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The 16:1 year in review episode for 2025-26 is a creative audio essay co-authored by hosts Katie Day and Chelsea Adams. Set during graduation season, this fictional narrative dedicated to teaching and learning explores quiet moments of a school year’s end: bittersweet transitions, the unseen labor of educators, and anticipation for what comes next. Join us for this creative departure as we take a summer break. We look forward to returning in Fall 2026 with new episodes. Thanks for listening!

In this episode, we examine an ambitious social experiment: the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), a 100+ block area in New York City where an educational philosophy of place-based intervention is being played out. Founded by a charismatic social entrepreneur named Geoffrey Canada, HCZ is a non-profit pursuing an elusive goal: break cycles of intergenerational poverty in Central Harlem with an all-encompassing “cradle to career” support pipeline for students and their families. As Harlem undergoes major economic transformation marked by an influx of global retailers and luxury developments, families within the Zone are wondering: Can neighborhood revitalization coexist with social equity, or does the very success of these interventions accelerate the displacement of the families they were meant to serve? For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website. Sources & Further Reading: Harlem Children's Zone Waiting for "Superman" - Wikipedia William Julius Wilson - Wikipedia Harlem Children's Zone - Wikipedia Resources PNI 20 more communities chosen in 2011 for the Promise Neighborhoods Program, inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone® HCZ Promise Academy Charter Schools Geoffrey Canada - Wikipedia Michelle Rhee - Wikipedia Supporting kids from cradle to career in Central Harlem | Stanford Graduate School of Education Long-Time Residents Regret Changes in Harlem. Gentrification – Harlem 350. Manhattanville Campus Plan Columbia University proposes the Manhattanville in West Harlem Rezoning and Academic Mixed The Harlem Children’s Zone: Revitalizing Our Nation Through Education 84M341/HS - 2019-20 School Quality Snapshot - Online Edition - New York City Department of Education Geoffrey Canada's Biography

The Learner’s Guide to Leadership A focused exploration of learning leadership in education, schools, organizations, and civic spaces. Effective leadership emerges from more than simply holding a position of authority; it is a continuous process of learning, adaptation, and cultivating the self and others within an organization. In this episode, we examine educational frameworks that aim to cultivate successful leadership in various contexts, from rigorous principles of military leadership to the sometimes unstructured approaches of social enterprise. We’ll talk about the tension between remaining deeply attached to a mission or to being a certain type of educator and the necessity of preparing others to carry our missions forward. For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Dear listeners: we’ve made it to a major milestone! To mark our 150th episode, we have curated some of our favorite moments from the 16:1 archive— recurring themes and evolving questions on education, teaching, learning, and schools that have defined our six year research journey to date. Thank you for listening, and here’s to the next 150! For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website. Episode 12 - Ruby Bridges - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 51 - Left Behind - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 108 - Rethinking School Norms: How Industrial History Shapes Modern Education - 16:1 Episode 119 - Confronting Misinformation: Lessons from the Classroom - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 132 - Seattle’s Search for School Equity feat. Vivian Van Gelder - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 134 - The Future of Community News: The Reporting Project at Denison University - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 138 - Culturally Responsive Pedagogy - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 139 - Textbook Wars - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 143 - Inclusive Classrooms (or, On Making Chicken Soup) - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 144 - Writing the Textbook for Emergency Care - 16:1 - An Education Podcast

