When the New York Times in a student opinion piece asked “How do you think American education could be improved?”, Skye Williams from Sarasota, Florida wrote, ”I think that the American education system can be improved by allowing students to choose the classes that they wish to take or classes that are beneficial for their future. Students aren’t really learning things that can help them in the future such as basic reading and math.” Skye’s comment captures the fact that schooling experiences of American children is far from homogenous and the multitudes of factors that shape their beliefs, behaviors, performance, and identities vary dramatically based on the context, systems, and learning environments. 

On this episode, Senior Research Associate and Director of the Equitable Learning and Development Group at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, Camille Farrington, Ph.D., discusses how school structures and teacher practices can and do empower young learners to make sense of their daily schooling experiences and help transform them into well-prepared young adults. 

About Camille A Farrington
Camille A. Farrington is a Senior Research Associate and Director of the Equitable Learning & Development Group at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Her work focuses on understanding learning environments as constructed, developmental spaces in the context of systemic racism and inequality. She seeks to understand how young people make sense of daily schooling experiences and how school structures and teacher practices shape students’ beliefs, behaviors, identities, performance, and development.  As a principal investigator for the Equitable Learning & Development Project/Next System Learning Collaborative and the Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network, she collaborates with educators, scholars, students, and families to reimagine and transform public education to support human learning, development, and well-being. Camille’s publications include Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework (2015); Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance (2012); and Failing at School: Lessons for Redesigning Urban High Schools (2014). Camille’s research draws on her 15-year experience as a public high school teacher. She holds a BA from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Website:
https://consortium.uchicago.edu/equitable_learning_and_development

Helpful Articles:

• Measure Learning Environments, NotJust Students, to Support Learning and Development
• Academic Mindsets as a Critical Component of Deeper Learning 

About Host, Sucheta Kamath
Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.

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