Development Without Limits

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Alfie Kohn is a busy man, and I had to be pretty pushy to get him to agree to be a guest on Please Speak Freely. As the author of bestselling books Punished By Rewards, The Schools Our Children Deserve, Beyond Discipline and more, Mr. Kohn pretty much embodies the title of the podcast, and his work has been incredibly important to me – he’s shaped my perspective on youth work more than any other writer. Our conversation ranged widely – we talked about charter schools, expanded learning time, Race to the Top, and the dark side of using extrinsic rewards to motivate both young people and adults. He doesn’t pull any punches, but his views are always grounded in solid research and compassion for young people and families. It wasn’t until we wrapped up the interview and I took his picture that I noticed the giant frog balloon gazing admiringly at him the entire time.

A Critical Voice

By Sam Piha, Director of Temescal Associates

Over the last 25 years, Alfie Kohn has been a critical voice in education. He has, through his writings and presentations, urged us to focus on the child instead of the student; on learning instead of achievements. As the pressures of No Child Left Behind increased, he was unafraid to speak freely about these topics. Thus, it is most appropriate that he is featured on “Please Speak Freely.”

I greatly enjoyed the lively exchange between Eric Gurna and Alfie Kohn, in particular their discussion of extended learning time, creativity, and motivating kids without the use of rewards or punishments. (If you also enjoyed the podcast, I highly recommend that you view some of Alfie Kohn’s video presentations on YouTube).

The latest rage in educational reform seems to be the notion of extended learning time (ELT). We have known for some time that children learn regardless of the time of day or the particular season. This idea is not new to those in the afterschool and summer learning movements. However, ELT for many appears to be about extended seat time and extending the school day. In my recent interview with Karen Pittman (Forum for Youth Investment), she cautioned, “The most important thing to remember is simply that more time doesn’t necessarily equal more learning. Learning opportunities must be high quality if they are going to produce more learning – whether they happen in classrooms or CBOs.”

The critical questions facing those who are considering extending the school day, are who will be involved, what methods will be used, and what guidelines will shape quality learning experiences? In California, the Learning in Afterschool & Summer project is promoting that all extended learning be active, collaborative, meaningful, support mastery, and expanding the horizons of the participants.

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This episode of Please Speak Freely is all about food. I sat down with Crystal FitzSimons of the Food Research Action Center at the Bridge Conference in Seattle last October, and learned a lot about how school lunches, snacks and suppers are funded and provided, and the efforts being made to ensure high-quality nutrition. Because I am recording the podcasts faster than I can edit and post them, some time passed before I got a chance to listen to the conversation, and I happen to read a gripping article in the NY Times called, “How the Food Industry Eats Your Kid’s Lunch,” and immediately reached out to the author of the piece, Lucy Komisar, who was kind enough to sit down with me as well. The two conversations provide interesting perspectives on an important issue. Having worked on the Healthy Children, Healthy Futures program for many years, and because I love to cook (and of course, love to eat), the issue of what we feed kids matters to me very much, and I hope you enjoy the conversation. Coming soon…my conversation with one of my professional heroes, Alfie Kohn.

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As a youth development organization, Rich Berlin and his team did an audacious thing – they started their own school. What began as a notion to revive baseball in the inner city grew, until Harlem RBI was a major resource to the East Harlem community, and then they founded DREAM Charter School. I had a frank and interesting conversation with Rich, Harlem RBI’s executive director and the chair of the charter school. Rich was more than happy to speak freely! Plus we get to hear from Earl Martin Phalen of Summer Advantage (and founder of BELL) again, as he responds to Rich's challenge that out of school time organizations who want to make a real impact on academic success should start schools. DWL Senior Consultant Rebecca Fabiano wrote the PSF Blog for this episode, and she draws an interesting parallel between what Harlem RBI is doing and the Expanded Learning Time movement. Please join the conversation!

Should Youth Development Agencies Start Their Own Schools?