We’re approaching America’s 250th birthday, and we are asking ourselves tough questions about schooling and democracy through the lens of the influential works of Mortimer Adler, a philosopher, educational reformer & theorist, and advocate for holistic liberal arts education. Adler saw philosophic thinking as a universal responsibility, one that every citizen must undertake in order to uphold healthy democracy and promote civic stability. Adler’s work, often linked with contemporaries like Robert Maynard Hutchins at the University of Chicago, sought to overhaul America’s K-12 and higher education systems by replacing vocational and elective programming with a structured liberal arts approach built on the “Great Books.” In 1982, The Paideia Proposal was published by Adler and fiercely debated by his contemporaries, who sometimes struggled to connect the dots between the practical realities of the American education system and Adler’s blueprints for a more engaged citizenry. Just a few months away from 250, America is feeling like a place where Adler’s most salient questions and challenges have taken on a renewed urgency. How does a nation prepare its citizens for the responsibility of self-governance? 00:25 Intro 03:10 America 250 & Democratic Fragility 06:50 Citizenship, Seminars, & Celebrating Intellectual Diversity 10:00 Engaging Educational Communities for Active Citizenship 12:45 Mortimer Adler: Everyman Philosopher 17:20 Anchored in Aristotle: Adler’s Greek Intellectual Roots 22:00 Education is for Lifelong Learning 27:15 A Guide to Democratic Classroom Teaching: Lectures, Coaching, & Socratic Inquiry 33:45 Reactions from Contemporaries & Enduring Questions 46:45 What We Learned For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

This episode confronts a complexity of the U.S. justice system: education within prisons. What does educational opportunity look like for incarcerated individuals? The sheer scale of incarceration in the United States and devolved, state-by-state control has led to a patchwork system of educational resources that ends up being sometimes at odds with its own rehabilitative goals. Join us for a look at the challenges and systemic failures of correctional schooling and the quiet efforts to address them, which often aim to reduce recidivism and even the bottom line for taxpayers. 00:20 Intro & Announcements 00:00 The Scale of Incarceration in the U.S. 03:30 Federal vs. State Prison Education: Repeatable Process or Patchwork Promises? 12:00 Policy Levers for Improvement & States that Excel (Ohio, California) 18:30 Pell Grant Access 25:00 Incentives, Recidivism, and Privatization 31:00 Teaching in Prison: Qualifications and Challenges 37:00 What We Learned (Mariel Boatlift) For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Did your high school experience feel a little like a relic from another era? Beneath the daily routines of bells and benchmarks is a history of deliberate choices (made by a small number of voices), evolving philosophies, and healthy controversy that evolved through a period of rapid social change. This week, the hosts examine the origins of the American high school system as we know it, prompting critical inquiries into the emergence and evolution of the course and assessment structure that dictates the rhythms of adolescence in the United States. We review the landmark report of the Committee of Ten, an 1892 working group of National Education Association of the United States Committee on Secondary School Studies, which was convened in order to create a framework of educational standards to bring order to the patchwork chaos of secondary schooling in the U.S. left in the wake of the Civil War. We discuss the initial goals of the secondary school system and to what extent original intentions are still serving our students today. The episode also interrogates the notion of a singular “best” teaching or assessment method. 00:15 Intro & Recap of Holocaust Education Museum Exhibit (Cincinnati) and Guided Virtual Tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau 06:50 An Academic Conference with Enormous Power Over American High Schools 10:15 The Report of the Committee of Ten: The Most Important Education Document Ever Issued? 12:00 The Formalizing of Education as a Profession  14:50 The National Education Association: Convener of Educational Change 16:00 Horace Mann, Common Schooling, & the Evolution of Standards  19:30 Who Decides What is “Best”? And Better Questions 25:50 Ten After Ten: Retrospective Look & Influence of the Report 30:20 The End of Differentiation & Discussion Questions 40:00 What We Learned For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.   Sources & Further Reading: Report of the Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies : with the reports of the conferences arranged by the Committee United States. Bureau of Education. Report of the Commissioner of Education Made to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year ... With Accompanying Papers. Washington: G.P.O., 18701928. Education Reform in Antebellum America | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The History of NEA Ten Years' Influence of the Report of the Committee of Ten Episode 60 - Where No Mann Has Gone Before - 16:1 - An Education Podcast Episode 40 - A More Perfect Union? - 16:1 - An Education Podcast NEA Leadership on Teach for America Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education The Carnegie Unit

