PROVIDENCE, RI—In a new eight-episode podcast series, Teach Plus Rhode Island goes deep into areas Teach Plus teacher leaders, education leaders, and policy makers must focus on to improve outcomes for students. The series explores issues of inequity, the lack of diversity in the education workforce, and discriminaton in teacher preparation, selection, and retention. It also highlights the importance of engaging student voices, and employing social emotional learning and culturally informed instruction to meet the needs of students and families and create socially just learning environments and communities.
Ray Steinmetz, Senior Teach Plus Policy Fellow and producer of the podcast, said: “A lot of the issues of race, diversity, and inclusion raised in the podcast are not unique to Rhode Island teachers and students. These are problems that almost every community faces. In the podcast series, I speak to the key stakeholders and Teach Plus Policy Fellows who are putting boots on the ground to eliminate structural racism and the inequities in our education system.”
“This podcast highlights the important work ahead for Rhode Island educators, leaders and policymakers. We need to work together in our schools and communities, to create systems and structures that will allow our students and families of color to succeed and thrive in our society. Having these discussions and digging into the root causes of the problems we face are the first steps to identifying and implementing solutions to correct historical injustices,” said Paul Toner, Teach Plus Senior Director for National Policy and Partnerships and the Northeast Region.
The episodes are being released weekly throughout the summer. A full list of episodes and topics is below.
Friday June 12th:
Episode 1 – What is Teach Plus Rhode Island?
Episode 2 – Recruiting and Retaining Teachers of Color
Friday June 19th:
Episode 3 Part 1 – Improving the New Teacher Pipeline
Episode 3 Part 2 – Discriminating Against Students of Color
Friday June 26th:
Episode 4 – Poverty, Trauma, and Social Emotional Learning
Friday July 3rd:
Episode 5 – Multilingual Learners and Culturally Responsive Teaching
Friday July 10th:
Episode 6 – Reaching All Students through Individualization
Friday July 17th:
Episode 7 – Providence Student Union Roundtable
Friday July 24th:
Episode 8 – The Future of Education in Rhode Island – Looking Forward
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has trained thousands of teacher leaders across the country who are driving policy changes and improving the instructional practices of teachers to create an education system driven by equity, access, and excellence for all students. teachplus.org
