How does a molecular biologist-turned-middle school teacher end up shaping national education policy from inside the Obama White House? In this episode, Steve Robinson—a former university professor, public school teacher, and White House education advisor—walks us through his untraditional journey into education and his evolving belief that every teacher deserves ongoing support.

In this episode of The Best of Us, we’re proud to host researcher and educator Dr. Danica Brown to discuss the "hidden half" of educators—non-teaching staff like counselors, instructional coaches, and paraprofessionals. Dr. Brown shares insights from her research on college-going culture in New Orleans high schools, emphasizing the crucial role of collaboration among all school staff to support students' higher education pursuits.

In this episode of The Best of Us, we discuss transformational coaching as a key lever for momentum with all-star coach Elena Aguilar. Elena coaches us through exploring beliefs and strategies, connecting with the purpose of the work, and considering perspectives of those across your school district or organization.

In this episode of The Best of Us, building principals Christy Whatley and Paul Offill discuss school leadership strategy for professional learning and teacher support. They give us the nitty-gritty on implementing a CHAMPS program district-wide, plus tips for consistent follow-through and using data to demonstrate the program's effectiveness.

In this episode of The Best of Us, we’re joined by Dr. Dan Goldhaber, director of University of Washington’s Center for Education Data & Research and AIR’s Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. Dan takes us through the hard data on predicting teacher and school success, patterns of educator improvement, and the difference that pre-service and in-service experience can make for novice teachers.

In this episode of The Best of Us, Center for Black Educator Development (CBED) founder Sharif El-Mekki talks us through rebuilding the Black teacher pipeline by focusing on the teachers of tomorrow: today’s middle and high school students. Sharif takes us through investing entire leadership teams in diversity work, strategies for community partnerships in an embattled education ecosystem, and the importance of Black teacher voice. He also speaks to the critical importance of not just recruiting Black teachers, but retaining them — and why so many districts stumble after the “what comes next?”