Resource Center

Classnotes Podcast

podcasts-icon-lgAward-winning podcast for people who care about excellent and equitable education for all children.

Sign up to receive free email notices when new episodes are available. All we need is your e-mail address, and we won’t use it for anything else!

Classnotes is IDRA’s free award-winning podcast series for educators and public school advocates that explores issues facing U.S. education today and strategies to better serve every student.

If you like our show, please leave a short review for us on iTunes!

See Classnotes Podcast awards and recognitions

See a list of all of IDRA’s Classnotes Podcast episodes


iTunes podcast logo

Spotify logo Google podcast logoAmazon Music logo

Texas Higher Ed Commissioner on College Access – Podcast Episode 161

Mar 29, 2016

Classnotes Podcast (March 29, 2016) IDRA recently brought together researchers, K-12 educators, policymakers, family and community leaders, higher education faculty, and students … read more

Read More

3 ELL Scaffolding Strategies – Podcast Episode 160

Feb 16, 2016

Classnotes Podcast (February 16, 2016) Each content area in middle school and high school has its own vocabulary and language. … read more

Read More

How the Fisher Case Relates to Equity in Public Schooling – Podcast Episode 159

Dec 17, 2015

Classnotes Podcast  (December 17, 2015) The U.S. Supreme Court has twice heard arguments in the Fisher v. University of Texas … read more

Read More

Civil Rights in Student Discipline – Podcast Episode 158

Nov 30, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (November 30, 2015) Stories of school discipline going too far circulate social media and the news cycle pretty … read more

Read More

Building Numeracy Skills in Early Childhood – Podcast Episode 157

Nov 09, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (November 9, 2015) Numeracy is the ABCs of math. It is a critical foundation for using math in … read more

Read More

Community Expects College Prep for All – Podcast Episode 156

Sep 14, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (September 14, 2015) Community groups, parents and students came together recently with 16 school superintendents from across the Rio … read more

Read More

Key Issues in the Texas School Funding Trial – Podcast Episode 155

Aug 31, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (August 31, 2015) Texas in the midst of the largest school finance lawsuit in the state’s history. Over … read more

Read More

Education Civil Rights Challenges – Podcast Episode 154

Aug 18, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (August 18, 2015) The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education declaring segregated schools unconstitutional … read more

Read More

STEAM Education for Every Child Part 2 – Podcast Episode 153

Jul 16, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (July 16, 2015) Bringing more females, minorities and low-income students into STEM fields requires building an environment of … read more

Read More

STEAM Education for Every Child Part 1 – Podcast Episode 152

Jun 30, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (June 30, 2015) Despite efforts across the nation over the last decade to increase STEM education for girls … read more

Read More

A School District Vision for Biliteracy – Podcast Episode 151

Apr 21, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (April 21, 2015) While many bilingual education programs across the country are designed to build students’ fluency in English, … read more

Read More

Civil Rights Update for English Learners – Podcast Episode 150

Mar 31, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (March 31, 2015) The U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice recently published new guidance regarding education … read more

Read More

A School District Vision for ELL Education – Podcast Episode 149

Mar 06, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (March 6, 2015) In an environment where the pressure on educators is to push English and show results on … read more

Read More

PTA Comunitarios Focus on Strengthening their Schools – Podcast Episode 148

Feb 10, 2015

Classnotes Podcast (February 10, 2015) A revolutionary model of parent engagement is demonstrating how families and communities can collaborate with their … read more

Read More

Education Civil Rights for Today and Beyond – Podcast Episode 147

Oct 30, 2014

Classnotes Podcast (October 30, 2014) Federal law and court rulings have taken steps to protect the civil rights of students in … read more

Read More

Building Parent Voice for Action – Podcast Episode 146

Oct 14, 2014

Classnotes Podcast (October 14, 2014) Families need to know how schools are doing, and they can use available data to … read more

Read More

Tutor’s Success Surprises Elementary Teacher – Podcast Episode 145

Sep 29, 2014

Classnotes Podcast (September 29, 2014) Karen Leahy knew that having a Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program tutor work with students in … read more

Read More

PTA Comunitarios are Born in their Communities – Podcast Episode 144

Aug 25, 2014

Classnotes Podcast (August 25, 2014) The national PTA president, Otha Thornton, recently visited several PTA Comunitarios in the Texas Rio Grande … read more

Read More

A Valuing Professional Development Model – Podcast Episode 143

Jul 28, 2014

Classnotes Podcast (July 28, 2014) Teaching is a learning process. Teachers are constantly learning about their students and how they … read more

Read More

An Elementary Teacher on Having Tutors in Her Classroom – Podcast Episode 142

Jun 30, 2014

Classnotes Podcast (June 30, 2014) Skepticism is often the first reaction elementary teachers to the idea of having students from the … read more

Read More