Getting Smart Podcast How Can Foundations Transform High Schools for Equity and Future-Ready Learning? | Jenny Curtin
Nov 5, 2025
Jenny Curtin, Director of Education at the Barr Foundation, specializes in transforming high schools for equity and future readiness. She discusses the systemic inequities she's witnessed and the challenges in shifting entrenched community beliefs. Highlighting the importance of student voice, Jenny advocates for collaborative design and centering educators in reform efforts. She shares insights on redefining graduation requirements and emphasizes the need for meaningful postsecondary preparation to ensure that diplomas truly unlock opportunities for all students.
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Early Classroom Wake-Up Call
- Jenny volunteered in New Orleans schools and taught fourth and fifth graders who were illiterate without support.
- That experience revealed systemic failure and shaped her lifelong focus on systemic education change.
Coaching Revealed Tracking Inequities
- Jenny coached high school track at her alma mater and observed tracking and uneven expectations for students.
- Coaching exposed how high expectations on the field didn't always translate to equitable academic opportunities.
High Schools Resist Deep Change
- High schools function as entrenched community institutions, making change emotionally and culturally difficult.
- People favor layering new programs over rethinking core structures, which preserves inequities.