We’re pleased to welcome guest Dr. Maggie Marcus to the podcast. Dr. Marcus joins us for a conversation on bilingual learners, two-way immersion programs, and navigating the needs of English learners from a policy level at a time of increased scrutiny on language learning in relation to civic identity. Dr. Marcus is the Executive Director of the Sullivan Family Charitable Foundation, which is dedicated to improving educational outcomes for English Learners.  02:30 The Joy of Teaching Aligned to Talent: Dual Language Learning 10:30 Professional Pathways for Language Learners 16:30 Two-Way Immersion Programming: Research & Praxis 22:00 Century Foundation Report: Community Demand for Bilingual Educational Opportunity 27:30 English Learners & Pandemic Recovery Trends  31:00 What We Learned Sources & Further Reading: Is Your Child Classified as an English Learner? - PIQE What Families Want: New Data on Public Demand for Bilingual Education Pandemic Response to Pandemic Recovery: Helping English Learners Succeed This Fall and Beyond Quadrinity Check-In | Hoffman Institute Sullivan Family Charitable Foundation Music by John Williams | GRAMMY® Award Winner | Disney+ Mayor Mamdani Declares Local State of Emergency, Snow Day for NYC Public Schools to Keep New Yorkers Safe For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Learn about the remarkable partnerships that produced more than 2,500 Carnegie‑funded libraries across the United States and the complex, negotiated process that made these institutions enduring pillars of public knowledge. Drawing on contemporary scholarship, the conversation illuminates how local communities, librarians, and decision makers harnessed Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropic energy to shape America’s public library system. 00:30 Intro 03:00 Andrew Carnegie: Immigrant to Titan of American Industry 11:30 Carnegie Libraries Spread Across the Country 24:40 Library Design and Enduring Legacy 30:00 Carnegie’s Vision of Citizenship & the Gospel of Wealth 39:45 What We Learned This Week For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Writing the Textbook for Emergency CareWhat does it look like when a community builds critical infrastructure before established institutions recognize the need? In this episode, we examine a short-lived but transformative ambulance program that helped define modern emergency medical response at a time when most U.S. emergency calls were handled by minimally trained personnel. At the intersection of medical research, workforce development, and community trust, this effort, known as the Freedom House Ambulance Service, reframed first responders as field clinicians and demonstrated how on-the-job education can function as public health infrastructure. Learn about the researchers and educators who helped shape early resuscitation science, the culture of embedded learning that accelerated community care, and the institutional shifts that rippled across the country in the wake of the program’s success. 00:30 Intro + Ohio’s changing kindergarten enrollment cutoffs; school & family impact 06:00 Freedom House Ambulance Service: Community-driven transformation in Pittsburgh’s Hill District 13:20 Learning under fire: education and training in the field 17:05 Writing the textbook for emergency medical care 18:30 Building effective learning community in a crisis context 23:20 Rules, restrictions, and mavericks; pushing boundaries to further medical research 25:50 Education as public infrastructure, not credentialing pipeline; the relative value of expertise 27:00 The structure of schools & workplaces for community empowerment For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website. Sources & Further Reading:Freedom House Ambulance Service - Wikipedia Nancy Caroline - Wikipedia Peter Safar - Wikipedia Emergency Medical Services - Wikipedia America's First Paramedics Were Black. Their Achievements Were Overlooked for Decades Freedom House Ambulance: The FIRST Responders | America's First EMT Service How to see Dublin’s secret painting | The Doyle Collection Freedom House Ambulance Service – EMS Museum About Us - Freedom House Doc These Trailblazing Black Paramedics Are the Reason You Don't Have to Ride a Hearse or a Police Van to the Hospital Send Freedom House! | Pitt Med | University of Pittsburgh Nancy Caroline Award | Safar Center for Resuscitation Research The Jewish Woman who Revolutionized Emergency Medicine | Aish Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton | National Gallery of Ireland 'There's no telescope this large ever built. It's not like we have a precedent for how to do these things,' Giant Magellan Telescope engineers on why they used the Unreal Engine to build an unprecedented telescope simulator | TechRadar

