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The Harvard EdCast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Harvard Graduate School of Education
The Harvard EdCast asks a simple but complex question: What makes a difference for learners, educators, families, and communities? We talk with teachers, researchers, policymakers, and education leaders about the ideas shaping learning—from early childhood through college and career. Together, we explore promising approaches to education’s biggest challenges and inequities, and make complex ideas accessible to everyone. Produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the podcast is hosted by Jill Anderson, Senior Lecturer Junlei Li, and Ryan Nagelhout. Guest opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Latest Episodes
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- Yesterday24 min
Head Start Overhaul: What Could the Proposed Federal Changes Mean? | Katie Hamm
For more than 60 years, Head Start has been a cornerstone of early childhood education, shaping everything from classroom requirements and family support services to the standards educators are expected to meet. The federally funded program serves more than 700,000 children, and families across the country have come to rely on it.“Head Start is one of the nation's most successful programs. It's something that Congress has historically, on a bipartisan basis, invested in. And taxpayers and Congress want to know that when they pay for the Head Start model, they are getting the Head Start model,” says Katie Hamm, former deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development at the Administration for Children and Families. “The regulations, the Head Start Performance Standards, are really designed to make sure that we're getting the gold standard in early care and education and that communities can expect that.”But those standards are now in jeopardy. The federal government's proposed changes to Head Start’s quality standards could fundamentally alter the longstanding program and the services families have come to depend on.The proposal drew more than 40,000 public comments in August. It would eliminate 90% of the program’s existing performance standards, raising questions about the future of the services, protections and quality requirements that have defined Head Start for decades.“[Head Start] is really a holistic approach to child development to make sure children from the most impoverished communities around the country have that opportunity to get ready for success in school,” Hamm says. She emphasizes that the program focuses on the whole child, with standards that include family support, nutrition, physical development, medical and dental care, and school readiness. The proposal would let state and local rules determine classroom sizes and child-to-staff ratios; require English-language instruction, with an exception for Tribal languages; remove federal minimums for home visits and protections against suspension or expulsion; drop requirements such as daily toothbrushing and monthly mental-health consultations; and cut the administrative-cost cap from 15% to 5%.The Administration for Children and Families reports the proposed changes could allow Head Start to serve 236,000 more children. Its estimate relies largely on reducing administrative spending by about $754 million a year and allowing larger classrooms with fewer teachers per child.“If we have fewer Head Start programs, we obviously can't serve more children,” Hamm says. “The other challenge is with the ratios that they propose to change -- that would mean more children in a classroom.”In this episode, Hamm discusses what the proposed changes could mean for children, families, and an already strained early childhood workforce. She challenges the assumption that reducing requirements will necessarily allow Head Start to serve more children and considers how the program can evolve while keeping children at the center of decisions about what makes it effective.In this episode·       What the proposed federal overhaul of Head Start’s quality standards could mean for the future of the program.·       What makes Head Start distinct from other early childhood programs, including its focus on the whole child and comprehensive family services.·       Why the Head Start Performance Standards matter for ensuring consistent quality and services across communities.·       The administration’s rationale for reducing regulations—and why critics question whether the proposed changes would improve the program.·       Whether larger classrooms and reduced administrative costs could realistically allow Head Start to serve more children without additional funding.·       How the proposed changes could affect children and families experiencing homelessness, including access to services and enrollment flexibility.·       What the changes could mean for Head Start educators, including classroom conditions, wages, job losses, and workforce retention.·       What happens next in the federal rulemaking process following the public comment period.·       How Head Start standards can evolve with research and changing needs while keeping children and families at the center.Episode timestamps00:00 – What’s at stake in the proposed federal overhaul of Head Start?02:38 – What makes Head Start different from other early childhood programs—and why its whole-child approach matters.05:29 – Why change the Head Start Perfo
- 1 weeks ago18 min
Why the Reading and Math Wars Keep Coming Back | Jon Star
