For our series finale episode, we are excited to have New York Times best-selling author Erika L. Sánchez join us to talk about what inspires her work, what’s next for her, and how we can ignite students to become passionate readers and writers. Erika L. Sánchez is a Mexican American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her debut poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion , was a finalist for the PEN Open Book Award. Her debut young adult novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter , was a New York Time...
Apr 17, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 30
This month we are excited to be joined by journalist Farai Chideya to talk about her career in journalism and her insights on our political landscape. Farai is an award-winning journalist, speaker, author, and academic who tells stories about the human journey, government, and global society. She has covered every presidential election since 1996 and has reported for various outlets, from NPR, ABC News, CNN, the Intercept, Newsweek, and more. Since the start of her career, Farai has championed t...
Feb 16, 2023•21 min•Ep. 29
We are thrilled to kick off the year with special guest Sal Khan, CEO and founder of Khan Academy. Sal Khan founded Khan Academy as a nonprofit organization in 2008 with a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Khan Academy has more than 145 million registered users around the world, serves students in 51 languages, and is used in more than 190 countries. Khan Academy’s platforms include more than 70,000 interactive practice problems as well as videos and articles...
Jan 18, 2023•38 min•Ep. 28
Why is talking about yourself and your accomplishments so difficult? Join Career Confidence Coach Toni Purvis as she teaches how to speak about your accomplishments modestly but proudly without being cringey or annoying, and how to advocate for yourself when it counts most. Toni Purvis is the owner of Paradigm One LLC, a consulting firm that partners with colleges, universities, non-profits, and companies to provide etiquette workshops, organizational coaching, and career development consulting....
Dec 07, 2022•24 min
It’s mid-term election time and although the polls have closed important civic engagement work continues across the country. This month we are excited to have Stephanie Young , Executive Director and Senior Advisor at When We All Vote join us to talk about their efforts to mobilize voter registration, especially for young people, across the country. Over the past 12 years, Stephanie has worked in various communications roles ranging from TV newsrooms to non-profits, political campaigns, the Unit...
Nov 09, 2022•33 min•Ep. 27
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people age 10-24 and LGBTQIA+ youth are 4x more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. This month, we are grateful to be joined by Keygan Miller, Public Training Manager at the Trevor Project - the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization supporting LGBTQIA+ youth. Keygan oversees design and facilitation of public trainings to advance Trevor’s suicide prevention work and teaches audiences to be strong allies f...
Oct 11, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 26
How many of you have heard of the following court cases: Mendez v Westminster ? Plyler v. Doe? Most of us know about the historic case Brown v Board of Education that ruled racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. In 1946, before the Brown decision, eight-year-old Sylvia Mendez was one of the children represented in the case Mendez v. Westminster when a group of Mexican American families in California won the very first federal court case ruling that the segregation of public schools was ...
Sep 20, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 25
This summer we hosted our second KIPP Alumni Summit in Washington, DC , with 300 alumni from around the country! In the span of three days, we were proud to offer 29 sessions focused on professional development, financial well-being, and mental health— nearly half led by KIPP alumni! We are excited to share some of those session highlights as bonus content for the KIPP On Learning Podcast. Listen to this episode on Demystifying Tech: A Roadmap for a Successful Tech Career with guests Andrew Bain...
Aug 22, 2022•43 min
At KIPP we strive to be a community where every member of our team and family can authentically and proudly be who they are and who they want to be, every day of every month. As we honor PRIDE across KIPP this month, our hearts go out to teachers, leaders and young people who are in schools where new legislation prohibits them from using a curriculum or discussing topics of gender identity or sexual orientation. Joining us to talk about what we as educators can do to support our students’ freedo...
Jun 21, 2022•27 min
This month on the KIPP On Learning Podcast, we are honored to talk with Andrea Tecpoyotl, a Goldberg scholar who is a senior at the University of San Diego and an alum of KIPP San Diego. An activist, Andrea has spent considerable time advocating for DREAMers nationwide. She found her passion for activism when she advocated for the DREAM Act in Washington, D.C. During Andrea's time there, she met with Congress to push for legislation that would provide a permanent solution to protect DREAMers. An...
