New America Podcasts

This week’s podcast features Amy Laitinen, deputy director of the Education Policy Program at New America and a former U.S. Department of Education policy advisor, discussing the latest move by the Department toward competency-based learning in higher education. Amy offers context for the movement from measuring seat-time – via the commonly use credit hour – to a focus on learning. Clare McCann, a program associate at New America, discusses the NCAA March Madness final four schools, ranking them on their success with students.

What can Iceland's Parliament and students at Dartmouth College teach Congress about policymaking? Quite a bit, according to a new paper written by the Open Technology Institute's Lorelei Kelly. In "How Do They Know?" Kelly spotlights institutions around the world that have mastered the art of gathering unbiased, expert knowledge to aid policymaking - a process she argues is tripping up Congress and paralyzing its ability to make decisions.

Etsy’s Martha Girdler breaks down misconceptions about coding and tells us why it’s a great field for women. Leila Hilal provides an update on Syria’s long road to revolution. Elizabeth Weingarten hosts.

A conversation with Lindsey Tepe, a program associate at New America and a former elementary-school teacher, about the Common Core State Standards, which lay out new common expectations for what students should learn each year they are in school. Lindsey offers highlights from recent surveys of how teachers feel about these new standards.