The Learning Curve

This week on The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Dr. Helen Baxendale of Great Hearts Academies interview longtime public education champion and Learning Curve co-host Alisha Searcy. Alisha joins the show as a guest to share her story and insights into K-12 public education reform. Herself a product of public-school choice, she discusses how those early experiences shaped her belief in accessible, high‑quality schooling for all students. Elected to the Georgia House at age 23, Alisha spent six terms crafting key education reform laws and policies, including the intradistrict transfer law and the charter school authorizer amendment, that sought to put students at the center of school reform efforts. She then transitioned into school leadership, serving as superintendent of a network of charter public schools in metro Atlanta, where she led dramatic academic improvement and operational turnaround. Drawing on both her legislative and schoolhouse experience, Alisha now leads an ambitious effort like Center for Strong Public Schools (CSPS) and CSPS Action, to support center-left state policymakers in navigating education challenges and designing student‑first public schools. In closing, she explains why the current moment presents unique opportunities to strengthen K-12 public education, especially in Southern states that are facing both pressing achievement needs and prospective school innovations.

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng interview University of Maryland Emeritus Professor of English Vincent Carretta. Prof. Carretta explores the extraordinary life and enduring legacy of the first African-American to publish a book of poetry in English, Phillis Wheatley Peters. He offers insight into Phillis’ early life in West Africa, her transatlantic voyage aboard the slave ship Phillis, and her arrival in Boston in 1761. He discusses her enslavement by the Wheatley family, her exposure to Christianity during the Great Awakening, and her exceptional education in classical literature. Additionally, Prof. Carretta highlights how her poetry drew upon timeless poets like Homer, Virgil, Milton, and Pope, and how her first published works reflected themes of piety, imagination, and liberty. He concludes the interview with a reading of a passage from his book, Phillis Wheatley Peters: Biography of a Genius in Bondage.

Jim Blew, co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute and former U.S. Department of Education assistant secretary, dives into the evolving landscape of federal education policy. He advocates for greater private school choice and discusses the new national education tax credit law, emphasizing tax credits for donations to scholarship programs. However, he raises concerns about the law's state opt-in requirement potentially sidelining students in blue states. Blew argues that well-structured federal education tax credits can significantly enhance educational opportunity.

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Helen Baxendale of Great Hearts Academies interview award-winning English historian and biographer, Dr. Juliet Barker. She offers a rich portrait of the Brontë family, whose timeless contributions have widely impacted English literature and fiction writing. Dr. Barker explores the formative influences of their father, Patrick Brontë, an Irish Anglican minister with deep intellectual, religious, and educational convictions that shaped his family's writing, and their tight-knit, creative environment in Haworth that inspired his gifted literary daughters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. She delves into Charlotte’s drive for self-improvement, the enduring power of her novel Jane Eyre, and its themes of independence, love, and social criticism. Dr. Barker discusses Emily’s affection for nature, reclusive personality, and the intense emotional landscape of her novel, Wuthering Heights. She also explores Anne’s gentle, strong-willed temperament, her novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and their groundbreaking critiques of women's prescribed roles and the hypocrisies of 19th-century society. Dr. Barker shares insights about the tragic deaths of all six Brontë siblings, including Branwell, the family’s son. She concludes the interview by discussing the sisters’ lasting legacy as great literary women who revolutionized Victorian fiction and whose works continue to resonate with modern readers across the globe. In closing, she reads a passage from her definitive biography The Brontës.

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Walter Blanks interview Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, who has served as superintendent-director of the Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District since 1994. A leader in vocational-technical education, Dr. Fitzpatrick reflects on his own educational journey and offers insights into leadership that puts students first. He discusses how Massachusetts’ voc-tech schools used the 1993 Education Reform Act’s accountability tools like MCAS, standards, and school choice, to drive achievement, particularly for students with diverse learning needs. He shares how Valley Tech and other voc-techs built a nationally recognized culture that seamlessly integrates academics and occupational training, resulting in low dropout rates and success in national skills competitions. Dr. Fitzpatrick also delves into the critical partnerships among industry, organized labor, and higher education that have fueled reform. He addresses current policy debates over voc-tech admissions and recruitment practices, and how the voc-tech community has responded. Finally, he offers three key policy recommendations to strengthen vocational-technical education across the country, drawing on decades of hands-on leadership and reform experience.

