Free Range Humans is a podcast that explores "how we can make schools fit for human consumption." Hosted by Jal Mehta, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Rod Allen, former district superintendent and Assistant Deputy Minister with the BC Ministry of Education.
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Ron Berger guest co-hosts to interview Harvard professor Jal Mehta. Ron shares an optimistic story about community action in education, then praises Jal's academic contributions and humility. The conversation delves into Jal's origin story, his complex racial identity, and navigating progressive ideas within Harvard's historical context. They discuss the challenges of scaling deeper learning and how parenthood profoundly impacts their educational philosophies, culminating in a fun lightning round.
Amanda Datnow is Professor and Chancellor’s Associates Endowed Chair in the Department of Education Studies and Associate Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. Amelia Peterson is currently part of the founding faculty at the London Interdisciplinary School. Previously, she was a fellow in the Social Policy department at the London School of Economics. Both were recently involved in research that led to the latest Brookings Report: "Transforming Educa...
Dream a Dream empowers children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds to overcome adversity and thrive in a fast-changing world. Since 1999, they have helped over 3 million young people thrive in the 21st century through innovation labs and strategic partnerships with governments in five states across India. Vishal Talreja is the co-founder and Trustee of Dream a Dream, and Dr. Connie Chung is the former Associate Director of Harvard Graduate School of Education's Global Education Innovat...
Alisa Berger was the founding principal at both the NYC iSchool, a New York City public high school, and the Mott Hall II school, a NYC public middle school. She currently teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the Professional Education Program, and is Co-Director of The Deeper Learning Dozen. Throughout the conversation, Alisa will argue for schools, Rod will argue for districts, and Jal will serve as the moderator, while also reflecting on the overall debate. Highlights from t...
Shanna Peeples is the Dr. John G. O’Brien distinguished chair in education at West Texas A&M university. In 2015 she was awarded USA National Teacher of the Year for her work at Palo Duro High School, and also found her way to Harvard where she attended classes taught by our co-host, Jal Mehta! Highlights from this episode include: why schools have become a target for whipping up moral panic in the political arena; the importance of tackling difficult issues, including race, head on and crea...
During their trip to Kentucky, our hosts sat down with Lu Young, Jason Glass, Justin Bathon and Caleb Bates, of Kentucky's United We Learn Coalition. This group is building a vision for the future of public education in Kentucky, with the goal of everyone in the commonwealth – educators, families, students, community members and business leaders – working together to support public schools in bringing about deep and authentic learning experiences for all students. As Rod and Jal spoke with the t...
Charles Leadbeater is a self-proclaimed “intellectual odd-job man,” with a background in journalism, entrepreneurship, and most recently, large-scale systems change. As the co-director of the System Innovation Initiative at the Rockwool Foundation in Copenhagen, he is helping to develop practical approaches to shifting big public systems. His conversation with Rod and Jal focuses on what is needed to make transformational change in the massive system we know as education. Highlights from the epi...
Timothy Knowles is the 10th president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Prior to joining Carnegie, he served as founder and managing partner of the Academy Group, an enterprise designed to prepare extraordinary young people from under-resourced communities to own and operate successful companies nationwide; reduce economic disparities and; serve as a human capital engine, built on a sustainable business model, to unlock human potential at scale. His conversation with Ro...
As season two gets underway, Rod and Jal leverage their own knowledge and experience to debate the merits of bringing Canadian school reform to the United States. Highlights from their conversation include: a history of Canadian reform processes dating back to Rod's work with the Ministry of Education in British Columbia; the influence of Michael Fullan; a controversial take on a new border design; the importance of building trust in all levels of the system; emphasizing the need for patience wh...
Gino Beniamino returns as guest host to navigate us through a reflective journey that covers a wide range of topics. Rod and Jal go back and listen to past sound bites and remember some of their favorite moments from season one. Highlights from this episode include: reflecting on the significance of finishing an entire season; recapping the major themes that were present across many of our interviews; listening to past quotes from our esteemed guests, and a final lighting round to wrap things up...