Apr 22, 2022•24 min•Ep. 23
In this episode of the KIPP On Learning Podcast, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by distinguished psychologist, author, and host Angela Duckworth to discuss her research into what makes students thrive. Angela Duckworth is the Co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Character Lab, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, a MacArthur “Genius Award” Fellow, the co-leader of Penn’s Behavior Change for Good initiative, the author of the New York Times best-selling book “Grit: The Power of Pas...
Mar 14, 2022•32 min•Ep. 22
When KIPPsters started returning to college campuses this semester, more than 1,700 of them did so at a Historically Black College and University. As of this fall, KIPP has a formal partnership with 9 HBCUs, including Dillard University which has been a KIPP college partner since 2013. This month, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin, had the honor of talking with Dr. Walter Kimbrough, President of Dillard University about the unique challenges of running an institution of higher education today, how he f...
Feb 08, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 21
In this episode of the KIPP on Learning Podcast, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Danna Thomas, founder of Happy Teacher Revolution. In 2014, Danna started her organization to empower educators to advocate for their mental health. Danna’s organization started as a support group for teachers in her school in Baltimore and has grown to support teachers in more than 300 schools across the United States and internationally. Listen to hear about the work her organization is doing to increase t...
Jan 24, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 20
In this episode, host and KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by 8th-grade student Sanaa Pledger from KIPP Metro Atlanta Public Schools to talk about her experience so far back in the classroom, learning through the pandemic, her passion for writing, and more.
Dec 15, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 19
In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by political consultant and KIPP Colorado alumna Ileana Astorga to discuss her experience working for the people of Colorado in Senator Michael Bennett's Washington D.C. office. You’ll also hear how Ileana’s time as a 2015 KIPP Federal Policy Fellow impacted her career path after college. For more information on the KIPP Federal Policy Fellowship and to apply, please visit www.KIPP.org/KIPPToTheCapitol by January 10th....
Nov 19, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 18
In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Aimée Eubanks Davis, CEO of Braven to discuss the work her organization is doing to help first generation college graduates land strong first jobs.
Oct 29, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 17
In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Kinnari Patel-Smyth, KIPP's new president, to talk about the year ahead and her vision for the next several years. If you like what you hear, subscribe to get alerted about new episodes and visit https://www.kipp.org for job opportunities and information about our schools.
Sep 22, 2021•21 min•Season 1Ep. 16
KIPP Public Schools have always been known for its focus on getting more students to and through college. Today, we aspire to lead the education sector in championing a broader view of success. KIPP is changing the name of all aspects of our post-secondary work from KIPP through college, to KIPP Forward, focused on this broader view of life success, which is inclusive of college, but not limited or solely defined by it. Joining us to talk about the evolution of our approach to educational and ca...
Aug 23, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 15
In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by KIPP Texas Austin College Prep Principal, Juan Juarez to discuss the work he's doing to fulfill KIPP Texas public schools’ commitment to creating brave and inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA+ students and staff. If you like what you hear, subscribe to get alerted about new episodes and visit https://www.kipp.org for job opportunities and information about our schools....
Jun 23, 2021•16 min•Ep. 14
May is Mental Health Awareness month and since the start of the pandemic, one of our top priorities at KIPP has been supporting our students and families who are experiencing trauma on an outsized scale. In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Sheyla Riaz, Director of social work at KIPP New Jersey to discuss the social emotional learning work being done to support students in her region. If you like what you hear, subscribe to get alerted about new episodes and visit www.kipp.o...
May 24, 2021•21 min•Ep. 13
In this episode KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Dominque Mejia founding principal of KIPP Affirm , a new KIPP middle school opening this summer in the Bronx, New York. Dominique is also making KIPP history as one of the first alumna to open a KIPP school. During the episode, she talks about her path from a music artist to an educator and her community focused vision for KIPP Affirm. If you like what you hear, subscribe to get alerted about new episodes and visit www.kipp.org for job oppo...
