Greater Boston: Project Dropout Series

Lectures curated around WGBH and WBUR's Project Dropout, which focuses a journalistic lens on the dropout crisis in Massachusetts.

Follow student video diaries and add your own comment or story on our website. According to a recent study by the Education Trust, the United States is now the only industrialized country where youths are less likely than their parents to earn a high school diploma. What’s being referred to nationally as the “silent epidemic” has ramifications for individuals and communities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts few of us can imagine.

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Second Chances and Last Chances
Second Chances and Last Chances
Jae S. Brown
September 23, 2010
00:45:31
The CDC's Jae Brown talks to a class of Atlanta Grady High School students about getting on a path to a career that's in line with your personality type.
Chris Webber: Achieving Your Career Dreams
Chris Webber: Achieving Your Career Dreams
Chris Webber
September 16, 2010
00:45:16
Basketball Legend Chris Webber talks with freshman students at Atlanta's Grady High School on how to go through a process of achieving career goals. He tells kids that the thing that's your hobby today, might be your talent.
Anya Kamenetz: DIY U: The Coming Transformation of Higher Education
Anya Kamenetz: DIY U: The Coming Transformation of Higher Education
Anya Kamenetz
May 17, 2010
00:42:31
Anya Kamenetz discusses her new book, DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. The price of college tuition has increased more than any other major good or service for the last twenty years.
Reforming Boston Schools: Race, History, and the Future
Joseph Cronin
April 15, 2010
01:30:00
Joseph Cronin, former Massachusetts Secretary of Education; George Greenidge, Executive Director of National Black College Alliance; Claudio Martinez, Executive Director of Hyde Square Task Force; and Jean McGuire, Executive Director of METCO, join moderator Tessil Collins, senior coordinator of the
Patrick McCloskey: The Street Stops Here
Patrick McCloskey
October 29, 2009
00:49:00
Author Patrick McCloskey talks with Ben Birnbaum, editor of Boston College Magazine, about his book The Street Stops Here (University of California Press, 2009), a critically acclaimed account of a year at a Catholic high school in Harlem.
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Longer Days in Better Schools
Christopher Gabrieli
December 11, 2008
01:22:11
In this forum, leaders in the Expanded Learning movement describe their work and discuss the progress they are making.
Early Childhood Assesment: Should We Test Preschoolers?
Rosemary Chalk
December 2, 2008
01:31:30
Education experts discuss the increased use of formal testing for preschool aged-children.
The Future of Teaching in Massachusetts Part 1
Paul Reville
November 12, 2008
00:28:34
Panelists address teaching quality and effectiveness, teacher preparation, collaborative learning environments, project-based learning, and the necessary policies to support innovative teaching and learning.
The Future of Teaching in Massachusetts Part 2
Pat Haddad
November 12, 2008
01:04:42
Panelists address teaching quality and effectiveness, teacher preparation, collaborative learning environments, project-based learning, and the necessary policies to support innovative teaching and learning.
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Wendy Kopp: Realizing Educational Opportunity for All
Wendy Kopp
November 3, 2008
01:27:04
This forum features Wendy Kopp, CEO and founder of Teach For America, as she lectures on the importance of education.
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Dorothy Strickland on the Literacy Achievement Gap
Dorothy Strickland
October 23, 2008
01:01:49
Dorothy Strickland, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Professor of Education at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, presents the fourth annual Jeanne S. Chall Lecture, The Literacy Achievement Gap: Research Evidence for Policy and Practice.
Whole Child, Whole Day: Keynote Speech
Terry Real
September 19, 2008
00:45:40
Terry Real, prominent family therapist, trauma specialist and author of best-selling books about the association between relationships and health, delivers the keynote speech at the PEAR conference.
Whole Child, Whole Day: Leadership Panel
Thomas M. Menino
September 19, 2008
01:28:06
A leadership panel, comprised of Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson, Director of the Children's Behavioral Health Initiative at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services Emily Sherwood, Acting Commissioner of Early Education and Care Amy Kershaw, and others, discusses how to
Rural Education: Regional Challenges, Promising Solutions
Mil Duncan
April 21, 2008
01:06:40
Educators consider the way rural communities are shaped by historical and economic changes and discuss the impact of these changes on education over the last few decades. Some guiding questions include: What cultural assets exist in rural communities and schools that we need to preserve?
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Adolescent Literacy: Research, Policy, and Practice
Ardice Hartry
April 9, 2008
01:37:18
Experts discuss the adolescent literacy crisis and new research about effective literacy instruction for students beyond the primary grades.
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Sandbox Investment: Kids-First Politics
David L. Kirp
November 29, 2007
01:28:35
David Kirp reveals the findings of a longitudinal study that shows the life-changing impact of preschool. Kirp talked with cutting edge researchers from neuroscience and genetics to economics, whose findings increasingly show how powerfully early childhood shapes the arc of children's lives.
Teaching Standard English in Urban Classrooms
Rebecca Wheeler
November 20, 2007
01:16:49
Rebecca Wheeler details how teachers can build on students' existing knowledge of everyday English, as a springboard to new knowledge: professional English. Typically, when students write "My goldfish name is Scaley" or "Mama walk to the store," teachers correct student grammar.
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Keeping Kids in the Achievement Game
John Merrow
November 1, 2007
01:26:48
John Merrow, renowned education reporter and president of Learning Matters, Inc., argues that the catch phrase "achievement gap" draws attention away from salient learning issues that merit serious consideration.
Beyond Decoding: Word Knowledge and Reading Skill
Charles Perfetti
October 25, 2007
01:19:26
Charles Perfetti's research interest is in the cognitive science of language and reading processes.
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Transforming Teacher Education: Reflections from the Field
Joseph Featherstone
October 18, 2007
01:31:25
The creators of Team One discuss their new book, Transforming Teacher Education, and describe their ongoing efforts to nurture and sustain a teacher education program that could serve as a learning community for students, faculty, and administrators alike.
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Beyond the Bake Sale: Family-School Partnerships
Anne Henderson
April 25, 2007
01:29:23
Anne Henderson and Karen Mapp discuss how to form the essential, family-school partnerships and how to make them work.
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Military Models for Adolescent Education
Hugh Price
April 17, 2007
01:00:07
Hugh Price argues that the military has insights of great importance for helping low achieving and disengaged adolescents to succeed academically and in life more generally. Ronald Ferguson, Kennedy School of Government lecturer in public policy, moderates.
Back to School: Path to Universal Primary Education
David Bloom
March 13, 2007
01:27:29
Wide Angle producer Pamela Hogan screens her film Back to School, and a panel discusses universal primary education. Across the world, more than 100 million children are out of school this year.
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Does Parenting Contribute to Achievement Gaps?
Ronald Ferguson
November 21, 2006
00:56:10
Ronald Ferguson and Jelani Mandara address evidence concerning ways that parenting practices may contribute to black-white achievement gaps. The achievement gaps among children of college educated parents receives special emphasis.
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Roland Barth: Lessons Learned, Lessons to be Learned
Roland Barth
November 2, 2006
01:48:42
Roland Barth speaks at an interactive forum focused on the conditions that support learning in children and adults. Kathleen McCartney, Dean and Gerald S.
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How Public Schools Meet the Nation's Changing Needs
Patricia Albjerg Graham
May 10, 2006
01:20:22
Patricia Albjerg Graham, Charles Warren Research Professor of the History of American Education, discusses her her recent book, Schooling America.
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Why High School Graduates Become College Dropouts
Melissa Roderick
April 25, 2006
01:40:14
Melissa Roderick discusses the last several decades she has spent conducting research and talking to students in Chicago's public high schools.
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School District Reform: Leadership in Uncertain Times
Robert Peterkin
April 24, 2006
01:30:21
This panel, moderated by Robert Peterkin, Francis Keppel Professor of Educational Policy and Administration and director of the Urban Superintendents Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, gives Tom Payzant and Arlene Ackerman, two outstanding Superintendents, an opportunity to share t
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PAR: Research in Youth Development
Julio Cammarota
April 17, 2006
00:38:27
This forum focuses on the method and theory of engaging in participatory action research (PAR) approaches in educational settings and on the strategies, values, questions, and processes of PAR in education and youth development.
