Educating All Learners Alliance

5 Minutes with Ryan Baker on Bias in Artificial Intelligence

On today's episode, we sat down with Ryan Baker, an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and directs the Penn Center for Learning Analytics. In Ryan’s work he’s done much research and analysis on the impact on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education and how it impacts a range of learners. We asked him a few questions specific to students with disabilities and how we can analyze AI’s ability to help all students. A few of the questions discussed were ‘what impact does bias truly have on AI and ‘what opportunities are there for individuals with disabilities with current and future AI.’

 

Mentioned People/Resources:

• Info on Ryan Baker: https://www.upenn.edu/learninganalytics/ryanbaker/
• Ryan Baker’s work on Algorithmic Bias in Education: https://edarxiv.org/pbmvz/download?format=pdf
• René F. Kizilcec and Hansol Lee’s work on Algorithmic Fairness in Education: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2007/2007.05443.pdf

More information on the Educating All Learners Alliance:

• Website: www.educatingalllearners.org
• Twitter: @educateall_org
• YouTube: Educating All Learners

5 Minutes with Educating for American Democracy

This podcast episode features Ace Parsi, the Outreach and Dissemination Lead with Educating for American Democracy. The Educating for American Democracy initiative involves a diverse collaboration among over 300 academics, historians, political scientists, K–12 educators, district and state administrators, civics providers, students, and others from across the country. Ace discussed how civics education can impact students with disabilities and hopes for the future of all learners.

Mentioned People/Resources:

• Educating for American Democracy website: https://www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org
• Two organizations leading disability rights efforts at EAD: Learning Disabilities Association of America and Emerging America
• Roadmap: https://ldaamerica.org/ead-roadmap/

 

More information on the Educating All Learners Alliance:

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners

Recommendations for ARP Spending with the Center for Learner Equity

One of EALA's Founding Partners, the Center for Learner Equity (CLE), joined us for a discussion on their new resource The Rising Tide that Lifts All Boats: Investing Stimulus Dollars with an Equity Focus. In this report, CLE provides several specific strategies that districts, schools, and educators should consider to optimize the positive impact of stimulus dollars on students, especially those with disabilities. They encourage decision-makers to be mindful of the need to pace the allocation of resources over the entire authorized period to optimize the impact of all efforts in a comprehensive way. We encourage all school stakeholders to check this out!

 

Find the new resource here: https://www.centerforlearnerequity.org/news/stimulus/

 

More information on the Educating All Learners Alliance:

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners

5 Minutes with Pivot Learning on Intervention

For today’s episode we’re joined by Arun Ramanathan, who is the CEO of Pivot Learning. At Pivot Learning, they serve educators and leaders in high-need school districts to ensure academic rigor for all students through support for great teaching, proactive intervention, and aligned district systems – including  curriculum implementation and reform for special education. Arun shared his thoughts on how schools and districts can transform the learning environment for students, including interventions.

 

Pivot Learning's website: pivotlearning.org

 

More information on the Educating All Learners Alliance:

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners

Learning Loss vs Schooling Loss with Kelly Niccolls

This podcast episode features Kelly Niccols. Kelly has been an educator for fourteen years. She began her career teaching in Southern California and has helped schools and systems reimagine teaching and learning, as well as serving as a school administrator. She is currently a Deeper Learning Equity Fellow and member of the Getting Smart Advisory Board, driven by the relentless belief in the possibility of social justice within education systems. Kelly focuses her education leadership on re-imagining structures for teaching and learning in order to empower all students for the future. After writing an article about the concept of ‘schooling loss’ we had her join us to discuss the why behind this phrasing and its potential impact on students.

 

Mentioned People/Resources:

• Kelly Niccolls’ article about schooling loss: https://www.gettingsmart.com/2021/01/getting-clearer-schooling-loss-not-learning-loss/
• Getting Smart’s website: https://www.gettingsmart.com
• Promising Practices to Accelerate Learning for Students with Disabilities During COVID-19 and Beyond: https://www.ncld.org/reports-studies/promising-practices-to-accelerate-learning-for-students-with-disabilities-during-covid-19-and-beyond/

 

More information on the Educating All Learners Alliance:

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners

5 Minutes with SELF

This podcast episode features 5 minutes with SELF. SELF is an organization that empowers schools to be welcoming and effective communities for ALL students by developing the capacity of stakeholders through coaching, guidance in systems development, and collaborative trainings. Throughout the 5 minute episode, we spoke with SELF’s Executive Director, Aqua Stovall, and she shared about their Special Education Leader Fellowship, which was created to meet the need for high-quality special educational programming in schools. The Fellowship program develops special education and RTI leaders, aspiring leaders, and their principals to create high-impact programs for students with learning exceptionalities. These programs serve 3200 students across 45 schools. Check out their website for more information!

