“The Citizen Stewart Show” is an independent, pull-no-punches podcast about the perils and promise of education and democracy. Hosted by Chris “Citizen” Stewart, CEO of Brightbeam, a nonprofit national network of activists fighting for educational opportunity and justice for every child. And co-hosted by Ravi Gupta, former Obama staffer and superintendent of a network of charter schools in the South. “The Citizen Stewart Show” will bring good humor and analysis to the dark forces keeping our students, schools, and democracy mired in counterproductive politics. No headline or issue is off limits, because education is at the heart of everything in America.
Episodes
EP 13 | TFA Downsizing, “School Discipline Wars”, Perez v. Sturgis, and Reflections on Ed Reform
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
TFA downsizing:
- Teach For America To Cut A Quarter Of Staff In Latest Shakeup (Chalkbeat, 1/20/23)
What’s making them mad:
- Justices Will Consider Reviving Lawsuit From Deaf Student Who Was Denied Sign-Language Interpreter (ScotusBlog, 1/14/23)
What’s making them think:
- The Coming School-Discipline Wars (National Review, 1/21/23)
And some inside baseball: how ed reform has its own bureaucracy
- The End of School Reform? (National Affairs, Winter 2023)
EP 12 | A Countywide School Board, SPED Access, NYC Pre-K, and Rethinking Graduation Requirements
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
Some listener mail about a proposal for a county-wide school board,
and the difficulties parents face accessing special education for their children.
- Paid Countywide School Board? One Area Lawmaker Proposes Giving It A 10-Year Tryout (The Morning Call, 1/6/23)
What’s making them mad:
- New York City’s Pre-K System Was a Model. Now Employees Say It’s a Mess. (NYT, 1/6/23)
And what’s making them think:
- Graduation Must Depend on Learning, Not Time (EdWeek, 10/12/21)
EP 11 | Teachers Stifled in Florida and Charter Schools Have Their Day in Court
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
An article from a listener:
- In One Giant Classroom, Four Teachers Manage 135 Kids – and Love It (The 74, 1/6/23)
What’s making them mad:
- Muzzled by DeSantis, Critical Race Theory Professors Cancel Courses or Modify Their Teaching (ProPublica, 1/3/23)
- Desantis To Scrutinize Higher Ed Programs For Diversity, Critical-Race Theory Activities (Miami Herald, 1/4/23)
And what’s making them think:
- How The Supreme Court Can Protect Charter Schools From Suffocating Litigation (WaPo, 1/4/23)
EP 10 | Corruption at NYU, Technology in Classrooms, and Ravi’s Radical Ideas™
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
What’s making them mad:
Ex-NYU Admin Siphoned $3.5m In Grants And Blew Cash On Herself — Including An $80k Pool: Prosecutors (New York Post, 12/19/22)
What’s making them think:
Chicago Public Schools Spent $308 Million On Technology Since March 2020. Now What? (Chalkbeat, 12/13/22)
And a new segment: Ravi’s Radical Ideas™
EP 9 | Book Bans and US Family Policy
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
What’s making them mad:
- A Fast-Growing Network of Conservative Groups Is Fueling a Surge in Book Bans (NYT, 12/12/22)
And what’s making them think:
- American Family Policy Is Holding Schools Back (Atlantic, 9/28/22)
Have something to say? Send us a email or leave a voicemail!
citizenstewartshow@lostdebate.com (321) 213-9171
EP 8 | Our Schools’ Looming Fiscal Cliff, Trouble at Teach for America, and a PA School Making Education a Family Affair
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
What’s making them mad: Our Schools’ Looming Fiscal Cliff
- Fiscal Cliff Could Force Layoffs of the Best Teachers (Education Next, 12/6/22)
What’s making them think: Trouble at Teach for America
- As Pandemic Complicates Recruitment, Teach For America’s Incoming Class Expected To Hit A 15-Year Low (Chalkbeat, 3/8/22)
What’s making them hopeful: A PA School Making Education a Family Affair
A Unique Philadelphia School Cultivates Family Members As Staffers (Chalkbeat, 12/8/22)
And don’t forget to email us or leave us a voicemail!
