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The Supers-Education Podcast with John Merrow #131

Arne Duncan has $5 billion dollars of discretionary money to disburse as he sees fit. Superintendents across the country are debating where they think the money should go. Four of the nation’s best Superintendents discuss their feelings on one issue that is certain to be on Arne’s agenda, national standards.AUDIODuration: 6:16

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Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, believes that reform begins with teachers. But the question now is how to support them. Weingarten offers her opinion on how the new secretary should use his budget and explains why she thinks national standards should be his priority.AUDIODuration: 8:03

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Former Assistant Secretary of Education Christopher T. Cross has seen a lot of education secretaries come and go, but none with as large a budget as Arne Duncan. Mr. Cross details the challenges Duncan will face as he aims to spend his department's $160 billion budget. With over 200 special interest groups and countless superintendents clamoring for his attention, Cross says Duncan has a tough job ahead.AUDIODuration: 7:53

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Thanks to the federal stimulus package, new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has a $160 billion budget -- and of that, he can spend $5 billion any way he pleases. With over 200 special interest groups and countless superintendents clamoring for his attention, Duncan has a lot of options. Duncan shares his thoughts on best strategies, and how he hopes to impact an education system where 3 out 10 ninth graders fail to graduate.AUDIODuration: 7:53

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Though the federal law known as No Child Left Behind requires annual testing in reading and math, states develop their own tests and decide where to set the bar. Conservative education guru Chester Finn discusses these and other loopholes in No Child Left Behind ­ and tells us why it’s politically impossible to suggest a goal less than 100%.AUDIODuration: 15:39

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Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings responds to John Merrow’s questions about loopholes in the federal law known as No Child Left Behind. Is the law truly holding states accountable for educating all children?AUDIODuration: 14:26

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San Diego's Keiller Middle School re-invented itself as a charter school, and for the first time in ears, students are meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind. So why, asks Executive Director Patricia Ladd, is the local school system treating it like an adversary?AUDIODuration: 19:19

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During Alan Bersin’s 7-year tenure as San Diego’s Superintendent of Schools he often found himself at the center of the controversy. Hear this nationally-known educational reformer share some of the lessons he learned fighting to improve failing schools.AUDIODuration: 21:30

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Michelle Evans was appalled by the conditions at her son’s middle school – and so she changed them. Using a provision of No Child Left Behind, Evans lead the fight to convert Gompers Middle School to a charter school. Hear Evans, who many call a hero, describe the struggle and success of the effort.AUDIODuration: 13:19

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Washington, DC’s new and inexperienced superintendent, 37-year-old Michelle Rhee, discusses her plans to reshape the school district’s traditionally unresponsive central office and boost student achievement.AUDIODuration: 15:26

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Amanda Sias, Kady Amundson and Jason Denlinger—three teachers at Rabouin High School, one of New Orleans’ lowest performing schools designated to the Recovery School District—debate whether their new, optimistic Superintendent, Paul Vallas, can turn around a district plagued by historical failure and poverty.  AUDIODuration: 21:22

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Anthony Cody is a National Board Certified Teacher with 18 years of classroom experience under his belt. But Anthony Cody is no longer teaching--he left the profession several years after the No Child Left Behind was passed. In this podcast, hear Cody explain why left, why it’s difficult for teachers to criticize the law, and why NCLB doesn’t “honor the reality” of urban education.  AUDIODuration: 20:17

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The Federal Law known as No Child Left Behind tests reading and math each year in grades three through eight. But is the testing helping kids learn how to apply knowledge in the real world? Lynn Riggs, a science teacher in Fairfax County, Virginia, worries that students are learning how to give the right answers – at the cost of learning how to ask the right questions.  AUDIODuration: 16:55

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Every Spring, the state teachers of the year travel to Washington to meet the President. But this year, they planned an event of their own – 50 of the state teachers of the year held a press conference calling for 10 major changes to the Federal law known as No Child Left Behind. Hear Maddie Fennell, the 2007 Nebraska Teacher of the Year, discuss how the law looks differently in Washington than it does in her Omaha classroom.  AUDIODuration: 11:47

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5th grade teacher Betsy Walter sees her students making progress – but often, tests required by the federal law known as No Child Left Behind tell a different story. Walter, who once worked for Senator Kennedy, a sponsor of the law, discusses how NCLB evaluates her students. AUDIODuration: 12:29

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The Federal law known as No Child Left Behind has generated a massive amount of testing data. But is the data useful in the classroom? Jay McClain, principal at Bailey’s Elementary School in Fairfax County, VA, discuss how NCLB impacts his job. AUDIODuration: 11:14

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George Parker, the president of the teachers’ union in Washington D.C., is now negotiating a new contract with School Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Rhee wants to make it easier to fire ineffective teachers, but Parker says she already has enough power.  In this audio podcast, hear how Parker balances the need for educational reform with his duty to protect workers’ rights.AUDIODuration: 12:14

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If you were put in charge of one of the worst school districts in the country would you give high school students free laptops? Well, that’s exactly what Paul Vallas has done. Now several months into his superintendency of the Recovery School District in New Orleans, Vallas is betting on some bold initiatives to turn the system around and improve education for students. Hear Vallas talk about trying to upend old ways of doing business and set about changing how students learn.AUDIODura ...

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College sports conjure up conflicting images from academics to athletics scandals. Our newest documentary, Big Time Losers, examines the contradictions of this multi-million dollar industry. In this podcast, Lute Olson--interviewed in the film--talks about the educational aspects of college sports and why basketball and football in particular are critical to the university and all other college sports.AUDIODuration: 20:11

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How do the best superintendents of the nation deal with the everyday challenges of running school districts? How do they negotiate the obstacles and develop innovative solutions to ensure that education remains a priority? Last September Rudy Crew, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Board of Education, debated these issues. The panel was held in Washington, DC, before the Broad Foundation Urban Education Award Ceremony.AUDI ...

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