transcript: tinyurl.com/elnepisode21

In this episode of Equity Leadership Now!, host Jabari Mahiri speaks with Dr. Nathaniel Stewart, Assistant Professor in the Education Policy and Leadership Program at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Stewart shares his academic training in educational policy and his research orientation toward critical educational policy analysis, anti-colonial epistemologies, Black critical theory, and critical quantitative methods. He differentiates between exclusionary, gate-kept mathematics and the intuitive mathematical reasoning people use in everyday life.

Stewart highlights his current commitments to redistributing university resources to marginalized communities, writing, and building partnerships with educational institutions. He encourages educators to “reclaim mathematics” by cultivating students’ agency in using quantitative reasoning to interpret and challenge systems of oppression. He also critiques the exclusionary histories of statistical and algorithmic models, emphasizing that many systems emerged to safeguard existing wealth and restrict access to resources like homeownership.

Stewart concludes by advocating a pluralistic approach to democratic movements that values diverse talents, including but not limited to mathematical proficiency. He questions the viability of participatory democracy in the United States but acknowledges that mathematical tools, such as social network analysis tracing the flow of political and philanthropic funding, can shed light on inequities and inform strategies for disruption.

Equity Leadership Now! hosts conversations with equity-conscious leaders from Pre-K through university settings on educational research, policy, and practice. We complement the mission and goals of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy, 21CSLA.

transcript: tinyurl.com/elnepisode20

In this episode of Equity Leadership Now!, host Dr. Jabari Mahiri speaks with Dr. Diana Hess, Emerita Dean of the School of Education at UW-Madison. Dr. Hess highlights the intersections of democratic education, academic freedom, and the role of structured dialogue in fostering equitable and participatory learning environments. The conversation transitions to Hess’s flagship initiative, The Discussion Project, launched in 2017 at UW-Madison. The Discussion Project is grounded in the principle, “Learn to Discuss, Discuss to Learn”, emphasizing that effective participation in discussions is a teachable skill, not an innate trait. Designed initially to enhance the quality and inclusivity of classroom discussions across disciplines, The Discussion Project offers professional development for higher education instructors and has since expanded to secondary schools.

Mahiri and Hess also address the challenges of sustaining high-quality discussions, including gender dynamics and participation imbalances. The conversation underscores the vital role of dialogue in democratic education, the ethical obligations of educators amid political censorship, and the transformative potential of structured discussion for promoting inclusion, critical thinking, and civic engagement across educational settings.

Equity Leadership Now! hosts conversations with equity-conscious leaders from Pre-K through university settings on educational research, policy, and practice. We complement the mission and goals of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy, 21CSLA.

transcript: https://tinyurl.com/elnepisode19

In this episode of Equity Leadership Now!, host Dr. Jabari Mahiri speaks with Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, founding President and current Chief Knowledge Officer of the Learning Policy Institute, about her new book, “District Leadership for Racial Equity: Lessons from School Systems that are Closing the Gap”, co-authored with Larkin Willis and Desiree Thomas. Dr. Darling-Hammond highlights that transforming educational systems requires both strategic leadership and systemic change. She emphasizes the need for integrated efforts beyond the school system to ensure that all children have access to high-quality education, regardless of their families’ income or zip code.

Darling-Hammond underscores that educational transformation cannot occur in isolation but requires comprehensive, society-wide investments. Drawing on her experience founding a high school in East Palo Alto, she illustrates how reimagining schooling through project-based learning, strong advisory systems, and culturally responsive practices can improve student outcomes, especially in underserved communities. She highlights the success of this model, and how “from the first year of graduates in 2004…90% graduated and 90% went to college” due to the creation of “an environment that’s safe and supportive and deeply enabling,” serving as a stark contrast to “factory model” schools.

She centers on the stories and voices of four districts, including Dr. Freddie Williamson in Hope County, North Carolina, who assumed leadership of a struggling, racially divided district. Employing the inclusive motto "all means all," Dr. Williamson avoided overtly racialized rhetoric while unifying the community; educators, political leaders, and local businesses around a shared vision of educational equity. His leadership involved both cultural and structural reforms, including personnel changes aligned with an equity-centered belief system and professional development to build the necessary competencies among staff. These challenges, deeply rooted in historical injustices, persist into the present moment, where contemporary political and social contexts have intensified national resistance to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Ultimately, Darling-Hammond reflects on what keeps her hopeful amidst these uncertain times: the commitment of educators, the resilience of student-centered movements, and the boundless potential of young people.

Equity Leadership Now! hosts conversations with equity-conscious leaders from Pre-K through university settings on educational research, policy, and practice. We complement the mission and goals of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy, 21CSLA.

transcript: https://tinyurl.com/5n6tzvd2

In this episode of Equity Leadership Now!, host Dr. Jabari Mahiri, co-host Dr. Jennifer Elemen, and guest Dr. Marina Aminy discuss the intersection of equity, innovation, and access in California's community college system. Dr. Aminy begins by sharing her personal and professional journey, rooted in her experience as an Afghan refugee and first-generation college student. Aminy describes her journey as a first-generation doctoral candidate, recognizing Mahiri's mentorship as transformative for her academic experience. She details how taking an undergraduate education course taught by Jabari shaped her professional trajectory early on. Aminy points out how, “No one in my family had ever gone to college, much less graduate school, before me and my brother. And I remember Jabari … was like, the only person that got me excited about education”.

Dr. Marina Aminy currently serves as the Executive Director of the California Virtual Campus and Associate Vice Chancellor of Foothill- De Anza Community College District. She leads an initiative designed to expand access and accelerate student success across California’s 116 community colleges, which serve over 2.1 million students. This initiative is the California Virtual Campus, an innovative campus exchange system that allows students to easily enroll in online courses across institutions without reapplying to multiple colleges. This system streamlines enrollment, registration, and financial aid processing, aiming to eliminate barriers to timely degree completion, especially for students in historically underserved and rural communities.

Dr. Aminy emphasizes the importance of options and that students should have agency when choosing which educational pathways work best for them. She highlights the impact of the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) and Open Educational Resources (OER) Initiatives in the California Community College system, making courses more accessible and affordable to students by lessening the burden of textbook costs. Ultimately, Aminy advocates for expanding flexible and hybrid educational modalities in K–12 settings, highlighting how these options can better serve diverse student populations and break away from the rigid models that traditionally favor dominant cultural norms.

Equity Leadership Now! hosts conversations with equity-conscious leaders from Pre-K through university settings on educational research, policy, and practice. We complement the mission and goals of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy, 21CSLA.

transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3h7hkwd4

In this special episode of Equity Leadership Now!, we are pleased to share Professor Robert B. Reich’s keynote address from the 2025 UC Berkeley School of Education graduation ceremony. Professor Reich is currently the Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He has served in three US administrations, including as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, a role for which "Time" magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the 20th century.

Professor Reich delivered a powerful speech to future educational leaders, teachers, and changemakers on the need for a universal, free public education system that promotes civic education, critical thinking, and social justice.

He discussed the critical role of education in sustaining democracy and addressing societal inequalities in these uncertain times. Reich also emphasized the importance of teaching students about the U.S. political system, the rule of law, and the principles of equality, both politically and economically.

Reich noted that education should not be viewed solely as a private investment leading to personal economic gain but as a public good essential for the functioning of democracy. He asserted that, “civic education should instill in young people a passion for truth, enabling them to think critically, be skeptical, but not cynical about what they hear and read, find reliable sources of information, apply basic logic and analysis, and know enough history and the physical world to differentiate between fact and fiction” and while education is often framed as an individual pathway to success, its broader societal value cannot be ignored.

The address concludes with a call for graduates to embrace the challenges of their time with passion and purpose, framing the current moment as an opportunity for defending democracy and ensuring that education remains a pillar of American society.

Equity Leadership Now! hosts conversations with equity-conscious leaders from Pre-K through university settings on educational research, policy, and practice. We complement the mission and goals of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy, 21CSLA.

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/4z5d77bu

In this episode of Equity Leadership Now!, host Dr. Jabari Mahiri speaks with Dr. Lora Bartlett, Associate Professor of Education at UC Santa Cruz, about the new book Going the Distance: The Teaching Profession in a Post-COVID World, co-authored with Allison Thompson, Judith Warren-Little, and Riley Collins. Dr. Bartlett highlights that the teaching profession was already in crisis before the pandemic and the arrival of COVID-19 acted as a form of "thermal shock," exposing the structural flaws already embedded in the educational system—similar to a cracked teapot shattered by hot water. She reframes the pandemic not as the crisis itself but as an event that revealed existing systemic vulnerabilities.

Dr. Bartlett shares more about the findings she and her colleagues present in the book from a longitudinal study of 75 teachers across nine U.S. states, tracked from Spring 2020 through late 2022, examining their professional experiences during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Their research revealed two dominant policy orientations among states: ‘Speed-and-Control States’ like Florida, Texas, and Iowa that sought centralized control over both pandemic responses and curricular content. On the other hand, the ‘Caution-and-Guidance States’ such as California, Oregon, New York, and Arizona, provided guidance rather than mandates, and many promoted equity-centered curriculum development rather than restricting content.