Education has seen it all before. A promising approach to teaching catches on, and then it becomes the center of a heated debate. That's happening with the science of reading, and increasingly, the science of math.But Harvard Professor Jon Star says these debates get at a bigger question in education: What counts as good research, and how should it guide decisions about teaching and learning?“Anyone with a megaphone or a social media platform or a lot of money can advocate for a particular way to teach. And they can claim that their way of teaching is supported by research evidence…,” Star says. “The debate is less about whether one method of teaching is better than another method of teaching. But it's really a debate about the type of research that supports each of those methods.”And it's something that education hasn't been able to get away from throughout its history.If you look back far enough, Star says, you can see some of the same debates we're having now about math as long ago as the 1800s, including debates over discovery-based learning and explicit instruction.In math education, what may appear to be one central argument is actually a collection of overlapping disagreements. This is partly why Star thinks it's valuable for educators to understand the history of education and the debates that go along with it.It's also the focus of his course, “Controversy in the Classroom: Debates on the Learning and Teaching of Math, Reading, and Science,” currently offered for both HGSE and Harvard College students.“I don't want to use the oft-repeated 'those who don't know the past are doomed to repeat it' kind of idea, but it does seem like there's a bit of that,” he says. “We need to know the ways this played out in the past in order to better understand and participate in the debate in the present.”Ultimately, Star says we need to focus on what's best for students, even though there's no single instructional approach that meets every student's needs.Research can offer important guidance about what approaches work better under particular conditions. But the challenge is balancing the evidence with an individual student's needs and the realities of classroom teaching.In this episode, Star shifts the focus away from simply defending one side of an education debate. Instead, he considers how educators, researchers, and policymakers can remain open to different approaches, ask better questions about the evidence, and work together to understand what helps children learn.In this episodeWhy the science of reading and science of math have become central to education debates.What people really mean when they talk about the science of education.Why disagreements over teaching methods are often disagreements about what counts as credible research.The history of the reading wars and math wars.Explicit instruction versus discovery-based learning in mathematics.What historical math textbooks and research studies reveal about how students learn.Why there is no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching.How educators balance research evidence with classroom experience.How education research influences media coverage, classrooms, and education policy.How educators and researchers can move beyond polarized debates and keep students at the center.Episode timestamps00:00 – Why the science of reading and science of math have become central to education debates.01:15 – What people really mean when they talk about the "science of" education—and why the definition of good research is so contentious.03:00 – Why disagreements over teaching methods are often really disagreements about what counts as credible research.05:45 – The history of the reading wars and math wars, and why today's education debates aren't as new as they might seem.07:30 – The central debate in math education: explicit instruction versus discovery-based learning.09:30 – What a 200-year-old math textbook and a 1934 research study reveal about today's debates over how students learn math.10:45 – Why there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching—and how educators can balance research-based guidance with individual student needs.13:30 – What happens when education research moves from academic journals into the media, classrooms, and education policy.16:00 – How teachers navigate competing research claims while drawing on their own classroom experience.19:00 – How educators and researchers can move beyond polarized debates and keep the focus on what's best for students.About Jon StarJon Star is a Harvard professor and educational psychologist whose wor
- Apr 8, 202628 min
Why Half of College Students Feel Alone and How to Fix It | Alexis Redding
00:00 – Rethinking the “Best Years” Narrative 01:30 – Are Students in Crisis—or in Transition? 03:00 – What the Data Really Says 05:00 – Loneliness as a Normal Developmental Experience 07:00 – The Expectation Gap 09:00 – When Language Gets Complicated 11:30 – The Institutional Dilemma 13:30 – Meeting Students Where They Are 15:00 – The W-Curve Explained 17:30 – Why the W-Curve Matters 19:00 – Beyond the Traditional Student 20:30 – Building Connection in Online Learning 22:00 – From Theory to Practice 23:30 – The Power of “Micro-Mentorship” 25:00 – Supporting Students Through Big Decisions 26:00 – Advice for Parents 27:00 – Final Takeaways
- Apr 1, 202625 min
Why Moving Ahead in Math Isn’t Always the Right Move | Jon Star
00:00The case for rethinking how we challenge advanced math students 00:49Why focus on high-performing students during a time of learning recovery 01:09The tradeoff: prioritizing struggling students vs. supporting advanced learners 02:51Inside the classroom: the real challenge of differentiation 03:17Why accelerating students can make teaching more difficult 05:21The downside of treating math like a race 06:37A better approach: depth over speed 07:44When accelerationdoesmake sense (and for whom) 10:43What “math enrichment” really means 11:07Why worksheets and puzzles aren’t enough 12:13Simple questions that push deeper thinking 13:39What to do with early finishers 15:06Practical strategies teachers can use right away 16:19Why grades 3–5 is a key turning point 19:13Why this issue looks different in high school 20:03The reality of teaching accelerated students 21:31How common is deep, discussion-based math teaching?