Dr. Kaleb Rashad is the Interim Chief Executive Officer of High Tech High. Kaleb is also the Co-Founder & Creative Director at the Center for Love & Justice located within the High Tech High Graduate School of Education (HTH GSE). In this role, he works with community leaders in the US, Canada, Spain, and Hong Kong to create new schools and redesign existing schools focused on advancing equity through Liberatory Project-based learning. This week's conversation covers: the people who have...
Shanna Peeples is the Dr. John G. O’Brien distinguished chair in education at West Texas A&M university. In 2015 she was awarded USA National Teacher of the Year for her work at Palo Duro High School, and also found her way to Harvard where she attended classes taught by our co-host, Jal Mehta! Highlights from this episode include: an opening dialogue on the recent school shooting in Evalde, Texas; Shanna's long journey to teaching and how money played a role in her transition from journalis...
Kim Ondrik is the Head Learner from Q'SHINTUL Mill Bay Nature School on Vancouver Island, and someone Rod and Jal have worked closely with in the past. They would describe her as courageous, fierce, values-driven, and always acting in accordance with her beliefs about what constitutes great learning for kids and adults. Highlights from this week's episode include: an opening discussion on the recent report released by Harvard that covers the University's historical ties to slavery and eugenics; ...
Kent McGuire is the Program Director of Education at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. He leads the investments in teaching and learning and open educational resources strategies, with a focus on helping all students succeed in college, work and civic life. Highlights from this episode include: an opening dialogue on re-entry into the world post-COVID; the childhood influences that developed Kent's desire to work in education; what it was like going to school during a period of desegrega...
Victor Cary has worked in education for over 40 years, starting as a high school teacher in Richmond, CA, and now serves as the Senior Director at the National Equity Project, where he leads development of the equity-centered coaching and leadership model. Susie Wise is a design leader with experience in the education, tech, and social sectors. She coaches leaders in equity design and innovation practices and is an Adjunct Professor at the Stanford d.school. The two have worked together to devel...
Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen is an author, consultant, founder of Educating Potential, and currently Chief Program Officer at Grantmakers for Education. Her work is aimed at changing the dialogue about education in America. Her conversation with Rod and Jal covers a lot of topics including: what different kinds of teaching and learning look like; why we need to move past endless debates and focus more on root issues that need to be addressed; defining both "Cartesian-Newtonian" and "Holistic-Indigenou...
Andy Calkins is the co-director of Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) and helps to lead strategy development, organizational management, and program execution across all phases of the initiative. Dr. Carlos Beato is the newest crew member and also co-director at NGLC. Prior to joining he served as the founding principal at the International High School at Langley Park (IHSLP) in Bladensburg, Maryland. Highlights from their conversation with Rod and Jal include: optimism that the worst of...
Clara Medina is a senior at NEST+m High School in New York City. Madeline Mayes, is a junior at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, New York, and Kenisha Mahajan is a junior from Queens, New York who attends Stuyvesant High School. All three are involved in Next Generation Politics , a youth-led organization built to inspire and equip today's youth to drive a more productive, inclusive, and informed political culture in the U.S. Highlights from this episode include: an opening dialogue betwee...
This episode features a discussion with Andrew Frishman, David Banda, and Zelia Gonzalez from the Big Picture Learning (BPL) network, exploring its distinctive approach to education. They highlight the importance of deep relationships, individualized learning plans, and real-world internships that allow students to explore their interests and develop self-efficacy. The conversation also critiques traditional education models, including higher education, for their lack of student agency and preparation for adult life, advocating for a more vigorous and joyful learning experience.
