All of the Above Podcast

This Week: Despite the right-wing hysteria that would have you believe wokeness and DEI are undermining the quality of America’s colleges, it turns out that it’s unqualified rich kids who are buying their way into schools like USC, sneaking in the back door as so-called walk-on athletes. And, a powerful new study from GPSN and the Center for Diversity in Leadership shows that Black and Brown educators in LA are planning to leave the teaching profession within 1-2 years in overwhelming numbers. What does this mean for educators, students, and the field? And what do we do about it?  Manuel and Jeff discuss! 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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

Encampments raided, college presidents sacked, student loan forgiveness struck down, DEI programs abolished, and free speech battles raging–what in the world is going on across our nation’s college campuses? With so many hot button issues impacting higher education today, how should students, families, and folks in the K-12 space navigate discussions and decisions about going to college? This week we’re joined by Kirk Carapezza, the Managing Editor and Correspondent for higher education at GBH News and cohost of the podcast College Uncovered with John Marcus from the Hechinger Report! He shares some of his takeaways from years of reporting on the state of higher education. But first, Jeff and Manuel take a look at recent headlines in education including an education titan’s praise of standardized testing and a new law banning legacy admissions. → Get your Teach the Truth T-Shirt here! → View this episode on YouTube! AGENDA 0:00 - Welcome! 5:50 - Praise for latest test scores in CA 20:24 - Legacy admissions banned 33:51 - Kirk Carapezza of College Uncovered 1:15:40 - Educating amid an ongoing genocide DO-NOW STORIES: Understanding California’s test scores could hold the key to student improvement California bans legacy admissions at colleges. The end of affirmative action is a reason why SEMINAR: College Uncovered Podcast WGBH - Kirk Carapezza Get MORE All of the Above: - Website - Podcast on multiple platforms via Anchor - Podcast via Apple Podcast - Podcast via Spotify - Twitter - Facebook Page Theme Music by its tajonthabeat --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: Amidst a culture of short attention spans, TikTok videos, 30 second sound bites, and 24 hour news cycles, it’s perhaps not surprising that the novel is going by the wayside in English classrooms across America. But the reality is a bit more complex than that. Pressure to raise standardized test scores, modern curriculum, and increasing use of computers and tablets to read rather than printed text may also be playing a role. But either way, is the prevalence of students reading excerpts of texts, rather than full texts, just the way things are now, or a loss for society and the nation’s youth? Manuel and Jeff discuss! Als CLICK HERE to register for the 10/16/24 CA Educator Diversity Action Network’s virtual Back2School Event to meet and learn with pioneering leaders from schools and communities across CA and share your thoughts on the issues we can tackle in 2025 and beyond! 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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: A fascinating new study of teacher strikes across America over the last two decades shows that strikes work to a) improve educator wages, b) improve working conditions like class sizes and support services, and c) increase overall education funding. And we’ve all heard it -- “I’m just not a math person” or “I can’t do math.” Our collective problem with poor math identity remains not only pervasive, but is passed from generation to generation. But can we fix this identity problem? Manuel and Jeff discuss! 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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: It happened again. Another mass shooting at a school in America, this time in Winder, GA. Another young, disaffected, white, male carries out a rageful act of violence, killing 4 people and injuring several others. Despite being the only country in the world that lives like this, our elected officials continue to fail us all, and force America’s schools to live under a haze of home grown terrorism.  On a more positive note, and to throw it right back in the face of toxic masculinity, California is set to become the latest state to require menstrual education as part of its comprehensive sex ed curriculum for kids in grades 7-12.  Manuel and Jeff discuss! ALSO -- CA educators click here to support Teach Plus’s campaign to have SB 1391 become law, and help us continue to diversify the teacher workforce in our 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 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/AOTAFollow us at: Facebook.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: As Kamala picks a former teacher for VP in Coach Walz, there could be… could be, some signs that the right wing fever is breaking in local school board elections in Florida. Maybe. Turns out an endorsement from Ronny D may not be all it’s cracked up to be. And, in hopeful news, some fascinating new federal data shows that America’s schools are, quite literally, the safest they have been over the last two decades with record low levels of things like serious school based violence, gang activity, and theft. That’s right, the schools are doing better than ever. You heard that right.  Hug  a teacher near you. Manuel and Jeff discuss! 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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: California’s governor wrote a letter to school leaders this week, urging urgent action on banning cell phones from the classroom. Citing ample data showing that increased use of cell phones leads to depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues, as well as data from the US Surgeon General’s 2023 report on the dangers of social media for youth, Newsome did not mince words, and asked school and school system leaders to take action even ahead of any future legislation on this issue statewide.  In addition, Oklahoma’s right wing state Superintendent Ryan Walters, notorious for his recent push to force teachers to teach the bible in public schools, is facing investigation and possible impeachment from his republican colleagues. Manuel and Jeff discuss! 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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: New guidelines for Title IX implementation and enforcement went live on August first, at least for about half of the country. The US Dept of Education’s plan to undo some of the damage that Trump and noted AOTA show hater Betsy Devos did during their tenure has several important provisions that offer greater protection to LGBTQ students, and greater accountability on institutions of higher ed to protect women subject to sexual harassment and assault. But at least 26 states have sued in federal court to block implementation of the new rules, putting their future in doubt.  Also, as the school year kicks off here in SoCal, we talk about big (if potentially crazy) ideas to address the nation’s challenges with chronic absenteeism.  Mauel and Jeff discuss!   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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: Sometimes research tells us something new. And sometimes it confirms what we already thought was true. That’s the case this week, as a new study from UCLA and Penn provides evidence of the “transformational” impact of a Los Angeles program that provided families in poverty with cash they can use to meet their needs. Benefits included housing stability, food stability, child engagement with enrichment activities, the ability to escape abusive relationships, the ability to withstand a $400 family emergency, and more.  In addition, with the start of the school year right around the corner here in SoCal, we dig into the age-old question of when the school year should start, and why it’s been creeping earlier and earlier.  Manuel and Jeff discuss! 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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: Two big headlines this week in The 74 and EdWeek about troubling new data showing problematic student behaviors, mental health concerns, and even threats or physical violence are plaguing our nation’s schools. Obviously this is a cause for concern, and perhaps not surprising given the challenging new realities schools and educators have faced coming out of the pandemic. But, is this data the full story? Kids don’t magically appear in schools -- they come from the society that raises them, right? So what do their behaviors say about us grown folk? Also, as perhaps modest counterpoint, LAUSD shares that test scores are on the rise for all students, despite the challenges we face with student social and emotional well being.  Manuel and Jeff discuss!  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/AOTAFollow us at: Facebook.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: The right wing Christian Nationalists have been hard at work on the integrity of the nation’s schools, coming straight for the most basic tenet of any democratic society -- separation of church and state. In Oklahoma, the state superintendent issues a decree that henceforth all grade 5-12 classrooms will “incorporate” the bible and the 10 commandments into the curriculum. And ominously, that “immediate and strict compliance is expected.” Nothing dystopian here. Not to be outdone, in Louisiana, the governor signed into law a bill requiring a state approved, 11x14” size with easily readable font, version of the 10 commandments to be posted in all classrooms. Both efforts, along with several others working their way through the legislative process in other states, are clear violations of the 1st Amendment, and are intended to challenge the Supreme Court’s 1980 decision in Stone v. Graham, which declared a Kentucky attempt to force the 10 commandments into public schools unconstitutional. In these troubling times, the very fate of democracy in school may well now be in the corrupt and vicious hands of the likes of Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh. Yup. Manuel and Jeff discuss.   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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: It looks like there will be two new additions coming to the CA high school curriculum in the coming years.  The state legislature is close to passing a new bill which would mandate teaching about menstrual health, which is, shockingly, currently not part of the state’s comprehensive sexed curriculum.  And since nearly 80% of students say they learn more about frog’s bodies than their own, this can't come too soon!  And, this week the state passed a new requirement for personal finance to be taught as a possible alternative to traditional economics, which will begin in the 2026-27 school year. The course will cover topics like financing college, personal savings, credit, and investing. But, as with most ed policy, the proof will be in the pudding. Manuel and Jeff discuss!    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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: As we conclude AAPI Heritage Month, today we dig into some new data from AP-NORC showing that a massive majority (71%) support the teaching of honest history about racism, slavery and segregation in our K-12 public schools. A similar super majority supports the teaching of AAPI culture and history in the US as well. This data flies in the face of some of the stereotypes and myths that we are led to believe are true, and is an affirming retort to the use of some members of the AAPI community to present a brown face on a white supremacist agenda to suppress the teaching of truthful history. Manuel and Jeff discuss!     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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