 

Mentioned People/Resources:

SELF’s website: https://www.selfnola.org

 

More information on the Educating All Learners Alliance:

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners

Building Empathy for All Learners with Eye to Eye

On today's episode, we're joined by Robby Brice and David Badillo from one of EALA’s partner organizations, Eye to Eye. Emily Art. Eye to Eye’s mission is to improve the life of every young person with learning differences like learning disabilities (LD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Through their programs, they train high school and college students with learning differences, including dyslexia and ADHD, to mentor similarly-identified middle school students.

 

Mentioned People/Resources:

• Eye to Eye’s website: https://eyetoeyenational.org
• Learning Differently 101: https://eyetoeyenational.org/assets/downloads/One-Sheet-Educators.pdf
• CNN video on Eye to Eye’s Founder, David Flink: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/18/us/learning-disabilities-education-dyslexia-adhd-mentorship-cnnheroes/index.html

 

More information on the Educating All Learners Alliance:

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners

Discussing Bias in Education Research with Saro Mohammed

Today’s podcast episode features Sarojani Mohammed, the founder of Ed Research Works. Saro fights the injustice of knowledge-hoarding by making deep, meaningful connections between research and practice to expand equal access to educational opportunities, and improve outcomes, for all learners. We had the opportunity to highlight some of the background information on education research by discussing questions like - What should we ask for from research about students with disabilities and what is an example of how bias can transform education research?

Mentioned People/Resources:

Sarojani Mohammed at Ed Research Works: https://www.edresearchworks.com

Follow Ed Research Works on Twitter: https://twitter.com/edresearchworks

Sarojani Mohammed’s personal website: www.sarojani.com

 

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners

5 Minutes with Relay Graduate School of Education

On today's episode, we're joined by Emily Art. Emily is the Dean of Special Education at Relay Graduate School of Education. Throughout the 5 minutes, we took a deep dive into Relay’s Teaching Exceptional Learners (TEL) programs and discussed the various populations who participate in the program. The programs include: a master’s program for current special educators seeking their initial certification and an advanced certificate program for experienced general educators who are interested in building their skills around working with students with disabilities. These programs have been operating for 6 years and more than 1800 students have attended these two programs across 10 cities.

 

Mentioned People/Resources:

• Relay’s website: https://www.relay.edu/programs/master-arts-teaching#program-options'
• Kyler Lofton, Nadine Mitchell, Maxine Townsend, faculty in the TEL program in NYC, planned and executed Professional Learning Communities during the first 15 minutes of class each week. Giving graduate students the opportunity to connect and engage in shared problem solving as they navigate distance learning together.
• Jill Ordynans and colleagues coordinated two Remote Learning Symposia where alumni and current graduate students presented to one another about best practices they were generating in the shift to distance learning.
• Lauren LeBental, a TEL Dean in NYC, led the Assessment Working group to examine the limitations of Relay’s existing assessment system and to ensure that they are incorporating elements of Universal Design for Learning into our assessment design. Here are the agenda notes from the working group.

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners

Pathways to Literacy and Community with AIM Institute

Dawn Brookhart, Associate Director of AIM Institute for Learning and Research, joined us on our latest podcast episode to discuss AIM Institute’s work towards supporting students who are struggling to learn to read. We asked her about AIM Pathways and the many courses available for educators, and school leadership, to learn about professional development in the space. There are many FREE resources available on their site (linked below), in addition to some upcoming events that educators and researchers can learn practical skills and tips from, to improve their classrooms and students learning retention.

 

Mentioned Resources:

• AIM Pathways: https://institute.aimpa.org/aim-pathways
• AIM Pathways to Practice Series: https://institute.aimpa.org/resources/pathways-to-practice
• AIM’s Virtual Teaching Techniques Focused on the Language Comprehension Upper Strands of Dr. Hollis Scarborough's Reading Rope: https://institute.aimpa.org/resources/virtual-teaching-techniques-webinar-series
• AIM’s Research to Practice Symposium: https://institute.aimpa.org/programs-research/research-to-practice-symposium
• AIM Access to the Experts Speaker Series: https://institute.aimpa.org/professional-training/access-to-experts-series

 

Website: www.educatingalllearners.org

Twitter: @educateall_org

YouTube: Educating All Learners