The Dropout Nation Podcast

Best of the Dropout Nation Podcast: Time to Reveal Good and Bad Teachers

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:38:57 +0000

Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

As Dropout Nation’s writers enjoys Spring Fever, listen to this Dropout Nation Podcast from November 2011 in which Editor RiShawn Biddle challenges the view of the Los Angeles Unified School District, teachers’ unions, and school reformers who oppose revealing the names — and performance — of high-quality and laggard teachers. Presenting good-to-great teachers (and poor-performing counterparts) to the public will provide information that helps families, the teaching profession, and, most importantly, all of our children.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your mobile or desktop device. Also, subscribe to the podcast series, and embed this podcast on your site. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, Zune Marketplace, Stitcher, and PodBean. A new podcast will be be broadcast on Saturday.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: Abandon Busted Teachers’ Pensions

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Sun, 05 May 2013 10:41:03 +0000

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle looks the nation’s insolvent defined-benefit pensions at the heart of traditional teacher compensation, and reveals the extent to which they are underfunded. Reformers must end the actuarial tricks — often encouraged for decades by states, districts and affiliates of the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers — that understate the real cost of pensions, as well as advance the overhaul of teacher compensation altogether.

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 Fire. Also, subscribe to the podcast series, and embed this podcast on your site. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, Zune Marketplace, Stitcher, and PodBean. Also download to your phone with other mobile software.

Best of the Dropout Nation Podcast: Say It Loud, Say It Proud

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:18:15 +0000

While Dropout Nation‘s editors and contributors recover from various travel this past weekend, listen to this rebroadcast of a Dropout Nation Podcast from December 2011 in which Editor RiShawn Biddle discusses the importance of embracing the legendary James Brown’s Black Power mantra in advancing school reform. It is critical to strongly challenge the thinking of education traditionalists such as Diane Ravitch and Randi Weingarten — and do so without apology.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: Build Civilizations of Love for Our Children

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 01:57:34 +0000

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle looks at the Boston Marathon Bombings, the murder trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, and the slaying of one-year-old Byreon Hunter, and explains what we must do to fight against cultures of death that consumes the lives and futures of our children, physically and spiritually. Transforming American public education, whose crisis can often condemn our children to the economic, social, and emotional abyss, is part of the betterment of society that is key to helping our children succeed.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: Become Evangelicals for School Reform

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 02:03:03 +0000

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle looks back at the evangelical efforts of William Wilberforce and others to end the slave trade, and explains why and how school reformers should embrace their example. It is as critical for reformer to strongly, smartly, and tactically make the moral and intellectual case for transforming American public education as Wilberforce did for ending slavery more than two centuries ago.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: End the Cheating of Children

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 23:08:04 +0000

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle takes a look at the debate over standardized testing that has emerged from the Atlanta test-cheating scandal, and explains why traditionalists such as American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten are making excuses for unethical behavior that damages the futures of our children. Instead, all of us should fight for ending the array of policies and practices — including the overuse of out-of-school suspensions and the overlabeling of kids as special ed cases — that condemn so many of our kids to economic and social despair.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: Embrace the Genius Within All Our Kids

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:00:39 +0000

On this Easter weekend edition of the Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle explains why we must take steps — including overhauling how we recruit and train teachers and school leaders — to help all our kids fulfill their potential. Far too often, our kids — especially those from poor and minority backgrounds — are shunted aside by far too many teachers and school leaders who don’t see the wondrous, awesome, amazing, and talented people they are within.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: Beyond School Closings

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:25:30 +0000

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle, observing the latest wave of school closings in cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia, explains why they are both necessary and yet, should be handled better by expanding school choice and enacting Parent Power initiatives that allow for wider arrays of high-quality choices. As the traditional district model proves unfit for operating schools as well as for providing families with high-quality schools, it is time to expand school options and give families the power to overhaul schools on their own.

Best of The Dropout Nation Podcast: By Any Means Necessary

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 04:01:28 +0000

As the editors and contributors enjoy the weekend, listen to this rebroadcast of a Dropout Nation Podcast from May 2011 discussing why so many parents are pushing for reform of American public education and embracing the approach originally paved by Malcolm X to do it any way they can. Contrary to what education commentators such as John Merrow may think, parents — especially those whose children attend the nation’s failure mills — are not driven by animus against teachers, but outrage over the low quality of education and the role of education traditionalists (including teachers unions) in perpetuating the nation’s education crisis.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your mobile device. Also, subscribe to the podcast series, and embed this podcast on your site. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, Zune Marketplace, Stitcher, and PodBean. Also download to your phone with other mobile software. A new Dropout Nation Podcast will broadcast on Tuesday.

The Dropout Nation Podcast: No Excuses for Failing Our Kids

Dropout Nation Editorial Board — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:40:16 +0000

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, RiShawn Biddle dissects one principal’s perspective on the whether kids otherwise poised to graduate but struggling with algebra should learn the subject — and explains why what those kids need is more help, not pity. We can’t let our children — or ourselves — off the hook when it comes helping them attain all the knowledge they need for their own lifelong success.