From the CRT hysteria to the current targeting of university DEI efforts, we’ve seen an escalating right wing attack on public education in this country. Often under the guise of “parental rights,” these attacks have targeted teachers, LGBTQ+ students, books, curriculum, SEL, and equity-mined programming. Dr. Heather Harding, the executive director of Campaign for our Shared Future, joins us this week to share her experience in organizing opposition to this rising tide of racist and anti-equity attacks on public education. The Campaign for Our Shared Future is a time bound, nonpartisan campaign to defend and promote K12 public education amid political attacks. But first, Jeff and Manuel take a look at recent headlines in education including a heated exchange in Congress concerning Ethnic Studies and new data on low rates of college degree attainment. → Get your Teach the Truth T-Shirt here! → View this episode on YouTube! AGENDA 0:00 - Welcome! 6:41 - Ethnic Studies under attack yet again 25:27 - New data on low rates of degree attainment 43:48 - Dr. Heather Harding on Organizing the Resistance 1:16:27 - College encampments earn important victories DO-NOW STORIES: Berkeley superintendent, GOP congressman tussle over ‘liberated’ ethnic studies Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium Website  40% of 2013 HS grads who started on a degree or credential didn’t finish NCES Report: A First Look at the 2021 Postsecondary Enrollment, Completion, and Financial Aid Outcomes of Fall 2009 Ninth-Graders SEMINAR: The Campaign for Our Shared Future CLASS DISMISSED: Meet Students at 4 Colleges Where Gaza Protests Win Concessions, Incl. Considering Israel Divestment Get MORE All of the Above: - Website - Podcast on multiple platforms via Anchor - Podcast via Apple Podcast - Podcast via Spotify - Twitter - Facebook Page Theme Music by its tajonthabeat --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support

This Week: The Shenandoah County Schools have gone completely off the white supremacist ledge this week, as the school board voted 5 to 1 to reinstate -- yes you heard that right -- reinstate the names of confederate warmongers on two of their schools that were renamed early in the period of the racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd. The school board made this vote despite majority opposition from the community, and as a bold statement of their commitment to uplifting one of the most despicable chapters of American history, chattel slavery. To date, this is the first known instance of a school system that changed school names from confederate warmongers reversing course. Tragically, in this era of rising white supremacy, it may not be the last. Manuel and Jeff discuss.  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.com/AOTAshow and Twitter.com/AOTAshow --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aota/support