Episode 24: As a Matter of Track

In this episode, Jenna speaks with Kevin Welner, about the system of tracking, or ability based groupings, and the large racial disparities in Gifted and Talented, and Honors classes. Kevin Welner is a white, male professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder, and directs the National Education Policy Center. He specializes in educational policy and law, and is the author of several books, including co-editor with Prudence Carter of “Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance.

Om Podcasten

Over 80% of teachers in the U.S. are white. But most don’t know that their whiteness matters. TWW seeks to move the conversation forward on how to be consciously, intentionally, anti-racist in the classroom. Because "white" does not mean a blank slate. It is a set of assumptions that is the baseline from which everything is judged; it is what passes for normal. This means if you are not white or don’t adhere to those assumptions, you are abnormal or less than. TWW wants to have conversations about those assumptions: what they are, how they impact our students, and how we can confront our assumptions to promote racial literacy.