about Remake Learning as well as the Tugboats and Lighthouses report visit https://www.remakelearning.org. 

This episode features the work of the PEAL Center, a statewide organization that provides support for parents of children with disabilities. Through a wide array of resources, training, a helpline, and advocacy, PEAL Center staff and volunteers work to educate parents of children with disabilities and special health care needs as well as professionals who work in these fields. 

During our conversation, Mary Hartley, the Executive Director, and Cindy Duch, the Director of Individual Assistance, discuss issues facing families, the educational rights of children with special needs, transition services, and the value of educational inclusion, not just for children with disabilities but for all children.  

For additional information about the services and resources available through the PEAL Center, visit https://www.pealcenter.org

This episode features Paige Joki, a staff attorney at the Pennsylvania Education Law Center. After graduating from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Joki was selected as an NAACP LDF Earl Warren Fellow and a Temple University Beasley School of Law Rubin-Presser Social Justice Fellow. In recognition for her notable contributions to public service at Temple University and for pursuing a legal career in social justice, Joki received the Beth Cross Award. 

Since joining the Education Law Center in 2017, Joki has focused on eliminating individual and systemic barriers to quality education for students experiencing homelessness in the Philadelphia region as well as providing “Know Your Rights” training for students, parents, providers and organizations serving students experiencing homelessness. Most recently, she has led the Law Center’s Black Girls Education Justice Initiative. In collaboration with a number of groups advocating for more just social conditions for Black girls, the Law Centered conducted five focus groups with students attending school in the Philadelphia area. Emerging from these group discussions were eight principles for ameliorating the individual and systemic racism faced by Black girls. A copy of the report generated through this initiative can be accessed from the Education Law Center’s website:  

https://www.elc-pa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/FINAL-Supportive-Spaces-for-web.pdf

This episode features Dr. Susan Moore Johnson, author of the book, Where Teachers Thrive: Organizing Schools for Success. During the conversation we explore features that contribute to successful schools, even in socio-economically distressed communities where many think improvements are not possible. Dr. Moore Johnson is the Jerome T. Murphy Research Professor in Education at the Harvard graduate School of Education. A former high school teacher and administrator, Dr. Moore Johnson studies, teaches, and consults about teacher policy, organizational change, and leadership practice. She served as academic dean of the Education School 1993-1999. From 2007 to 2015, Dr. Moore Johnson was co-chair of the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP), a collaboration between Harvard’s Education and Business Schools. Since 1998, she has directed the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, where she and her colleagues have examined how best to recruit, develop, and retain a strong teaching force. 

This episode features Deborah Gordon Klehr, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Education Law Center (ELC). During the conversation we explore the founding and purpose of the ELC, who can access resources and assistance from the Center, and ways in which individuals can support the Center’s work. Klehr is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law school. In addition to her work at the ELC, Klehr currently serves as a member of The American Law Institute and co-chairs the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Legislative Liaison Committee and the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Education Law Committee. She is a member of the Forum of Executive Women and in 2022, was named to Pennsylvania’s Law Power 100 and Metro Philadelphia’s Education Power Players List. 

Additional information about the Education Law Center and its resources can be found at https://www.elc-pa.org.