Apr 19, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Ashley Copeland, founder and CEO of Stacks and the City. Ashley is a KIPP North Carolina alum and her company is committed to bringing financial education to underserved communities. During the episode, Ashley talks about tangible ways to build wealth and how she’s empowering people to have financial freedom through her work. She also shares her own personal glow and grow moments as a woman entrepreneur. Later, you’ll hear from KIPP Metro ...
Mar 23, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 11
In this episode KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Monica Reed, Lead Teacher of African-American Culture at KIPP Inspire Academy in St. Louis, Missouri. During the episode they discuss how she’s teaching civic engagement in a culturally relevant way in the classroom and her approach to designing a unique curriculum that teaches Black history year round. If you like what you hear, subscribe to get alerted about new episodes and visit www.kipp.org for job opportunities and information about o...
Feb 17, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 10
This episode, we’ll discuss how schools can become more equitable in the ways they engage with families. Joining host and KIPP Co-founder Dave Levin to share their expertise on the topic is Shani Dowell, CEO and Founder of Possip . Possip, short for "positive gossip," partners with schools and uses text messages to get quick surveys and reactions from parents ranging from praise for teachers to feedback on bullying and school culture. Today, Possip has a presence in 700 schools across 24 states ...
Jan 25, 2021•14 min•Season 1Ep. 9
For our last episode of the year, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin welcomes two KIPP Foundation Board of Director members, Dr. Michael L. Lomax, United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) President and CEO for more than 16 years and Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix who in June donated $120 million to UNCF, Spelman and Morehouse College, the largest-ever gift to support scholarships at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Dave leads a discussion with Lomax and Hastings about the impor...
Dec 02, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Thirty two million people who identify as Latinx will be eligible to vote in the 2020 election, a record number making Latinos the largest minority voter group for the first time in history according to the Pew Research Center. For our October episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Clarissa Martínez-de-Castro, Deputy Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at UnidosUS and Dr. Stephen Nuño-Perez, the Director of Communications and Senior Analyst at Latino Decisions to discuss the influenc...
Oct 07, 2020•28 min•Ep. 7
For our September episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin chats with Seth Harris, former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor under the Obama Administration, for a conversation about the lingering economic impact of COVID-19 on the workforce in America. Later in the episode, Dave is joined by KIPP NYC parent Wanda Neal to talk about her experience working as an essential worker in an emergency room department.
Sep 02, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 6
In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder Dave Levin is joined by Erin Slezak, Deputy Chief of Strategy at KIPP Texas and Joey LaRoche, Chief Strategy Officer at KIPP New Orleans for a conversation about their regional reopening plans and how they are keeping students, families and staff motivated for the school year ahead. Note: Since the taping of this episode, Texas is allowing KIPP schools in the region to now open virtually for the first four weeks and has an extended transition into physical school...
Aug 21, 2020•32 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder and host Dave Levin is joined by Erin Trent Johnson, CEO, Coach, and founder of Community Equity Partners , and the Senior Advisor for The Equity Lab , and Kyra Mitchell, Chair of the NAACP National Youth Work Committee for a conversation on the ways in which systemic racism and anti-blackness manifest and intersect inside and outside of the classroom. Kyra also shares her advice for Gen Z interested in organizing and want to lend their voice in this historic mov...
Jul 20, 2020•27 min•Ep. 4
In this episode, KIPP Co-Founder and host Dave Levin is joined by David Page, Vice President of Enrollment Management at Dillard University and Ajuah Helton, National Director of the KIPP through College Program for a talk about the impact of the pandemic on first generation college students. They’ll also discuss the persistence work that lies ahead for college counselors across the country and why bridging the gap between college and career should be at the center of the work....
Jun 25, 2020•33 min•Ep. 3
