The Harvard EdCast

Episodet

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  Why Half of College Students Feel Alone and How to Fix It | Alexis Redding 08.04.2026 28min

  Alexis Redding explores why loneliness and uncertainty are a normal part of the college transition and how we can better support students.
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  Why Moving Ahead in Math Isn’t Always the Right Move | Jon Star 01.04.2026 25min

  Jon Star on strategies to move math teaching beyond speed, fostering deeper thinking and understanding for advanced students.
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  The Pressure to Chase Prestige in College Admissions | Jeff Selingo 25.03.2026 21min

  Journalist Jeff Selingo takes us inside the culture shaping families’ college admissions decisions and the push to refocus on fit, clarity, and better outcomes.
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  What Mississippi Got Right About Reading | Kymyona Burk 18.03.2026 26min

  Mississippi’s reading gains aren’t a miracle -- they’re the result of sustained reform. Literacy expert Kymyona Burk explains how policy, teacher investment, and clear implementation helped the state improve scores, and what other states can learn from its “Mississippi Marathon.”
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  What Students Really Need from Sex Education | Shafia Zaloom 11.03.2026 27min

  What do students really need from sex education today? Health educator Shafia Zaloom says schools must move beyond basic biology lessons to teach consent, relationships, identity, and communication. In this episode of the Harvard EdCast, Zaloom explains why comprehensive sexuality education should be part of the broader school experience and how educators and school leaders can navigate resistance while supporting student well-being. In this episode you'll learn: *Why consent education alone isn’t enough *What comprehensive sexuality education really means *Why schools shouldn’t silo sex education in health class *How educators can navigate political and parent pushback
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  How Questions Can Transform Student-Centered Learning 04.03.2026 18min

  Karen Brennan explains how starting with students’ own questions can transform classrooms into spaces of deeper, self-directed learning.
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  Why Teachers Stay: What Research Reveals About Retention 25.02.2026 28min

  Doug Larkin and Suzanne Poole Patzelt discuss their six-year, multi-state study on teacher retention, revealing that supportive relationships and strong school cultures matter more than pay in keeping teachers in the classroom.
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  How to Disagree Better: Strategies for Constructive Conversations 18.02.2026 31min

  Julia Minson of the Harvard Kennedy School shares practical strategies for turning disagreement into understanding, connection, and constructive dialogue.
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  Civics at 250: Teaching Democracy in an Unfinished Nation 11.02.2026 18min

  Eric Soto-Shed on using America’s 250th anniversary as a chance to rethink how we teach democracy in schools.
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  Understanding the Lives of Migrant Children in America 26.11.2025 21min

  Gabrielle Oliveira reveals how migrant families’ decisions, often misunderstood from the outside, are driven by deep care, and what schools must do to truly support the children.
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  Race, Power, and the Making of America's Schools 19.11.2025 21min

  Jarvis Givens uncovers how American schooling was shaped by race, land, and power and why that history still matters today.
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  Is Education Research Becoming Partisan? 12.11.2025 23min

  Harvard’s Jal Mehta explores whether education research can ever be truly neutral and how politics, values, and funding shape what we know about schools.
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  How High-Impact Tutoring Is Reshaping Post-Pandemic Learning Recovery 05.11.2025 32min

  Liz Cohen explains how high-impact tutoring has become one of the most promising strategies for helping students recover from pandemic learning loss.
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  Can Universities Teach Us to Talk Again? 29.10.2025 30min

  Political scientist Eitan Hersh explores how universities can help bridge divides by fostering viewpoint diversity and teaching students to engage across differences.
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  How Curiosity Can Unlock Learning for Every Child 22.10.2025 29min

  Harvard’s Elizabeth Bonawitz explores why curiosity is essential to learning and how schools can better protect it.
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  The Rural Promise: Pathways to Opportunity for Every Student 15.10.2025 28min

  Dreama Gentry on how rural communities are redefining what opportunity looks like and why the future of education depends on keeping rural America in the picture.
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  Teaching Students to Think Critically About AI 08.10.2025 28min

  Stephanie Smith Budhai and Marie Heath explore how AI reflects human bias, urging teachers and school leaders to use it critically, intentionally, and equitably in classrooms.
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  School Vouchers Explained: What the New Federal Program Means 01.10.2025 27min

  Harvard’s Marty West explains how a nationwide school voucher program could shake up public education.
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  Banning Cell Phones: Quick Fix or False Hope? 24.09.2025 30min

  University of Birmingham’s Vicky Goodyear and Harvard’s Carrie James discuss research on school phone bans and the challenges and limits of keeping phones out of the classroom.
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  What It Really Means to Be a Strategic Leader 11.06.2025 26min

  Harvard’s Liz City shares what it really takes to lead strategically in schools — and how any leader can build the skills to do it well.