The Harvard EdCast

Gabrielle Oliveira, an associate professor and ethnographer, dives into the lives of migrant children in America. She reframes migration as an act of profound care, rooted in hope rather than fear. Oliveira shares her experiences living with migrant families, revealing how education serves as a motivator and stabilizer amidst their struggles. She highlights the sacrifices parents make for their children's schooling and the constraints teachers face in supporting these students. Ultimately, she calls for empathy-driven policies that prioritize children's well-being.

Jarvis Givens, a Harvard education professor and author specializing in race and education, explores the interconnected histories of Native and Black education in the U.S. He argues that public schooling is rooted in Native land dispossession and the economic engine of slavery. Givens introduces the concept of 'American Grammar,' highlighting how race, power, and knowledge are embedded in today's educational structures. He emphasizes the need for nuanced historical understanding to address current inequities and shape justice-oriented educational solutions.

Jal Mehta, a Harvard Graduate School of Education professor and co-director of the Deeper Learning Institute, dives deep into the intricate relationship between education research and political partisanship. He highlights how research reflects the current socio-political climate while maintaining methodological rigor. Mehta emphasizes the importance of bridging gaps between researchers and educators to ensure relevance in studies. He also warns about misinterpretations of research neutrality and discusses the impact of funding on study priorities, advocating for clarity and utility in research.

Liz Cohen, Vice President of Policy at 50CAN and author of The Future of Tutoring, dives into the transformative power of high-impact tutoring for K–12 recovery post-pandemic. She emphasizes that effective tutoring is structured and consistent, differing significantly from traditional homework help. Liz shares success stories from states like Tennessee and Louisiana, illustrating how strong leadership and funding elevate tutoring programs. She also discusses the crucial role technology plays in coaching tutors while highlighting the importance of human connections in the learning process.

In an era when many Americans believe the country is too divided to come back together, Tufts University political scientist Eitan Hersh believes higher education has a crucial role to play in bridging divides and he’s putting that belief into practice through a new university center devoted to viewpoint diversity.“What do we want from students when they graduate high school or college,” Hersh says. “We want them to be able to engage with lots of different kinds of people in the workforce or in civic spaces, and know how to handle disagreement, and know how to fight for the things that they care about and know how to listen and learn and develop new ideas.”Too often, he says, universities and social networks confine people to intellectual bubbles. However, when students understand how others’ beliefs shape their views, they learn to think critically, listen better, and handle disagreement with more nuance. That philosophy drives the creation of Tufts’ new Center for Expanding Viewpoints in Higher Education, which Hersh leads. The center will host reading groups, workshops, and in-person discussions that encourage open, offline dialogue across disciplines and ideologies. The center’s mission extends beyond events. In fact, Hersh wants to rethink curriculum and teaching practices to ensure dissenting voices and unfamiliar perspectives are part of students’ education. “It doesn't mean that you, as a student change your mind on every issue. But you just realize that these issues are complicated for a reason, which is that there is a lot of gray area,” he says. “And to me, that is quite depolarizing. Because all of a sudden, it takes something that looked like an us versus them story into a story of people with different values and senses of the world reach reasonable, different conclusions.”While “viewpoint diversity” has become a politically loaded term, Hersh sees it as central to higher education’s purpose, not a partisan issue. In this episode, Hersh discusses his hope to rekindle a university culture defined by curiosity, conversation, and understanding.  

Curiosity is one of our most powerful, yet often overlooked, human drives, especially in education. Elizabeth Bonawitz, associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, explains that while there’s no single definition of curiosity, it’s best understood as an internal desire to resolve gaps in our knowledge or a wondering about how the world works. That innate drive begins in infancy, fueling our rapid early learning. But as children grow older, especially within structured school systems, that spark too often dims.Through her research, Bonawitz explores how curiosity operates like mise en place for learning preparing the mind to absorb, connect, and retain new information. It activates attention, memory, and motivation, setting the stage for deeper understanding. Studies from her lab show that simple practices, like encouraging children to ask more questions, not only increase curiosity but also improve learning outcomes.“Children who are more curious do better in math or reading scores in school. And that's particularly true for students that come from more under-resourced communities or students that might have other challenges associated with school,” Bonawitz says. “So, curiosity is the great equalizer for education.”But curiosity is not the easiest thing to cultivate, especially in a classroom where barriers like test driven school structures and cultural differences link to uncertainty. The good news is there are things educators and even parents can do to help foster a child's curiosity. In this episode, the EdCast takes a deeper look at curiosity and explores ways to home in on what Bonawitz considers the simple act of wonder. 

