Reality Check with Jeanne Allen

Latest Episodes:

If You Think Teacher Strikes are About Pay, Think Again May 19, 2018

Show notes

20,000 North Carolina teachers took to the streets of Raleigh for what was billed as a march and rally against low wages and underfunded schools. It was neither. “My heart goes out to the teachers that did turn out for the rally. The problem is, the rally organizers have an anti-charter school agenda,” said North Carolina Association of Public Charter Schools’ Executive Dir. Rhonda Dillingham. North Carolina is the latest in a wave of coordinated efforts to engage charter school teachers to abandon their classrooms and their students under the façade of solidarity. This is the fifth in a series of walk-outs and sick-outs being encouraged by the National Education Association (NEA). In this Episode 21 of Reality Check, Jeanne Allen is joined by charter school advocates, Rhonda Dillingham and Pamela Blizzard, the founder of two highly innovative charter high schools to unpack the messaging and hidden union agenda.

Darla Romfo May 12, 2018

Show notes

Darla Romfo is the president and COO of the Children’s Scholarship Fund. CSF provides partial scholarships for low-income children in grades K-8 to go to private school. CSF has provided scholarships to more than 166,000 children and currently serves almost 26,500 children nationwide. Ms. Romfo has served as CSF’s president and COO since the organization offered its first scholarships in 1999. Prior to joining CSF, her positions on Capitol Hill included legislative director and counsel to Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and legislative director and tax counsel to Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) She’s also been an attorney in private practice. A frequent speaker on education and school choice, her vision is clear as CSF marks 20 years of making educational opportunity possible with thousands of new scholarships that empower families. “The real issue is that every parent should be able to decide for their kid what is the best option for them and to make that choice. And that money should follow them.” Episode 20 of Reality Check with Jeanne Allen

Sarah Tantillo May 07, 2018

Show notes

If there’s one person who’s been-there-done-that in the world of education, it’s teacher, author, scholar, advisor and sought-after speaker, Sarah Tantillo. She taught English and the humanities in both traditional public and charter schools in New Jersey for 14 years. She chaired the Humanities Department at the highly-regarded North Star Academy School in Newark, and her students achieved an extraordinary 100 percent passing rate on the High School Proficiency Assessment for Language Arts and Literacy. She founded both the New Jersey Charter Resource Center and the New Jersey Charter Public Schools Association. Her books include The Literacy Cookbook and Literacy and the Common Core: Recipes for Action, with a new one out later this year about how the charter school concept became a national movement. She holds degrees from Princeton, Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Rutgers. Episode 19 of Reality Check with Jeanne Allen

Laura Sandefur Apr 27, 2018

Show notes

Laura Sandefur is the co-founder of Acton Academy. She and her husband Jeff began with one school in Austin, Texas in 2009 initially motivated to give their children a different kind of education than they could find anywhere. They began as they say, “with a blank piece of paper” to build their dream school. Today, Acton Academy is a growing network of more than 80 innovative schools all over the world. Incorporating blended learning, the Socratic discussions, multi-aged learning environments, hands-on real-world apprenticeships, adaptive game-based programs, and teachers who are referred to as “guides” Acton Academy’s rigorous program has literally turned learning upside down. Episode 17 of Reality Check with Jeanne Allen

Lenore Skenazy Apr 21, 2018

Show notes

“We’re criminalizing common sense and rationality and we’re elevating hysteria to not only the common good but also what you must be to be an ok parent.” How do we overcome this? Jeanne Allen’s guest Lenore Skenazy has made overcoming this hysteria her life’s work. And for it, she’s been labeled “America’s worst mom”! But in this Episode 16 of Reality Check, we’ll hear frank conversation about how an innocent solo train ride by her 9-year old son spawned a movement to allow kids to be more resilient and independent, beginning with a book and a blog entitled “Free-Range Kids” and now 10 years later, is still going strong through her new organization Let Grow—in schools, homes and communities across the country.