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The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq
George Packer
December 8, 2005
01:25:32
George Packer reads from his new book, The Assassin's Gate, and discusses what the war in Iraq says about American life today. George Packer is the author of Blood of the Liberals, winner of the 2001 Robert F.
Beyond Black and White: Race in the Boston Public Schools
Charles J. Ogletree Jr.
March 23, 2005
00:56:47
Basic Black hosts an hour-long forum with panelists and an audience in the WGBH studio. The discussion explores how the Boston public school system can maintain a commitment to diversity and provide a quality education.
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Closing the Achievement Gap
Ronald Ferguson
December 13, 2004
01:37:44
Richard Rothstein, former education columnist for the New York Times discusses factors contributing to the race achievement gap.
Many Children Left Behind
Theodore R. Sizer
October 27, 2004
01:26:04
Prominent educators discuss their new book Many Children Left Behind and how the No Child Left Behind Act is damaging children and schools.
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Fires in the Bathroom: Advice for Teachers from Students
Kathleen Cushman
October 19, 2004
01:25:40
Kathleen Cushman, shares surprising advice from teens she interviewed for her most recent book about how to engage, motivate, and challenge high school students.
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Restructuring Urban High Schools: Report Card
Adria Steinberg
May 12, 2004
00:56:19
Adria Steinberg, Program Director of Jobs for the Future, gives a keynote address focused on national high school reform efforts, initiating a discussion about education reform in Massachusetts.
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Getting to Graduation: Supporting Students to Mastery
Andy Calkins
April 15, 2004
01:40:55
In March 2003, the Rennie Center sponsored a public event to discuss the Commonwealth's strategy for supporting students in the Class of 2003 who would not graduate because they failed MCAS.
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No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning
Abigail Thernstrom
April 7, 2004
01:30:12
Abigail Thernstrom, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and Harvard historian Stephan Thernstrom, discuss their new book about the racial gap in academics.
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MCAS: What Does It Mean for Immigrant Youth?
John Lozada
January 9, 2004
01:26:20
A panel discusses the cultural differences that pervade views on the validity of MCAS. Some students wonder why the test is so hard and why there is so little support for ESL students to pass it. Others think the testing resembles that used in their country of origin.
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Higher-Performing Urban High Schools
Paul Reville
November 20, 2003
01:30:11
Historically, urban high schools have proven to be the most challenging educational institution to effect lasting effective reform.
Mapping School Choice in Massachusetts
Paul Grogan
May 21, 2003
01:56:52
Hear a panel of experts discuss the recent release of a report that maps school choice statewide, examines school choice in Metropolitan Boston, and reviews national data on the subject.
Reinventing Public Education
Jay Kaufman
April 23, 2003
00:53:45
Jay Kaufman explores the changes that need to be made in our thinking about the mission, governance, structure, and funding of a transformed public school system, and raises questions about how to effect such meaningful change.
Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools
Jonathan Zimmerman
November 5, 2002
01:31:07
Jonathan Zimmerman, director of the History of Education Program at the Steinhardt School of Education, New York University, speaks about his book Whose America?
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In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning
Deborah Meier
October 28, 2002
01:27:20
Deborah Meier discusses her new book, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization, which explores how we can restore faith in our schools in an age of standardized testing and curricula.
Educating Black and Hispanic Youth
Callie Crossley
October 22, 2002
01:26:00
YWCA Boston and a panel of education administrators, teachers, and youth critically examine how Black and Hispanic students are faring in Boston's public schools, and asks what we can do as a community to strengthen our education system.
Putting Massachusetts Students and Schools to the Test
James Peyser
April 10, 2002
01:33:27
James Peyser, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and Ted Sizer, founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, discuss the controversial Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test.
Passionate Teacher, Passionate Learner
Robert Fried
February 7, 2002
00:59:18
Robert Fried suggests that every teacher could be a passionate teacher, one who engages young people in the excitement of learning and ideas, if teaching were not being undermined by the ways we "do business" in schools.
Chuck Carney
00:56:54