Episodes

  • A Dream Project, Staff Shortages, and Canceling the Ku Klux Klan—Wait, What?

    A Dream Project, Staff Shortages, and Canceling the Ku Klux Klan—Wait, What?
    May 23 2022
    In Episode 4, we hear from Melinda Young, superintendent of Steubenville City Public Schools, Kayla Whitlatch, Steubenville’s treasurer, and Lynnett Gorman, the district’s federal grants administrator, about how ESSER funds are allowing Steubenville to construct a STEM building connected to the high school, which they view as a long-term investment in students’ dreams and post-pandemic economic growth. “This is the […]
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    42 mins
  • Leading the Way

    Leading the Way
    May 16 2022
    In Episode 3, leaders in two states explain how they are using ESSER funds to pursue statewide improvement efforts. In Delaware, recently retired state superintendent, Dr. Susan Bunting, along with Dr. Michael Saylor, education associate for school leadership initiatives, and Dr. Jackie Wilson, director of the Delaware Academy for School Leadership, note that their state has developed a leadership pipeline […]
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    29 mins
  • Addressing Learning Needs

    Addressing Learning Needs
    May 9 2022
    In Episode 2, we sit down with Tricia McManus, superintendent of Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools, who says that her district is making the most of its relief money by using it to address pressing needs and invest for the future. She’s spending on everything from COVID mitigation and new curricula to contracting with community “violence interrupters” to help mentor and […]
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    24 mins
  • Where Are All Those Dollars Going?

    Where Are All Those Dollars Going?
    May 2 2022
    In Episode 1, we talk about the big picture with Phyllis Jordan of FutureEd, a Washington think tank that has been tracking how districts are spending the money. She says that what is very clear is that what she calls “under-resourced districts” are using much of their money for immediate needs, such as repairs or to prevent illness. We also […]
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    23 mins
  • How are Schools & Districts Using the Money That the Federal Government Has Provided to Help Them Get Through the COVID Crisis?

    How are Schools & Districts Using the Money That the Federal Government Has Provided to Help Them Get Through the COVID Crisis?
    Apr 13 2022
    3 mins
  • Districts That Succeed

    Districts That Succeed
    Apr 23 2021
    In the final episode of this season of ExtraOrdinary Districts, Tanji Reed Marshall interviews her co-host Karin Chenoweth about Chenoweth’s new book, Districts that Succeed: Breaking the Correlation Between Race, Poverty, and Achievement, which will be published May 25 by Harvard Education Press. Be sure to subscribe to ExtraOrdinary Districts to be notified of new episodes when they come out.
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    48 mins
  • What Have We Heard? What Have We Learned?

    What Have We Heard? What Have We Learned?
    Apr 16 2021
    In this episode, ExtraOrdinary Districts co-hosts Karin Chenoweth and Tanji Reed Marshall chew over what they heard and what they learned from five previous episodes that explored different aspects of reading instruction. They connect the question of reading instruction to our historical moment in which we as a nation are deciding whether to be a democracy in which all citizens […]
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    58 mins
  • What Can States Do to Improve Reading Instruction?

    What Can States Do to Improve Reading Instruction?
    Apr 9 2021
    When Tennessee showed no progress on the last results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress and Massachusetts actually declined, both states were spurred to make some major changes to improve the reading instruction in their states. In this episode, Dr. Lisa Coons, chief academic officer of the Tennessee State Department of Education, Dr. Heather Peske, senior associate commissioner, Massachusetts […]
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    51 mins