Matt Greenfield Apr 14, 2018

Show notes

Matt Greenfield is Managing Partner of ReThink Education, a venture capital firm focused on educational technology. He is on the boards of BrightBytes, Allovue, CareAcademy and Southern New Hampshire University. His non-profit affiliations include the leadership council of NewSchools Venture Fund and the board of Mouse.org. But Matt mostly thinks of his role as a problem solver. “As an investor, I start with solving a problem.” He wrote the business plan for the step-by-step modules for behavioral therapy in the treatment of autism which became “Rethink Autism”—now simply “Rethink.” With a background in academia and educational technology, he insists there’s more to moving students toward their goals and ultimately a career path, “It’s not just technology but a respect for students,” Greenfield asks, “Does it delight and engage the students?” Episode 15 of Reality Check with Jeanne Allen

Jeanne Allen commentary on NAEP and A Nation Still At Risk Apr 08, 2018

Show notes

In 1983, President Reagan urged students to understand the new world in which they lived: “Your generation is coming of age in one of the most challenging and exciting times in our history. High technology is revolutionizing our industries, renewing our economy and promising new hope and opportunity in the years ahead . . ." “Make sure you get the training and skills you need to take advantage of [these] new opportunities… Get a good education. That’s the key to success. It will open your mind and give wings to your spirit.” On the eve of the 35th anniversary of the release of ‘A Nation at Risk’ our students’ wings are clipped. National achievement has been stagnant for too many years, according to the results of the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress. It’s as if we’re in 1983 all over again, when A Nation at Risk declared that “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.” The result then was a movement that catalyzed a nation into challenging the status quo. And yet, despite amazing progress creating the opportunities and changes in a tired system that have allowed millions of students to have education that they would not otherwise be able to access had it not been for this report, today’s education report card on the state of national reading and math are dismal. With fewer than 40 percent of our students proficient in any subject, these scores are a sobering reminder that we remain a nation at risk with far too many children and young adults poorly educated, unprepared to enter college or the workforce, and ultimately, unable to achieve the American Dream of living a rewarding, prosperous life. Listen now to this Episode 14 Special Edition of Reality Check, as Jeanne Allen shares her insights and analysis of the trends and challenges we face if the nation’ does not transform how—and what—we do to educate learners at all levels.

Robert Pondiscio Apr 07, 2018

Show notes

Robert Pondiscio is a senior fellow and vice president for external affairs at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a senior advisor to Democracy Prep Public Schools in Harlem, New York. He writes and speaks extensively on education and education reform issues with an emphasis on literacy, curriculum, teaching, and urban education. He came to the field of education as a second career and never intended to stay. He has become one of its most passionate spokespersons for reform and innovation. “I have a complicated relationship with testing and accountability.” Episode 13 of Reality Check with Jeanne Allen.

John Schilling Mar 24, 2018

Show notes

John Schilling is the President and CEO of the American Federation for Children, which was chaired by Betsy DeVos until she became Secretary of Education last year. John is a veteran of more than two decades in the field of education reform. “Choice works,” he says. “When you put parents in the driver’s seat, you find that giving parents the power to find the best educational environment for their child means that you’re going to give options to a lot of kids who don’t have them right now and really need them.” John Schilling is Jeanne Allen’s guest in this Episode 12 of Reality Check, a National Review podcast focusing on education issues.

Carl Schramm Mar 10, 2018

Show notes

If there’s one thing that America’s public schools could use, it’s the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation. This week’s guest on Episode 11 of Reality Check with Jeanne Allen is Carl Schramm, former president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, who found himself spending many years studying what really makes a business succeed. The title of his new book, Burn the Business Plan, rips apart one of the most cherished assumptions in the world of business schools. As a professor at Syracuse, he’s seen it all, and his experience brings him to a lot of unconventional ways of thinking. Under his leadership, the Kauffman Foundation became the first grant-making foundation to own and operate its own charter school. Learn what allows some to succeed and some to fail in this Reality Check.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Reality Check with Jeanne Allen

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected