In this episode Ed and Dan feature Judy Querry, a recently retired elementary school teacher from Colorado. Judy shares how experiential, hands-on education experiences gave her insights into learning that helped her reach children and become super-effective. 40 years ago, Judy worked with Ed and Jo Berger in a program that accelerated learning through motivation and involvement. At Crow Canyon, in the Mesa Verde region of Southwest Colorado, Judy participated in community service programs and archaeological research that helped her understand the need for the immediate and practical application of taught data. Judy’s experiences are especially valuable for parents and teachers who wish to be more effective, not less effective, in these times of false education “Reforms.”  Judy relates how she was able to student teach with a Colorado Teacher Of The Year in a one-room school house located in remote McElmo Canyon in SW Colorado.

Dan and Ed share their personal experiences as educators searching for ways to improve our public schools. They share examples, such as creating a variety of experiential programs both within the public school system and outside of it, like the immersive programs Ed developed which later became Crow Canyon. They touch on many of the key insights common among teachers and educators about what needs to be done to improve our schools and how we can remove antiquated structures that limit teaching and learning.  Ed shares experiences as a teacher that still have the potential to open the coercive model that limits student growth. Both explain why they went on quests to find other ways and insights into education that support natural learning and that challenge students to make a contribution.

In this episode, Dan and Ed discuss the re-segregation of America’s schools through the use of the school choice movement. Charter schools and vouchers-type programs are being used to separate white middle class students who achieve from students of color and, what is perceived to be lower achievement. Dan and Ed discuss the “cherry picking” (siphoning off students who achieve and make the school look good) and leaving public schools to deal with students who need special help. By starving the public schools and cutting support for their programs, children are damaged