By Rebecca Fabiano, Senior Consultant
Development Without Limits

It was really refreshing to listen to this recent podcast of Please Speak Freely. There were so many moments when I wanted to shout "YES!" in complete agreement as I listened to guest Rich Berlin, Executive Director of Harlem RBI and the Chairman of Dream Charter School.

One idea that resonated with me was Mr. Berlin's description of why he does this work, "I do this because I believe in it and I know if everyone did this the world would be better," which aligns with my own values and path that led me to working with youth. Two other ideas that stood out for me were his comment on how we can 'assess' the quality of an after school program in about 36 seconds - that even with tools like the YPQA (formerly known as, "High Scope") and other similar assessments, we know in our gut if something is quality or not - and that the work we do is "incredibly important but not that complex."

I was most interested in hearing Mr. Berlin describe why Harlem RBI decided to open a charter school. For almost seven years, I ran a school-based afterschool program at a public high school in New York City. Young people, parents and teachers often commented on how our afterschool program was like a mini-school within the school, and I have often thought about how schools could be different (and safer and more effective) if youth development principles and strategies were applied in the school day, and wondered what it would be like to build a school around positive youth development principles.

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I've known Dr. Paul Heckman, Associate Dean at the University of California School of Education for a long time – thirteen years ago, when I was Director of Staff Development for LA's BEST Afterschool Enrichment Program, Paul was a consultant for LA's BEST, and a mentor for me. I've learned so much from him over the years, and I was so happy to talk with him for this episode. We didn’t even get close to covering everything I wanted to talk about, but we did have a great talk about the current culture of education, and how to create a new path.

I'm also happy to introduce a new feature of Please Speak Freely – a blog! Sam Quiah, Director of Professional Development for Development Without Limits, kicks off our blog with a lively commentary on the issues and ideas raised in my conversation with Paul. We plan to have different members of the DWL team and guest writers featured in the blog each time we release a new podcast, and we encourage you to join the conversation as well by making comments. Enjoy!
 

Reclaiming the Standards Debate

By: Samuel C. Quiah, Director of Professional Development
Development Without Limits

Throughout this episode of Please Speak Freely, Dr. Paul Heckman raised many important and sometimes controversial points about the current state of our education system. One of the key points he highlighted is our education system’s movement towards standardization, through increased testing and focusing on “achievement” i.e. grades and scores rather than “attainment,” engaging young people so that they understand the value of their education and become life long learners. Working in the youth development field for almost a decade, as an educator and a staff developer, this topic struck a chord with me. All kids should know how to read, write, and understand basic math and science concepts. Likewise, all kids should learn about music, art, and be engaged members of their community, possessing a critical mind and sound leadership skills. But what happens when we put an overemphasis on grades and not learning?

Over the last 10 years, since the inception of No Child Left Behind, young people have become all too familiar with the term “high stakes testing” or standardized tests that presumably measure their mastery of specific concepts and subject matter at a particular grade level. School administrators have had the added pressure to improve, in many cases failing test scores, to stave off threats that their schools may be shut down if they don’t meet the grade. I’ve spoken to teachers who have had to fundamentally shift their teaching methods to ensure that students are prepared to answer questions on standardized tests, and so that they are viewed as “high-quality instructors,” worthy of incentives and raises.

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This is a special episode of Please Speak Freely, recorded live at the Bridge from School to Afterschool and Back Conference in Seattle, WA! While I have recently recorded a few more interviews that still need to be edited and put online, I wanted to get this episode up while the conference is still fresh in the minds of everyone involved. In this episode, I tried to capture some of the ideas and conversations from the conference, and I included excerpts from the keynote speeches of Karen Pittman, President and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment and recent PSK guest, and Dr. Shawn Ginwright of San Francisco State University, who I will be interviewing soon. I also spoke briefly with several conference participants, and had a more in depth conversation with my friend and colleague Zach Wilson, Director of Educational Services for School’s Out Washington, and the “maestro” of the Bridge Conference. The editing might be a little shaky, because I’m no radio producer, but I think you’ll enjoy what you hear. Thanks to School’s Out Washington for sponsoring the first few episodes of the podcast!

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