We’re back to kick off our “third” season (and sixth year!) with learning strategist, National Board certified science educator, and special education teacher Tina Heineke-Kurtz. Tina is a delightful and adventurous human being with a strong passion for inclusive education, and her career in teaching and advocacy has touched the lives of countless students. We spoke with Tina about life in Oconomowoc, co-teaching in an inclusive classroom, and the challenges of meeting the needs of all learners. Welcome back, listeners, and enjoy the chaos of a gaggle of Midwesterners. 00:00 Ice Fishing with the Stomach Bomb 08:40 Teaching Journey and Career Path 13:20 Middle School and Mentorship 21:00 Co-Teaching In Inclusive Classrooms 27:40 COVID and Social/Emotional Displacement 34:40 Making Chicken Soup 37:20 Inclusive Practices and Stakeholder Perspectives 47:00 Professional Development and Personal Growth 49:20 MARBLES, MARBLES, MARBLES! 56:50 The One Who Cared 1:00:00 What We Learned For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

In the final episode of this season of 16:1, special guest Dr. Brandi De La Cruz, 2025–2026 Tennessee Teacher of the Year, joins us for an honest, grounded look at the teaching profession. Dr. De La Cruz’s nonlinear path into mathematics education has become a core part of her teaching identity, and she speaks candidly about trying new things, building community, and deepening connections between classroom learning and community impact. We also discuss graduation pressures, funding incentives, local workforce expectations, teacher retention, professional development, and the evolving realities of AI in the high school classroom. 16:1 returns January 2026 with a new season. Happy holidays! 00:30 Wrap up thoughts on teaching 1984 06:40 Dr. Brandi De La Cruz: An indirect path to the math classroom 11:20 Learning to connect with students through lived experience 20:00 Local industry and applied learning connections 24:00 Why teaching is worth choosing 27:30 Metrics, misaligned incentives, and honest accountability 36:30 Finding your people in your school 43:15 What makes for meaningful professional development? For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

This week, we’re looking through our history to ground ourselves in a turbulent present. Tune in for our discussion of Septima Poinsette Clark, the Charleston-born educator and activist Martin Luther King Jr. once called “the mother of the movement.” Her story bridges the segregated classrooms of the early 20th century and the civil rights movement’s front lines. Through the establishment of hundreds of citizenship schools across the U.S., she helped thousands of Black Americans gain the literacy skills necessary to vote, transforming communities. We also consider her complex legacy as a woman who challenged not only racism but also sexism within social movements that she helped to shape. 02:24 Septima Poinsette Clark: Family History & Educational Empowerment 06:00 Teaching in segregated South Carolina and the fight for equal pay 09:00 Adult Literacy & Citizenship 12:20 Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, and the Politics of Reconstruction 14:00 Workshops at the Highlander Folk School 16:00 Citizenship Schools and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference 21:40 Septima Poinsette’s Civil Rights Activism: Legacy and Lessons For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Two English teachers and a technologist come together for a lively discussion on George Orwell’s 1984 and teaching the text to high school students in the U.S. in 2025. Tackles complex topics (propaganda, surveillance, freedom of expression). Good for educators who are thinking of teaching the novel in their classrooms. 02:00 Framing & historical context, George Orwell 06:50 Making sense of Winston Smith 10:00 Misogyny and modernity  13:00 Memory, individuality, and the alteration of history 18:55 What is war in Oceania? 24:45 Newspeak, language, and narrative control 33:00 Art and entertainment in totalitarian Oceania 40:45 Student engagement with 1984 For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

This week, we’re covering one of the most explosive education controversies in American history, the 1974 Kanawha County, WV “Textbook Wars.” What began as a school board vote over new reading materials in West Virginia eventually escalated into boycotts, firebombings, and a national debate over who decides what children learn. From the cultural divides rooted in West Virginia’s founding to echoes of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial and the rise of outside agitators, this episode traces how faith and identity can collide in America’s public school classrooms. 02:10 Setting the stage: The Civil War and West Virginia’s history of division 04:15 The Scopes trial: How America’s first classroom media circus reshaped public discourse 08:44 Labor and identity: Kanawha County’s legacy of protest and class tension 09:40 Alice Moore & the textbook controversy 23:30 Outside influence: How extremist groups amplified local outrage 25:55 Aftermath & legacy: What this fight tells us about freedom, pluralism, and fear in public education For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.