How Schools Are Addressing Structural Racism

EDUCATION & EQUITY

PODCAST (60 MIN)

Using 2020 as a Teachable Moment in Education

With the death of George Floyd in May and now the shooting of Jacob Blake, schools are stepping up to join the national conversation about race. Janice Jackson, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, says she welcomes the healthy discourse. “Here in Chicago we’ve seen a lot of student activism. Students are doing a lot of the things we’ve been teaching them in our schools around making sure their voice matters,” she says. The district’s curriculum addresses police brutality and the school developed a toolkit for talking productively about race. Jackson speaks with Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the California State Board of Education, and Ross Wiener, executive director of the Aspen Institute Education and Society Program, about civil unrest and the toll the pandemic is taking on students and educators. Listen.

EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY

VIDEO (17 MIN)

Can Ed-Tech Bridge the Gap Between Talent and Opportunity?

With an unprecedented start to the 2020-21 school year underway in communities across the nation, technology is playing a new role in the learning lives of students of all ages. Tech tools that can keep students engaged and help guard against learning loss are suddenly front and center for educators and learning guardians. Hear from Jessie Woolley-Wilson, president & CEO of DreamBox Learning, and Steve Ellis, co-managing partner of the Rise Fund, about how ed-tech platforms are adapting for the new normal, why the digital divide is keeping them up at night, and a word of advice to parents approaching the school year with heavy hearts. Watch. Presented by the Rise Fund

EDUCATION & INNOVATION

VIDEO (20 MIN)

Reinventing Normal: The Setbacks and Silver Linings of Online Learning

Roughly 16 million kids and 400,000 teachers lack adequate internet or devices. Only one in five Black parents and one in six Latinx parents can work from home to assist young learners. When “back to school” means learning from home for millions of American families, the reality of educating children during a pandemic can be overwhelming. And yet the spirit of innovation is thriving. Educators are figuring out creative ways to reach students. Policymakers are imagining how to integrate the best ideas into school forever. Former US Secretary of Education John King and Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, share success stories and emerging new practices with Caryl Stern, executive director of the Walton Family Foundation. Watch. Presented by the Walton Family Foundation

Want More? Check out In Focus

To see the full scope of the Aspen Institute’s initiatives around education, check outIn Focus. It’s a multimedia series that features work from Institute staff, advocates, program participants, and partners. The first installment examines structural inequities in our education system, how the Covid-19 pandemic and national reckoning on race have exacerbated them, and where we go from here.

Book Talk with Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

September 3

In his newest book Morality, Jonathan Sacks traces today’s crises, such as toxic public discourse, to the loss of a strong, shared moral code and the elevation of self-interest over the common good. From ancient Greece to the Enlightenment to present day, Sacks shows that there is no liberty without morality and no freedom without responsibility, arguing that we must all play our part in rebuilding a common moral foundation. Register.