Harsh Dhaliwal, Kyra McKinnon, and Chris Zimmerman are high school students and members of the Prince George District Student Advisory Council (DSAC). Katie Marren, their mentor teacher, also joined the conversation and she is the District Vice Principal in the Indigenous Education Department. This group is creating quite a stir in Prince George and beyond with their work on anti-racism, and with their ability to apply student agency at all levels of the education system. Highlights from their c...
John Watkins is Co-Director with Jal Mehta & Alisa Berger, of the Deeper Learning Dozen, creating a community of practice for superintendents who are committed to the transformation of their districts. He has over thirty years experience in consulting, coaching, designing, facilitating, researching, and evaluating in school and school district improvement efforts. Jessica Forbes is a teacher at Oakland High School in the Public Health Academy, one of Oakland's oldest and most diverse compreh...
To celebrate the podcast reaching 10,000 downloads this week, we turned most of the interview topics over to our listeners — choosing questions they submitted leading up to the recording. Also, producer Gino Beniamino joins the episode as a guest host, and picks his favorite audience submissions along with a few of his own. The conversation covers a wide range of topics including: the origin of Rod and Jal's relationship and who had the idea for a podcast; how becoming parents changed their pers...
Shelley Moore is a Canadian educator and an expert on special education. A teacher and researcher, she advocates for inclusive education and seeks to reform Individualized Education Programs to better suit the needs of individual students. Her energetic conversation with Rod and Jal includes: pointing out the differences between integration and inclusion; the importance of co-constructing community in schools and creating a sense of belonging for everyone; the dangers of designing for "the avera...
Jody Hoffer Gittell is Professor of Management at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy & Management, and co-founder and board member of the Relational Coordination Collaborative. She is an expert in the human and humane approach to building organizations. Highlights from the conversation include: what it means to build a relational organization and culture; emphasizing internal conversation as a better form of accountability; having a broader set of measures when assessing b...
Marshall Ganz is the Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing and Civil Society at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He teaches, researches, and writes on leadership, narrative, strategy and organization in social movements, civic associations, and politics. His conversation with Rod and Jal covers a number of topics including: the diversity and promise of today's young students; how teaching needs to go beyond just skill building to include a conceptual dimension of prac...
Gregg is the founder and co-chair of Remake Learning, a 15-year endeavor to build a learning ecosystem in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. Remake Learning is a network that ignites engaging, relevant, and equitable learning practices in support of young people navigating rapid social and technological change. He is also executive director of the Grable Foundation, managing a grant-making portfolio advancing high-quality early learning, great teaching in public schools, and r...
Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl is the NoVo Foundation Endowed Chair in Social and Emotional Learning and Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There has been a push to maintain in-person learning during the pandemic, and that has come with several new challenges - one of the biggest being how to handle the mental health impact being felt by everyone in school systems. Kimberley has done extensive research on this subject and highlights from her convers...
Jeff Duncan-Andrade discusses the critical need for schools to fundamentally rethink their purpose, moving beyond a "crisis of courage" to address systemic issues and a "rotten" historical foundation. He advocates for fostering an environment that values failure, promotes deep relationships through looping structures, and distinguishes between "schooling" and true "education." The conversation emphasizes that true equity in education means prioritizing child wellness and atonement for harm, rather than just academic metrics, to prepare children to be "best for the world."
Our first episode of the new year features two parts: an opening conversation between Rod and Jal addressing the latest COVID surge and what it means for education systems, and a one-on-one conversation between Jal and his mother, Louise Mehta, as they connected during the holidays. Louise Mehta has been a teacher, administrator, and Associate Head of the Park School in Baltimore, Maryland, and most importantly, Jal's mother. Highlights from their conversation include: those who inspired and tra...
Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser have the privilege of leading the Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education and the Aboriginal Enhancement Schools Network. They are deeply committed to achieving equity and quality for all learners—and to networking for innovation and improvement both in Canada and internationally. Their conversation with Rod and Jal covers several topics including: an opening discussion on the intersection of critical race theory (CRT), politics and education; humorous acronyms;...