citizenstewartshow@lostdebate.com
(321) 213-9171
EP 7 | Broken Sped, AARP For Parents, and Supercharged Tutoring
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
What’s making them mad:
- Public Schools Are NYC’s Main Youth Mental Health System. Where Kids Land Often Depends on What Their Parents Can Pay (ProPublica, 11/17/22)
What’s making them think:
Parents need their own AARP (Atlantic, 11/18/22)
What’s making them hopeful:
- $10 Million For 31 Groups Working to Make Tutoring More Available & Affordable (The 74, 11/22/22)
EP 6 | Bribery in Michigan, Activism in Public Education, and Charter Schools Gaining Students in NYC
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
What’s making them mad:
Former President of the Madison District Public Schools Board of Education and a Local Contractor Charged in $560,000 Bribery Scheme (DOJ, 7/14/22)
What’s making them think:
Public Education Is Drifting From Its Founding Ideals And Public Purpose (Fordham Institute, 11/17/22)
What’s making them hopeful:
As New York City Schools Face a Crisis, Charter Schools Gain Students (NYT, 11/21/22)
EP 5 | Corruption in Stockton, the Math Backlash Cycle, and Upending Traditional Subject Structure
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
What’s making them mad: Corruption in Stockton
Incompetence Or Corruption At Stockton Unified; It’s Got To Be One Or The Other (Stocktonia, 6/22/22)
Possible Financial Catastrophe: Grand Jury Details Stockton Unified School District’s Money Mismanagement (NBC, 6/17/22)
What’s making them think: The Math Backlash Cycle
How Math Became an Object of the Culture Wars (New Yorker, 11/15/22)
The $1.1 Billion Math Solution? Gates Foundation Makes Math Its Top K-12 Priority (The 74, 10/19/22)
And what’s making them hopeful: Upending Traditional Subject Structure
Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure in Indiana (The 74, 11/15/22)
Ep 4 | The Midterm Elections, Smartphones in Schools, and Eugenics in Standardized TestingThis week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi debated…
Turnout for Young People Was the Second Highest Its Been in the Past 30 Years (NPR, 11/10/22)
The School-Choice Election Wave (Wall Street Journal, 11/10/22)
GOP School Boards: How Republicans Fared in School Board Elections All Over the Country (USA Today, 11/9/22)
This School Took Away Smartphones. The Kids Don’t Mind. (Wall Street Journal, 11/5/22)
Take Away Their Cell Phones (Education Next)
Why Aren’t We Talking About Eugenics in School Assessments? (Learning Equity Center)
Why the Academic Achievement Gap is a Racist Idea (Black Perspectives, 10/20/16)
The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing (NEA, 3/20/21)
Ep. 3 – Education Culture Warriors in Virginia, Student ‘Peace Warriors’ in Chicago, and Racial Preference in College Admissions
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
What’s making them mad:
Youngkin’s Education Tip Line Gripes: ‘Beowulf,’ Masks and ‘Grooming’ (Washington Post, 11/3/22)
How Education Culture Wars Have Shaped the Midterms (Vox, 11/4/22)
What’s making them hopeful:
Student ‘Peace Warriors’ at Chicago’s West Side Schools Spread Message of Nonviolence (Chalkbeat, 11/3/22)
Kids Were Fighting in School. Dads Began Patrolling Campus, and the Violence Stopped (Washington Post, 10/28/21)
And what’s making them think:
Why Randi Weingarten Supports Harvard’s Discrimination (WSJ, 10/30/22)
Ep. 2 – Abbott Elementary and the Charter School Debate, LGBTQ Harassment in Schools, Mississippi’s Test Score Success, and COVID School Closures
This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…
What’s making them angry:
Abbott Elementary misrepresenting charter schools in “Wrong Delivery” (9/28/22)
Charter Schools Get Better Results with Less Money Than Government‐Run Schools (Cato Institute, 10/10/19)
There Are Just 90 LGBTQ School Board Members. Half Were Threatened, Harassed (The 74, 10/25/22)
‘Unsafe, Unwelcoming’: LGBTQ Students Report Facing Hostility at School (Chalkbeat, 10/25/22)
What’s making them hopeful:
Mississippi Ranks No. 1 in Nation for Score Gains on National Assessment of Educational Progress (MSAchieves, 10/30/19)
And what’s making them think:
School Closures Were a Failed Policy (The Atlantic, 10/26/22)
Ep. 1 – Abuse in Schools, Chinese Immersion Schools, Outcome vs Equity Debate
- Teachers Who Sexually Abuse Students Still Find Classroom Jobs (USA Today, 12/22/16)
- LAUSD Has Paid Out More Than $300 Million Over Sex Abuse (LA Times, 5/14/16)
- $52-Million Settlement for Kids Sexually Abused by former L.A. Unified Wrestling Coach (LA Times, 10/12/22)
- Why Oakland Parents Are Flocking to a Chinese-Immersion School (The New Yorker, 10/18/22)
- Why It’s Time to Talk About Equity and Excellence (Ed Post, 9/28/22)
- Abbott Elementary S2 E2: “Wrong Delivery”, 9/28/22 (watch here)
- Charter Schools Get Better Results with Less Money Than Government‐Run Schools (Cato Institute, 10/10/19)
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