- Mar 25, 202621 min
The Pressure to Chase Prestige in College Admissions | Jeff Selingo
00:00 Why families fixate on elite colleges—and the rise of the “panicking class” 01:15 How rankings shape decisions (and why they mislead) 03:10 The truth about differences between top-ranked schools 04:45 Why choosing a college feels so confusing 06:15 How test-optional, early decision, and the Common App changed everything 08:20 Inside the “black box” of holistic admissions 10:05 Who makes up the “panicking class” 11:40 Reality check: most colleges accept most students 13:00 Prestige pressure as a parenting culture problem 14:30 What “fit” really means—and where to start 16:00 When prestige leads to the wrong choice 17:10 How to decide after admissions disappointment 18:40 What should change in college admissions 20:10 Will parent attitudes shift in the future? 21:30 Closing thoughts
- Mar 18, 202626 min
What Mississippi Got Right About Reading | Kymyona Burk
0:25 — Why reading scores still struggle 2:15 — Rise of the science of reading 5:00 — Aligning leadership to drive reform 7:30 — Consistency and long-term commitment 10:00 — Implementation matters more than policy 12:30 — Where literacy efforts break down 14:30 — What teachers need to do 17:00 — From percentages to individual students 19:00 — Why some states lose momentum. 20:30 — “Mays vs. shalls” in policy 22:00 — How long it takes to see results 23:30 — Third-grade retention 25:00 — Why early intervention matters most 26:01 — Mississippi Marathon / Closing thoughts
- Mar 11, 202627 min
What Students Really Need from Sex Education | Shafia Zaloom
0:00 — Introduction 1:05 — The three types of sex education most people receive 3:20 — What comprehensive sexuality education actually means 5:10 — Why consent alone isn't enough 7:00 — Why sexuality education shouldn't be siloed in health class 9:20 — Why conversations about sexuality should start early 11:30 — Teaching body awareness and safety 13:30 — Why kids ask questions about where babies come from 15:20 — The biggest challenges educators face today 17:30 — Why teachers often fear administrative backlash 19:00 — How school leaders can move forward despite resistance 21:00 — What progress would look like in 10 years. 22:30 — Closing thoughts
- Mar 4, 202618 min
How Questions Can Transform Student-Centered Learning
Harvard Graduate School of Education ProfessorKaren Brennan sees classrooms as magical spaces when we begin with curiosity, not just content. “When I think about design process, from the initial moments of young people working on projects, all the way to the end where they've gone through the highs, the lows, the emotional vicissitudes of bringing their ideas into the world, the messy middle through to the end, there is a role for questions in every moment,” she says. “Start with questions, for me, is really about an attitude of leading with student interests.” Drawing on a yearlong study of 25 teachers across elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, Brennan describes how powerful learning begins by asking genuine questions, or really questions teachers don’t already know the answers to. She is the co-author ofStarting with Questions: The Classroom as Design Studio, which explores what happens when educators take students’ ideas seriously. Rather than treating questions as a closing ritual at the end of a lesson, Brennan argues for an orientation shift: start with what learners are thinking about, what they care about, and what feels hard or exciting to them. Grounded in traditions of progressive education, this approach does not reject content knowledge. Instead, it reframes the role of teachers as expert guides, offering domain expertise, metacognitive scaffolding, affirmation, and structure within a classroom culture that values intellectual humility. Brennan comes to the classroom from a design studio background, a space that embraces tinkering and where self-directed learning happens in community. In studio-based environments, students pursue projects that matter to them while learning alongside peers and with the support of teachers. Self-direction, she explains, is not scriptless chaos but more structured, scaffolded, and deeply relational. That mindset also shapes her optimism about artificial intelligence. Brennan argues that AI is not about offloading thinking, but about expanding what learners can imagine and build. “I feel like we don’t give learners enough credit,” she says. “When there’s all this handwringing around AI stealing assignments, maybe we were asking students to do things that weren’t that important to begin with. If AI can do it, maybe we need to be looking for new opportunities for interestingness for learners. In this episode, Brennan pushes beyond traditional classroom approaches toward a powerful idea: how classrooms become transformative when we make space for students’ questions and trust their capacity to pursue them.
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About The Harvard EdCast
The Harvard EdCast asks a simple but complex question: What makes a difference for learners, educators, families, and communities? We talk with teachers, researchers, policymakers, and education leaders about the ideas shaping learning—from early childhood through college and career. Together, we explore promising approaches to education’s biggest challenges and inequities, and make complex ideas accessible to everyone. Produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the podcast is hosted by Jill Anderson, Senior Lecturer Junlei Li, and Ryan Nagelhout. Guest opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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