The Harvard EdCast
In the complex world of education, the Harvard EdCast keeps the focus simple: what makes a difference for learners, educators, parents, and our communities. The EdCast is a weekly podcast about the ideas that shape education, from early learning through college and career. We talk to teachers, researchers, policymakers, and leaders of schools and systems in the US and around the world — looking for positive approaches to the challenges and inequities in education. Through authentic conversation, we work to lower the barriers of education’s complexities so that everyone can understand.
The Harvard EdCast is produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and hosted by Jill Anderson. The opinions expressed are those of the guest alone, and not the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 16 minutes
- Episodes
- 464
- Years Active
- 2013 - 2025
What Summer School Can and Can't Do
There's a lot of conversation in education about how to use this summer to make up for lost academic time in COVID. But depending on the student and the situation -- summer school may or may not be t…
Raising Addiction-Free Kids
Jessica Lahey wondered how to keep kids from developing addictions to drugs and alcohol. She thought about it in her job as an educator at an inpatient drug and alcohol rehab for adolescents. She als…
Lessons on Leading During COVID
DC Public School Chancellor Lewis Ferebee was making strides on student academic gains, growing enrollments and creating the positive environment that he wanted for the nearly 50,000 students in the …
Gender Matters: Challenges Facing Women in Education
The pandemic has exposed gender inequities that don't often get talked about in education. It doesn't matter whether women work in early childhood, or higher education, or somewhere in between, these…
Transitioning into Adulthood
How has the end of adolescence changed or has it at all? Harvard Professor Nancy Hill and Lecturer Alexis Redding set out to better understand changes in adolescent development across generations. Wh…
Disrupting Whiteness in the Classroom
Systemic racism has deeply permeated all aspects of our schools to the point it's gone viral. Racist curriculum and racist acts of teachers have trended on social media, even though it's long been a …
Student Testing, Accountability, and COVID
President Biden's recent insistence that standardized testing should happen this year has been met with reluctance in many states. Harvard Professor Andrew Ho explains the importance of moving forwar…
Propaganda Education for a Digital Age
Think that propaganda is an outdated thing of the past? Well, think again. Propaganda is everywhere -- in the news, entertainment, politics, education, social media and more. Renee Hobbs, a media lit…
The Intellectual Lives of Children
Developmental Psychologist Susan Engel discusses the importance of nurturing young children's ideas, and why we need to pay closer attention to what they think. Engel, a senior lecturer in psychology…
College Admissions During COVID
What will the future of college be like post-COVID? If one thing is sure, COVID has already significantly altered college admissions. Princeton Review Editor-in-Chief Robert Franek breaks down some o…
Fugitive Pedagogy in Black Education
Jarvis Givens tells the history of Black teachers and their covert actions in the classroom during the Jim Crow South. An assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Givens lates…
Schools, Reopening, and the Cycle of Mistrust
The latest research on COVID and schools emphasizes the importance of reopening but far too many schools remain closed. Harvard Professor Meira Levinson discusses how efforts to reopen often stall du…
Pivot Out Loud
Introducing the new podcast Pivot Out Loud -- stories of education and life in a year of disruption. In this episode, Harvard EdCast host Jill Anderson recounts what it's like staying and working fro…
Prioritizing Self-Care in Practice
Educator's have always benefitted from self-care, and in today's challenging times, it is especially important. Harvard Lecturer Jackie Zeller discusses the what it means to practice self-care and ho…
Tapping into Student Agency
Educational sociologist Anindya Kundu recognized that students need more than grit to succeed in school. He studies the role of student agency, and how focusing on student potential can lead to growt…
What it Means to Learn Science
How does the world solve complex problems like climate change? One answer may be to teach science in more complex and personal ways. Through the research project, Learning in Places, Professors Megan…
Finding Gratitude in Challenging Times
In this episode, Kristi Nelson, the executive director of a Network for Grateful Living, discusses why some people have an easier time finding gratitude than others, the role of education in being gr…
The Amateur Enterprise of College Teaching
Teaching Across a Political Divide