On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, Editor RiShawn Biddle takes a look at recent conversations about the traditional school district and why we need to abandon the old-school approach and embrace the Hollywood Model of Education. The very assumptions — including benefits of scale — at the heart of district bureaucracies hinders much-needed efforts to stem dropouts and help kids enjoy economically and socially prosperous futures.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle. Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader..

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address provides an opportunity to fully understand how high-quality education transforms lives and communities — especially in an economic time in which every white- and blue-collar job is one dependent on strong reading, math, and science skills.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I analyze the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act’s one decade after it became law. Contrary to what education traditionalists and others may declare, the law has spur the first steps at systemic reform that have helped keep more children on the path to economic and social success.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.

On this inaugural edition of On the Road with Dropout Nation, Editor RiShawn Biddle speaks at last week’s Restoring Excellence in Education conference on the importance of expanding school choice, enacting Parent Trigger laws, and improving school data so that families can exercise their rightful roles as lead decision-makers in education. Now, more than ever, it will take armies of parents to help solve the nation’s education crisis and help all kids succeed.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the Conversation podcast series and the overall Dropout Nation Podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.

As we commemorate the legacy of Martin Luther King, listen to this Best of the Dropout Nation Podcast from November 2010 on what it means for education to be the leading civil rights issue of this era. School reformers and others make this statement every day, but it will be meaningless jargon unless several steps are taken to walk the proverbial talk.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.

On the New Year’s first Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle takes a look at two new studies on teacher quality and explain why we can no longer depend on classroom observations in evaluating and managing performance. More than ever, objective data — especially value-added analysis of student performance — is critical to helping good-to-great teachers and the children in their care.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, a day of service at a Little Rock, Ark., church offers a reminder of why congregations of faith are critical to spurring systemic reform of American public education and economically reviving hard-hit communities. The religious institutions at the heart of communities can help our kids get high-quality education from the schools at the center of their lives. And school reformers should reach out to those churches in order to advance this goal.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.

On this Christmas Eve edition of the Dropout Nation Podcast, I look at the battle in Chicago between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the American Federation of Teachers’ affiliate over extending the school day for the Second City’s high school — and explain why this squabble exemplifies why we need a revolution in American public education. We have made education a comfortable place for laggard adults in teaching and leadership at the expense of the futures of children.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.

On this month’s Conversation,  the former D.C. Public Schools chancellor and StudentsFirst founder explains why we need more Wayne Wheelers, Lee Atwaters, and James Carvilles for advancing reform, the need to build stronger ties with grassroots, and why reform-minded younger teachers will have to look outside of the NEA and AFT to overhaul American public education. She also talks about what she would have done differently during her tenure overhauling what was once the Superfund Site of traditional districts.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the Conversation podcast series and the overall Dropout Nation Podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I explain how school choice helps children escape failure factories, spurs families to demand Parent Power and spur reform, and helps attack the pernicious effects of Zip Code Education practices that have denied high-quality education to all children — especially those from poor and minority backgrounds. It is time to expand choice, especially through new ways such as Parent Trigger laws.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle.  Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network,  Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.