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Massachusetts civics teacher Kelley Brown interview Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jack Rakove, Coe Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. Prof. Rakove explores the origins of the American Revolution and U.S. Constitution through the lives of the nation’s Founding Era figures. Reflecting on young John Adams’ vivid depiction of his schoolhouse in colonial Massachusetts, Rakove offers context for the political and social landscape of the 18th-century America. He discusses the central constitutional dispute between the British Parliament and the American colonies over political authority, which escalated after the Stamp Act crisis and the Boston Tea Party. Prof. Rakove traces the emergence of the Continental Congress as a revolutionary governing body and its role in declaring independence. He also shares the moral contradictions of liberty in a society dependent on slavery and explains how internal debates over slavery shaped politics within the Continental Congress. Additionally, Prof. Rakove highlights the contributions of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in building a durable federal constitutional system and explains Madison’s critical role in drafting the Bill of Rights. He closes with a reading from Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America.

In this special episode of The Learning Curve, guest co-host Ian Rowe interviews Steven Wilson, a senior fellow at Pioneer Institute and founder of the Ascend Charter Network. Their discussion centers on Wilson's new book, The Lost Decade, which concerns education's shift away from liberal arts and toward social justice ideology and anti-intellectualism. They examine the impact of this shift on student achievement, highlight successful education models such as classical schools and virtues-based curricula, and stress the importance of maintaining high academic standards. Wilson also touches on the classical learning test as a promising alternative to current, politicized assessments. Wilson and Rowe conclude with a call to focus on truth, knowledge, and honor in education to empower all students.

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng interview John Burt, the Paul Prosswimmer Professor of American Literature at Brandeis University. Prof. Burt offers rich insight into the life and work of one of the 20th century’s greatest American writers, Robert Penn Warren. Raised in rural southwestern Kentucky, Warren was deeply shaped by the legacy of the Civil War, which he explored in his influential 1961 work, The Legacy of the Civil War, and throughout his poetry and fiction. Prof. Burt shares that as a young man at Vanderbilt, Warren was influenced by the “Fugitives” literary group and contributed to I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition, a decision he later deeply regretted. His Pulitzer-winning novel All the King’s Men follows the rise and fall of populist governor Willie Stark, modeled in part on Huey Long and Julius Caesar, through the eyes of journalist Jack Burden, whose personal and philosophical journey mirrors Stark’s. Prof. Burt shares that the novel wrestles with the limits of knowledge and the weight of moral responsibility, culminating in a powerful meditation on time, history, and the human condition.

Shaka Mitchell, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, speaks passionately about his journey in education reform. He highlights his commitment to expanding charter schools and the power of school choice, influenced by notable leaders. Walter Blanks, a former school choice beneficiary, adds personal insights to the discussion. They dive into the legal strategies behind pivotal Supreme Court victories, the growing momentum for education savings accounts, and the importance of bipartisan support for the proposed Educational Choice for Children Act.

In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy interview Amanda McMullen, President & CEO of the New Bedford Whaling Museum (NBWM). Ms. McMullen explores NBWM’s remarkable mission, collections, and economic impact on the Southcoast of Massachusetts. She discusses NBWM’s historical roots in the 19th-century Yankee whaling industry that made New Bedford the wealthiest city in the world per capita. She highlights the museum’s iconic exhibits, including five full whale skeletons and the Lagoda, the world’s largest model whaling ship. Ms. McMullen touches on the whaling industry's close relationship with Quaker abolitionists, the museum's unparalleled collections of scrimshaw and whale ship logbooks, as well as Herman Melville and Moby-Dick's literary legacy in New Bedford and beyond. In closing, she shares how NBWM reaches 140,000 people annually and contributes to the regional economy, while offering a preview of summer plans and exciting future projects under her leadership.