Dreama Gentry grew up in Appalachian Kentucky, in a community often defined by outsiders for what it lacked. But what she saw was strength, connection, and possibility. Today, as the founder and CEO of Partners for Rural Impact, she’s working to make sure the 14 million young people growing up in rural America can see those same possibilities for themselves.“What I see in Appalachia is that a lot of young folks have lost hope. And they've lost the ability to dream of a future and of a path. And some of that is because their parents also have lost that hope. And some parents are afraid to have dreams for their young folks,” Gentry says. “And I think that's why programs, schools, community systems have to wrap around the whole family and support the whole family in learning how to dream again, holding the hope of a better future, and providing them with those supports.”Despite rural students often graduating high school at higher levels than their peers, they also have lower enrollment rates for college. Part of Gentry’s work is developing that path for students. She explains how “place-based partnerships” are transforming rural schools by bringing together educators, families, and community leaders around one goal: every child supported, from cradle to career.“Career pathways for rural students are the same as career pathways for students in urban areas and other areas. And I think sometimes, we don't make that distinction,” she says. “I think we have a responsibility and a duty, when working with young folks, to help them actualize and develop a dream, a goal that they want to work toward, and then to make sure that they're leaving high school with the skills to achieve that, if possible. And they're college ready. They're career ready. And so, the pathways are unlimited for young people in rural places, just like they are in others.”She says there are many surprising connections between rural and urban education. In fact, Gentry notes how her work with Geoff Canada of the Harlem Children’s Zone changed her perspective. Now, she emphasizes that while the settings may differ, the core work of supporting children and families is universal. Rural and urban educators, she says, have much to learn from one another if they’re willing to move beyond perceived divides and recognize their shared mission to create opportunity for every child.In this episode, Gentry challenges assumptions about rural life, reminding us that the challenges and outcomes facing small towns are deeply tied to the nation’s future. 

Join Stephanie Smith Budhai, an expert in educational technology, and Marie Heath, a specialist in learning design, as they discuss the importance of understanding AI in education. They emphasize that AI is not neutral but influenced by societal biases. The duo explores how educators can critically evaluate AI tools and offers strategies to prevent reinforcing inequities in classrooms. They advocate for empowering students to make informed choices about technology, stressing the need for equitable AI policies in schools.

Congress has passed the nation’s first federal school voucher–style program, set to begin in 2027. Supporters call it a landmark expansion of parental choice, while critics fear it will divert billions from public schools. Harvard Professor Marty West says the program raises important questions about the future of American schooling and even how the program will operate.The new program, part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” is officially called the Educational Choice for Children Act. Although it isn’t a direct voucher, it will operate as a tax-credit program where individuals can receive up to $1,700 in credits for donating to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations. These groups can then distribute scholarships for private school tuition, tutoring, transportation, or even special education services. Families earning up to 300% of their area’s median income are eligible, and states must opt in, giving governors control over implementation.“What is clear, is that in any state that wants to do so, the program can be used to support private school choice, and that's what makes it significant,” West says. “It really does have the potential to turbocharge the movement to expand private school choice in the United States, which already had significant momentum at the state level.” The idea of vouchers has a long and varied history in the U.S. tracing back to 1955 when economist Milton Friedman proposed funding education through competition rather than government-run schools. Early programs often focused on targeting low-income families, but as West explains, this shifted over time, especially in recent years as the pandemic accelerated private school choice options. The research on vouchers is often mixed. As West points out, studies often showing modest academic gains, especially for disadvantaged students, and positive effects on civic outcomes and graduation rates. The need for further research on the effects of vouchers is needed. If one thing is certain, politically, vouchers remain deeply divisive. “The issue of private school choice has for decades, been the one education policy issue that most cleanly divides Republican and Democratic elected officials,” West says. Going forward, West will be paying close attention to how and whether the new federal program is adopted throughout the country. “What will the governors of blue states decide? Will they opt into the program or will they not? If they don't, this will further extend a new phenomenon in American education really in the past several years-- --which is that we're starting to see a red state model of education delivery and a blue state model of education delivery,” he says. In this episode, West shares the history of the voucher movement, what research tells us about its success, and whether this national policy will transform American education or further fracture it.  

Schools around the world are cracking down on student cell phones, with many turning to outright bans as a fix for distraction, bullying, or mental health struggles. But as University of Birmingham Professor Vicky Goodyear and Harvard’s Carrie James explain, the story is more complicated than a simple “phones are bad.”“School phone policies alone are not enough to tackle some of the issues that we're seeing in adolescents,” Goodyear says. In her study of over 1,200 students, she found no differences in mental health, academic performance, or well-being between schools with strict bans and those without. While restrictions cut down on in-school phone use, they didn’t meaningfully reduce students’ overall daily screen time. “Schools are not the silver bullet for addressing the negative impacts of smartphone and social media use,” Goodyear adds. “We also need to optimize on the benefits that are available as well. And there are also unintended consequences of these bans that we do not yet know.”As James points out, for many students, cell phones can be an important tool for safety, connection, or learning support.“Removing the devices doesn't remove some of the challenges that are associated with growing up with technologies, but it can remove some of the benefits of those connections,” James says. “So, this is not to say this is an argument for not having bell-to-bell policies. I think that they can be very, very important in a lot of cases. But it is an argument for being very alert and aware of some of those unintended consequences.” Both researchers agree schools need phone policies shaped with input from students, families, and teachers — plus opportunities to teach “digital agency,” or how to use technology intentionally and responsibly. In this episode, we explore how the real challenge isn’t keeping phones out of the classroom, but how to prepare young people to thrive in a technology-saturated world.