This episode confronts a complexity of the U.S. justice system: education within prisons. What does educational opportunity look like for incarcerated individuals? The sheer scale of incarceration in the United States and devolved, state-by-state control has led to a patchwork system of educational resources that ends up being sometimes at odds with its own rehabilitative goals. Join us for a look at the challenges and systemic failures of correctional schooling and the quiet efforts to address them, which often aim to reduce recidivism and even the bottom line for taxpayers.

00:20 Intro & Announcements

00:00 The Scale of Incarceration in the U.S.

03:30 Federal vs. State Prison Education: Repeatable Process or Patchwork Promises?

12:00 Policy Levers for Improvement & States that Excel (Ohio, California)

18:30 Pell Grant Access

25:00 Incentives, Recidivism, and Privatization

31:00 Teaching in Prison: Qualifications and Challenges

37:00 What We Learned (Mariel Boatlift)

For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Did your high school experience feel a little like a relic from another era? Beneath the daily routines of bells and benchmarks is a history of deliberate choices (made by a small number of voices), evolving philosophies, and healthy controversy that evolved through a period of rapid social change. This week, the hosts examine the origins of the American high school system as we know it, prompting critical inquiries into the emergence and evolution of the course and assessment structure that dictates the rhythms of adolescence in the United States. We review the landmark report of the Committee of Ten, an 1892 working group of National Education Association of the United States Committee on Secondary School Studies, which was convened in order to create a framework of educational standards to bring order to the patchwork chaos of secondary schooling in the U.S. left in the wake of the Civil War. We discuss the initial goals of the secondary school system and to what extent original intentions are still serving our students today. The episode also interrogates the notion of a singular “best” teaching or assessment method.

00:15 Intro & Recap of Holocaust Education Museum Exhibit (Cincinnati) and Guided Virtual Tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau

06:50 An Academic Conference with Enormous Power Over American High Schools

10:15 The Report of the Committee of Ten: The Most Important Education Document Ever Issued?

12:00 The Formalizing of Education as a Profession

14:50 The National Education Association: Convener of Educational Change

16:00 Horace Mann, Common Schooling, & the Evolution of Standards

19:30 Who Decides What is “Best”? And Better Questions

25:50 Ten After Ten: Retrospective Look & Influence of the Report

30:20 The End of Differentiation & Discussion Questions

40:00 What We Learned

For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Sources & Further Reading:

Report of the Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies : with the reports of the conferences arranged by the Committee

United States. Bureau of Education. Report of the Commissioner of Education Made to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year ... With Accompanying Papers. Washington: G.P.O., 18701928.

Education Reform in Antebellum America | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The History of NEA

Ten Years' Influence of the Report of the Committee of Ten

Episode 60 - Where No Mann Has Gone Before - 16:1 - An Education Podcast

Episode 40 - A More Perfect Union? - 16:1 - An Education Podcast

NEA Leadership on Teach for America

Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education

The Carnegie Unit

We’re pleased to welcome guest Dr. Maggie Marcus to the podcast. Dr. Marcus joins us for a conversation on bilingual learners, two-way immersion programs, and navigating the needs of English learners from a policy level at a time of increased scrutiny on language learning in relation to civic identity. Dr. Marcus is the Executive Director of the Sullivan Family Charitable Foundation, which is dedicated to improving educational outcomes for English Learners.

02:30 The Joy of Teaching Aligned to Talent: Dual Language Learning

10:30 Professional Pathways for Language Learners

16:30 Two-Way Immersion Programming: Research & Praxis

22:00 Century Foundation Report: Community Demand for Bilingual Educational Opportunity

27:30 English Learners & Pandemic Recovery Trends

31:00 What We Learned

Is Your Child Classified as an English Learner? - PIQE

What Families Want: New Data on Public Demand for Bilingual Education

Pandemic Response to Pandemic Recovery: Helping English Learners Succeed This Fall and Beyond

Quadrinity Check-In | Hoffman Institute

Sullivan Family Charitable Foundation

Music by John Williams | GRAMMY® Award Winner | Disney+

Mayor Mamdani Declares Local State of Emergency, Snow Day for NYC Public Schools to Keep New Yorkers Safe

For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.