ALL4SC Launches New Video Podcast Series to Elevate the Conversation on Education Transformation

The debate around education reform in South Carolina has raged for decades. Now is the time to elevate the conversation from traditional reform ideas to real transformation. 
 

ElevatED4SC is a video podcast series launching today that does just that.
 

The ElevatED4SC "vodcast" isn’t a dry academic exercise. And it’s not about sharing the same old ‘woe is us’ stories about education in the state. The vodcast’s first season will tell stories, raise questions and look at solutions – some radical and some right in front of us. These stories will come from educators, parents, students and community leaders on the front lines of leading education transformation in South Carolina.

ALL4SC is the producing partner for the vodcast series. ALL4SC - Accelerating Learning and Leadership in South Carolina - is a University of South Carolina initiative leading the way in advocating a whole child approach to education. 

The video and audio versions of Episode 1 are available at ElevatED4SC.com or on YouTube, iTunes and Spotify. Make sure to follow ElevatED4SC on Twitter and Facebook to stay in the loop about future episodes dropping every couple of weeks.

Episode One features three lively six-minute conversations around the topics of whole child education, teacher leadership and students’ roles in shaping their education paths.

Watch the first episode below. 

The series host is Roshanda Pratt, a well-respected broadcast journalist with 20 years of experience and a trusted voice on local television, radio, and podcasts.

In each episode, regular contributors will engage with guests who will include students, classroom teachers, policy makers, parents, and business and community leaders. Christian Ruff, a UofSC freshman and Student Voice leader, joins this episode’s regular contributors.

Regular contributors are as follows. (Get full bios here.)

• Barnett Berry is a research professor and senior director for Policy and Innovation at the University of South Carolina College of Education He is the founder of ALL4SC and founder of the Center for Teaching Quality, a non-profit focusing on  igniting teacher leadership to transform public education for more equitable outcomes for students. 

• Merrit Jones is an ALL4SC fellow and serves as an advisor to Student Voice. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, she works on whole child education policy and practice across the state.

• Christina Melton is a veteran educator with more than 28 years of experience ranging from classroom teacher to district superintendent. Melton is an advocate for teacher leadership, student voice and educator engagement.

• Victor Young is director of ALL4SC. For over 35 years, he has worked at the intersection of schools, government, philanthropy, and the private sector to improve outcomes for all children, and particularly the underserved, both rural and urban, across the nation.  

Here’s a sample of what Episode One’s contributors and guests have to say:

Barnett Berry: “Everyone wants schools to get better, but very few people really want them to look any different than they were when they themselves were students in the schools. From the bell schedule to the calendar, to curriculum delivery, to how teachers are organized. One classroom at a time.”

Victor Young: “How can we use the resources [of the University] to support communities in making that long haul transformation, taking that journey from institutional focus to community focused, community schooling.”

Christina Melton: “I hope that we can look at children through a different lens because when we look at educating children with what they need right now, we can make a difference.” 

Merrit Jones: “No one's asking [students] about [their] learning and what's happening. And to do that, we have to build muscle. We have to ask young people and ask them again. And it really takes muscle building and engaging more deeply, and doing that alongside teachers and other folks in the building, because that's how we do it together. It's gotta be in partnership.”

Christian Ruff: “It’s student's playing an active role in the decision making process. Again, it's not something smaller, like maybe at prom or the surveys, but students are taking an active voice in their education. And so, a lot of times I like to think of it as students ‘co-ing’ like co-developing curriculum, for example, knowledge sharing.”