Opportunity in Crisis: Investing in Educational Equity with Linda Darling-Hammond & DeRionne Pollard

Leading figures join Washington Post Live to examine the state of education and how to create a more equitable path forward on Thursday, July 15 (Video: The Washington Post)

The coronavirus pandemic upended education and generated concern about millions of students falling behind, especially those of color and in high-poverty communities. In our continuing “Opportunity in Crisis” series, Washington Post Live will bring together Linda Darling-Hammond and DeRionne Pollard, two leaders in education, to examine ways to create a more equitable path forward and equip students with the skills needed for a rapidly changing world.

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Highlights

Linda Darling-Hammond, the president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute, says schools have to put resources into intensive instruction, as well as social and emotional supports for students, to help them recover any learning loss caused by the coronavirus pandemic. She adds additional resources are also needed to undo the inequalities that are already present and affect marginalized communities. (Video: Washington Post Live)

Linda Darling-Hammond, the president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute, says most people misunderstand what critical race theory is, explaining that it’s not something that is typically taught in the classroom. “Critical race theory is a legal theory. It was something that was developed by legal scholars to look at laws and regulations…Many people misunderstand what that is, what the term means, but, in fact, it’s not something that people typically teach in school, except in the context of history and social studies classes, where you might look at law and policy as they have unfolded over many years.” (Video: Washington Post Live)

DeRionne Pollard, the president of Montgomery College, says that while there were some drawbacks to online learning, there were also benefits, including allowing students to access learning at non-traditional times. (Video: Washington Post Live)

DeRionne Pollard, the president of Montgomery College, says student debt is “crippling a generation..” “The reality about this is that it also impacts every other part of their life. Their ability to own homes, their ability to have certain jobs, their ability to navigate a future for themselves and also their own children.” (Video: Washington Post Live)

Linda Darling-Hammond

Provided by the Learning Policy Institute.

Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University and founding president of the Learning Policy Institute, created to provide high-quality research for policies that enable equitable and empowering education for each and every child. She is past president of the American Educational Research Association and author of more than 30 books and 600 other publications on educational quality and equity, including the award-winning book: The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity will Determine our Future. In 2006, she was named one of the nation’s ten most influential people affecting educational policy. She led the Obama education policy transition team in 2008 and the Biden education transition team in 2020. She was appointed President of the California State Board of Education in 2019.

DeRionne Pollard

Provided by Nevada State College.

Dr. DeRionne Pollard is the current president of Montgomery College and has held previous roles at the College of Lake County and served as president of Las Positas College. In April, Dr. Pollard was selected as president to lead Nevada State College (NSC), a four-year public comprehensive institution. NSC is one of the fastest-growing colleges in the country and is designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Institution (AANAPI). NSC also advances phenomenal teaching and superb student support to expand and diversify an educated workforce, thereby protecting social justice and economic mobility. Dr. Pollard will begin her tenure at NSC on Aug. 16, 2021.

Dr. Pollard is deeply connected to her community, having served on the American Association of Community Colleges’ 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, the Commission on Academic, Student, and Community Development, and the Board of Directors. Dr. Pollard is a member of the Ascend Postsecondary Leadership Circle for Parents and the Center for First-generation Student Success Advisory Board for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. Locally, she also serves on the boards of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, Universities at Shady Grove, and the Capital Area Food Bank.

Dr. Pollard was named one of Washington’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Washingtonian Magazine, won a 2017 Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and a Visionary Award from the Washington Area Women’s Foundation. She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s of arts in English from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies in higher education from Loyola University Chicago.

Content from Cisco

The following content is produced and paid for by a Washington Post Live event sponsor. The Washington Post newsroom is not involved in the production of this content.

In a segment presented by Cisco, Shari Slate, Chief Inclusion and Collaboration Officer and Vice President of Inclusive Future & Strategy will discuss how Cisco plans to leverage their recent $150 million partnership with Student Freedom Initiative to preserve the legacy of HBCUs in order to drive the message of inclusion, recurring impact and finding “next horizon” solutions to help solve systemic issues facing marginalized communities around the world. (Video: Washington Post Live)

Shari Slate

Shari Slate is Chief Inclusion and Collaboration Officer and Vice President, Inclusive Future and Strategy at Cisco. Her organization, which includes Inclusion & Collaboration Strategy, Inclusive Solutions, Community Impact, Inclusive Communities Experience, Inclusive Partnerships, People Strategy and Market Insights, is responsible for designing Cisco’s next horizon people strategy to deliver on the company’s commitment to power an inclusive future for all. Slate has been widely recognized for her visionary leadership and transformational views on the business value created at the intersection of diversity, inclusion, collaboration and technology. She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Systemic Inequalities and Social Cohesion, Partnering for Racial Justice Initiative and CDIO Virtual Community (Community of Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officers). She is also a member of the Business Roundtable: Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, World 50: Inclusion & Diversity Impact, and the California State University Foundation Board of Directors. Under her leadership, Cisco has achieved its highest diversity levels for five years running, and the company was ranked #2 on Fortune’s 100 Best Workplaces for Diversity list for 2019.

Jeanne Meserve

Jeanne Meserve is a homeland security expert and analyst, moderator, and award-winning journalist. She is currently a Security Expert for Canada’s CTV News and co-host of the SpyTalk podcast. While a correspondent and anchor at CNN and ABC Jeanne earned her profession’s highest honors, including two Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow Award. She also contributed to two CNN Peabody Awards. Jeanne is a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group and the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity, and serves on the board of the non-profit Space Foundation.

She moderates discussions on topics ranging from technology and security, to medicine and the environment. Her clients include AtlanticLIVE, Washington Post Live, the Munich Security Conference, the Halifax International Security Forum, and the global conferences of the International Women’s Forum.

At CNN Meserve created the homeland security beat, covering intelligence, law enforcement, cyber, aviation, border and port security. She anchored worldwide coverage of the Yitzhak Rabin assassination and the death of Princess Diana, and was the first to report on the devastating flooding in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She was a key member of the CNN political team during the 1996 and 2000 elections. While at ABC News she covered the State Department and reported from the Middle East, Asia and Europe.