Bartlett shared that teacher satisfaction was less correlated with state policy and more with local working conditions. Teachers in all states reported positive experiences when supported by inclusive leadership, collaborative school cultures, and respect for teacher voice. Bartlett affirms the power of the local—asserting that even amidst national political instability or federal withdrawal of support, local leadership can shape teacher retention and satisfaction. In Florida, Texas, and Iowa, states characterized by high control and curriculum restrictions, 32% of sampled teachers left the profession. In California, Oregon, New York, Massachusetts, and Arizona—which emphasized caution and curricular autonomy, only 7% left.

A key theme throughout the conversation is “adaptive capacity,” which Bartlett defines as the ability of schools and educators to respond to unforeseen challenges in real-time. Drawing on examples from crisis theory and jazz improvisation, Dr. Bartlett explains that effective improvisation is essential in moments of uncertainty and it requires deep preparation, skill, and collaborative engagement. Adaptive capacity is not reactive passivity; rather, it is an empowered, informed responsiveness enabled by organizational structures that value professional autonomy and trust.

Ultimately, Bartlett argues for a paradigm shift that recognizes teachers as knowledgeable professionals capable of innovation and problem-solving. Creating conditions that support teacher improvisation, collaboration, and autonomy is not only necessary for navigating crises but also essential for sustaining the profession in a post-pandemic world.

Equity Leadership Now! hosts conversations with equity-conscious leaders from Pre-K through university settings on educational research, policy, and practice. We complement the mission and goals of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy, 21CSLA.

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/44v8sa76

In this special episode of Equity Leadership Now!, Dr. Jabari Mahiri and members of the 21CSLA professional learning group discuss the core concepts from Dr. George Theoharis's influential work, “The School Leaders Our Children Deserve: Seven Keys to Equity, Social Justice and School Reform”. Each guest from the 21CSLA professional learning group explores one of Theoharis's seven attributes of successful social justice leaders, relating these principles to Equity Leadership Now! episode 10, Leading with Compassion in Polarizing Times with Dr. Pedro Noguera. “Compassion is that move toward action, and so that's where I believe the power lies in reconceptualizing our consciousness,” said 21CSLA team member, Stefanie Baker. “Lots of us feel things, and we can relate to things, but it's that movement to action that pushes us toward supporting leaders to become the leaders children deserve.”

Overall, the discussion emphasizes the importance of compassionate, sustained leadership in education, a deep commitment to equity, and a clear focus on improving learning outcomes for all students.

Equity Leadership Now! hosts conversations with equity-conscious leaders from Pre-K through university settings on educational research, policy, and practice. We complement the mission and goals of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy, 21CSLA.

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/nbr8x6r4

​​In this episode of Equity Leadership Now! Podcast, host Dr. Jabari Mahiri speaks with Dr. Jose Eos Trinidad, Assistant Professor of Education Policy at UC Berkeley, about his scholarship on educational policy, civil society, and institutional change. Trinidad shares more about his background, research, and his new book, Subtle Webs: How Local Organizations Shape US Education.

His research focuses on the roles that organizations, both within and outside schools, play in shaping educational systems, particularly in decentralized contexts like the United States. Trinidad’s research is shaped by his upbringing in the centralized school system of the Philippines, his experience in education nonprofits, and his interdisciplinary PhD in Sociology and Human Development.

In Subtle Webs Trinidad draws from two decades of data from his research in school systems in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. Trinidad focuses on organizational theory to highlight how the structure of partnerships matters: cities like Chicago feature informal, organic collaborations, whereas Philadelphia’s approach is more formalized and systematic. Both have achieved improvements in graduation rates.

Subtle Webs explores how cross-sector partnerships can help school leaders navigate complex educational ecosystems. Trinidad emphasizes a shift from deficit-based narratives to strengths-based, anti-racist approaches that recognize the assets in marginalized communities. He explains that while these systems often rely on simple indicators like course failures and credit accumulation, their real power lies in how educators and external organizations collaborate to support students identified as at-risk.

Despite current political and ideological threats to education, Trinidad remains hopeful. He argues that local organizations, when interconnected and mutually supportive, can produce national impact, fostering systemic change through distributed, grassroots leadership.

Equity Leadership Now! hosts conversations with equity-conscious leaders from Pre-K through university settings on educational research, policy, and practice. We complement the mission and goals of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy, 21CSLA.