If it feels like the assault on public education is escalating, that’s because it is. Jennifer joins historian Thomas Zimmer, host of the ‘Is this Democracy?’ podcast, to dive deep into the question of why the right is so focused on public schools right now. Zimmer, an historian at Georgetown University, argues that the push to dismantle public education and limit what teachers can teach and kids can learn is part of a broader effort to roll back the civil rights gains that have been made since the 1960’s.

Two decades ago, phonics fever swept the land as George W. Bush made “scientifically-based reading instruction” a centerpiece of his education agenda. And yet despite its scale and huge price tag, Bush’s Reading First initiative has largely been forgotten. Have You Heard revisits the Bush-led effort to transform reading instruction, learning a familiar lesson along the way: history can’t teach us anything if no one remembers it.

What does it feel like to be on the receiving end of a conservative plan to ‘take back the schools’? Have You Heard heads to Woodland Park, Colorado to talk to students, parents and teachers about how top-down culture war is rapidly - and radically - reshaping local schools.

Are charter schools public or private? A case speeding towards the Supreme Court is likely to settle this age-old dispute once and for all by declaring charters as “non-state actors.” Peltier vs. Charter Day School Inc. is nominally about dress codes, chivalry and “fragile vessels.” But as special guests Bruce Baker and Preston Green explain, the real question here is whether students attending charter schools have the same civil rights and Constitutional protections as their public school peers. Among our most alarming episodes to date…

The teaching profession is in the worst shape of the past 50 years. That’s according to researchers Melissa Arnold Lyon and Matthew Kraft, who crunched a half century’s worth of data on such indicators as whether students are interested in going into teaching, the prestige of the profession, and the satisfaction of teachers themselves. What emerged were some striking historical patterns and a clear warning about the state of the teaching profession.

Young people had a major impact in the midterm elections, including students who aren’t even old enough to vote. In this episode, we meet some high school activists who are making their power felt, both in and out of schools, fighting against an array of policies driven by what they see as adult fear. And they’re just getting started. Next up: a campaign to lower the voting age for school board elections in Michigan to 16. Special guests: Syd Olthoff, Hafiza Khalique and Julia Cuneo of Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan.