Classnotes Podcast (October 22, 2025). In the final episode of the series, IDRA Education Policy Fellows share what gives them hope and what comes next. After nine months of intense legislative advocacy, relationship building, and personal growth, they offer advice to others entering this work and reflect on how the fellowship changed their trajectories. Their stories are a powerful reminder that advocacy isn’t a moment, it’s a movement.

Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Georgia Advocacy Director & Education Policy Fellows Coordinator, led the conversation with fellows: Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Regional, DeAndrea Byrd, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Georgia, Isabelle Philip, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Policy Communications, and Kaci Wright, M.Ed., IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Texas.

The IDRA groundbreaking Education Policy Fellows Program is changing the landscape of state education advocacy by training advocates with a commitment to and experience with communities of color to influence state laws and lead a powerful network of impacted communities. The 2024-25 cycle of this program is being generously supported by the Trellis Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

Show length: 21:16 min

Send comments to [email protected]

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• 

  The Work Ahead and the Hope That Fuels It – IDRA Classnotes Podcast Episode 252

Resources

IDRA 2024-25 Fellows – Bios and writings. Plus profiles brochure

IDRA Education Policy Fellows Program

Policy Whiplash in Georgia – The 2025 Session Delivered Education Gains, Losses and Looming Threats, with Terrence Wilson, J.D., Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Isabelle Philip & Makiah Lyons, J.D., IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Legislature Dances the Texas Three-Step: Defund, Demonize, Privatize Public Education, with Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Student Voices on Public Policy, video feature by Trellis Foundation, May 2025

IDRA Education Policy Fellow Feature, video feature by Trellis Foundation, August 2025

Post-fellowship evaluation report of the program’s first cycle

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, Spotify or Amazon Music.

The post The Work Ahead and the Hope That Fuels It – IDRA Classnotes Podcast Episode 252 appeared first on IDRA.

Award-winning podcast exploring strategies to better serve every student in our diverse classrooms.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

Classnotes is IDRA’s free award-winning podcast series for teachers and administrators that explores issues facing U.S. education today and strategies to better serve every student. Listen from your computer or from an MP3 player, like your phone or iPod. Subscribe for free through iTunes. And if you like our show, please leave a short review for us in iTunes!

Classnotes Podcast Awards and Recognitions

Direct links:

The post Classnotes Podcast Episode List appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (September 23, 2025). What does it take to turn passion into impact? In this episode, IDRA Education Policy Fellows reflect on what led them to apply for the fellowship, how they built new skills in education policy and what they learned along the way. From analyzing legislation to testifying in hearings, fellows explain how the program gave them tools to navigate power, center community voices and bring their lived experience to bear on real policy outcomes.

Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Georgia Advocacy Director & Education Policy Fellows Coordinator, led the conversation with fellows: Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Regional, DeAndrea Byrd, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Georgia, Isabelle Philip, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Policy Communications, and Kaci Wright, M.Ed., IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Texas.

The IDRA groundbreaking Education Policy Fellows Program is changing the landscape of state education advocacy by training advocates with a commitment to and experience with communities of color to influence state laws and lead a powerful network of impacted communities. The 2024-25 cycle of this program is being generously supported by the Trellis Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

Show length: 22:48 min

Send comments to [email protected]

Watch Podcast Video

• 

  From Lived Experience to Policy Change – IDRA Classnotes Podcast Episode 251

Resources

IDRA 2024-25 Fellows – Bios and writings. Plus profiles brochure

IDRA Education Policy Fellows Program

Policy Whiplash in Georgia – The 2025 Session Delivered Education Gains, Losses and Looming Threats, with Terrence Wilson, J.D., Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Isabelle Philip & Makiah Lyons, J.D., IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Legislature Dances the Texas Three-Step: Defund, Demonize, Privatize Public Education, with Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Student Voices on Public Policy, video feature by Trellis Foundation, May 2025

IDRA Education Policy Fellow Feature, video feature by Trellis Foundation, August 2025

Post-fellowship evaluation report of the program’s first cycle

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, Spotify or Amazon Music.

The post From Lived Experience to Policy Change – Classnotes Podcast 251 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (August 22, 2025). In this episode, IDRA Education Policy Fellows share their personal experiences as advocates of color in southern legislatures. They reflect on how their cultural identities shaped their work and how they found strength and clarity in the face of systemic exclusion, microaggressions, and performative policymaking.

With courage and community, these fellows turned marginalization into motivation and transformed policy spaces with authenticity and purpose.

Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Georgia Advocacy Director & Education Policy Fellows Coordinator, led the conversation with fellows: Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Regional, DeAndrea Byrd, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Georgia, Isabelle Philip, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Policy Communications, and Kaci Wright, M.Ed., IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Texas.

The IDRA groundbreaking Education Policy Fellows Program is changing the landscape of state education advocacy by training advocates with a commitment to and experience with communities of color to influence state laws and lead a powerful network of impacted communities. The 2024-25 cycle of this program is being generously supported by the Trellis Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

Show length: 24:32 min.

Send comments to [email protected]

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• 

  Still We Show Up and Speak Out – IDRA Classnotes Podcast Episode 250

Resources

IDRA 2024-25 Fellows – Bios and writings. Plus profiles brochure

IDRA Education Policy Fellows Program

Policy Whiplash in Georgia – The 2025 Session Delivered Education Gains, Losses and Looming Threats, with Terrence Wilson, J.D., Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Isabelle Philip & Makiah Lyons, J.D., IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Legislature Dances the Texas Three-Step: Defund, Demonize, Privatize Public Education, with Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Student Voices on Public Policy, video feature by Trellis Foundation, May 2025

IDRA Education Policy Fellow Feature, video feature by Trellis Foundation, August 2025

Post-fellowship evaluation report of the program’s first cycle

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, Spotify or Amazon Music.

The post Still We Show Up and Speak Out – Classnotes Podcast 250 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (August 4, 2025). In the first episode of this four-part series, IDRA Education Policy Fellows reflect on their hands-on advocacy during the 2025 legislative sessions in Texas and Georgia. They discuss what it was like to analyze bills, provide testimony and support coalitions – all while navigating systems of policymaking that often exclude impacted voices. Fellows explore what worked, what didn’t and what it means to be on the ground in spaces not built for them.

Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Georgia Advocacy Director & Education Policy Fellows Coordinator, led the conversation with fellows: Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Regional, DeAndrea Byrd, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Georgia, Isabelle Philip, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Policy Communications, and Kaci Wright, M.Ed., IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Texas.

The IDRA groundbreaking Education Policy Fellows Program is changing the landscape of state education advocacy by training advocates with a commitment to and experience with communities of color to influence state laws and lead a powerful network of impacted communities. The 2024-25 cycle of this program is being generously supported by the Trellis Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

Show length: 28:53 min.

Send comments to [email protected]

Watch Podcast Video

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• 

  Where Power Lives and Who It Leaves Out – Classnotes Podcast 249

Resources

IDRA 2024-25 Fellows – Bios and writings. Plus profiles brochure

IDRA Education Policy Fellows Program

Policy Whiplash in Georgia – The 2025 Session Delivered Education Gains, Losses and Looming Threats, with Terrence Wilson, J.D., Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Isabelle Philip & Makiah Lyons, J.D., IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Legislature Dances the Texas Three-Step: Defund, Demonize, Privatize Public Education, with Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Student Voices on Public Policy, video feature by Trellis Foundation, May 2025

IDRA Education Policy Fellow Feature, video feature by Trellis Foundation, August 2025

Post-fellowship evaluation report of the program’s first cycle

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, Spotify or Amazon Music.

The post Where Power Lives and Who It Leaves Out – Classnotes Podcast 249 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (February 21, 2025) As activities to divert public money to private schools grow across the country and at the national level, the Texas leadership is pushing hard to establish its own voucher program. This is despite public outcry for strengthened and fully funded public education. And it is taking place in the midst of much misinformation about the proposed program.

IDRA has been at the forefront of school funding equity work since its founding over five decades ago. Three people from IDRA who testified during a Senate hearing in February 2025 came together for this podcast episode to discuss the truth about the voucher program, how it would divert tons of money from the state’s grossly underfunded public schools and how it would harm Texas students.

As a bonus, they share an excerpt from Liz’s daughter’s testimony as she tells how private schools refused to admit her because of her disability.

Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., is IDRA’s deputy director of policy. Kaci Wright is an IDRA Education Policy Fellow. Lizdelia Piñón, Ed.D., is an IDRA education associate.

Show length: 22:19 min.

Send comments to [email protected]

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• 

  The Truth About Private School Vouchers – IDRA Classnotes Podcast 248

Resources

Video: Private Schools Didn’t Choose Me – Powerful Testimony from Felicita

IDRA’s Stop Vouchers webpage.

Data Map: The Big Cost of Proposed Voucher Legislation – IDRA Map and Dashboard by Texas state senate districts, state house districts, traditional public school districts, and charter school districts

Infographic: 5 Reasons Private School Vouchers Would Hurt Students

Subscribe to IDRA’s Texas Education Policy Alert

Get advocacy resources at IDRA’s SEEN website

Testimony

• Education Savings Accounts are Inefficient and Ineffective for General Diffusion of Knowledge, Student Achievement and School Investments– IDRA Testimony against SB 2, Submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Senate Committee on Education K-16, January 28, 2025
• Don’t Prioritize Politics and Profits Over the Families Policymakers Should Be Representing– Testimony Against Senate Bill 2, Presented by Lizdelia Piñón, IDRA Education Associate, to the Texas Senate Committee on Education (PK-16), January 28, 2025 (Plus testimony by Sixth Grader, Felicita Piñón)
• Education Saving Accounts Harm Texas Students’ Access to an Equitable Education– TLEEC Testimony Against Senate Bill 2, submitted by Kaci Wright to the Texas Senate Committee on K-16 Education, January 28, 2025

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, Spotify or Amazon Music.

The post The Truth About Private School Vouchers – Classnotes Podcast 248 appeared first on IDRA.

We are proud to share that the IDRA Classnotes Podcast has received the following awards. Please help us spread the news by telling your friends and colleagues about the Classnotes Podcast.

Award of Distinction in the 2010 Communicator Awards, the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence. The program is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms. IAVA members include executives from organizations such as Alloy, Brandweek, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, Fry Hammond Barr, HBO, Monster.com, MTV, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Victoria’s Secret, Wired, and Yahoo! Awarded on June of 2010.

Commendation of Merit in media creation from the Society for New Communications Research. SNCR is a global non-profit foundation dedicated to the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society. The society creates a bridge between the academic community and practitioners using these news tools and technologies. Awarded on November 14, 2008.

Best of Texas Silver Award (first place) statewide competition by the Texas Public Relations Association. Awarded on March 1, 2008.

Lean Communicator Award from Ragan Communications. This international competition explores how innovative communicators make more out of less. Judges were most impressed by how many people we have been reaching in an effective manner at such a minimal cost. The Classnotes Podcast was thus the subject of the feature story in the September issue of The Lean Communicator. Awarded in September 2007.

El Bronce Award (first place) from the Public Relations Society of America, San Antonio Chapter. Awarded on May 3, 2007.

The post Classnotes Podcast Awards and Recognitions appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (November 25, 2024). María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., and her son Xavier Montecel, Ph.D., have embarked on an oral history project in the form of their own podcast, Cuentos de mi familia. In Episode 108, they focus on Cuca’s professional life with IDRA, which spanned 48 of IDRA’s now 51 years. For 26 of those years, she served as IDRA’s President & CEO. She is now President Emerita.

We are honored to share this specific episode with our Classnotes Podcast listeners. In this conversation, Cuca reflects on her professional life and the course of her career. She remembers what it was like to transition from her childhood in Laredo to young adulthood as a college student in San Antonio. She and Xavier talk about the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) and its vision to, as she says, create a world where all children have opportunities in life that come from a great education. She shares stories of what that work looked like and accomplished for students, families, teachers, and community advocates – all who care deeply about equity and excellence in public education.

Xavier is director of the graduate program and assistant professor of catholic theological and social ethics at St. Mary’s University.

Show length: 1:08:32 min.

Send comments to [email protected]

Resources

Cuentos de mi Familia, podcast series

Corazón, A Poem for María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, by Laurie Posner, MPA

Tribute video to Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, 2019

Reflections on IDRA Work Across 50 Years – A Story of Innovation, Connection and Faithfulness, by Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, 2023

Three Decades of Groundbreaking Dropout Research – Reflections by Dr. Robledo Montecel, interview by Bricio Vasquez, Ph.D., IDRA Newsletter, November-December 2018

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes and Spotify, or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Introducing Cuentos de mi familia – Podcast Episode 247 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (October 28, 2024). Several of the IDRA STEM Equity Ambassadors want to give back to their hometown of San Antonio. The STEM Equity Ambassadors program hosted by IDRA gave educators the opportunity to use interactive and experiential teaching methods and showcase their ideas in equity plans to support underperforming and first-generation college-going students in their respective fields.

In this episode, Anavi Prakash talks to two STEM Equity Ambassadors about what it means to be educators and fight for equity in the city where they were once students. Their answers reflect a desire to make education better for the next generation of students by giving them the support they need to thrive and pave their own paths.

James Hernández, Ph.D., is a technology teacher at Harlandale ISD. He is also a member of the Edgewood ISD school board, the district where he went to high school. Dr. Hernández believes a quality education is the key to empowering communities to be content, politically engaged and earn higher-paying jobs. Dr. Hernández earned his doctorate. in interdisciplinary learning and teaching from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Amanda Roberts, Ph.D., is the math academic program director at St. Philip’s College Southwest Campus. She also has experience as a U.S. Air Force research scientist, assistant professor of chemistry, and middle school science teacher. She aims to mentor and inspire students at all levels, from kindergarten to graduate school. Dr. Roberts earned her doctorate in biomedical sciences from the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Dr. Hernández and Dr. Roberts are among the eight teachers in San Antonio IDRA named as STEM Equity Ambassadors for the 2023-24 school year.

Anavi Prakash is a student at Northwestern University who served as an IDRA communications intern in the summer of 2024.

Show length: 17:21 min.

Send comments to [email protected]

Resources

STEM Equity Ambassadors at IDRA

STEM Equity Ambassadors eBook – Cultivating STEM Equity Ambassadors to Address the Barriers to Equity in STEM Education

STEM Equity – Online Technical Assistance Package

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes and Spotify, or sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published.

The post Teachers on STEM Equity for Students – Podcast Episode 246 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (October 4, 2024). Anavi Prakash speaks with students Carlos and Ashly and youth leader Gabriela Benitez about their experience in the IDRA Digital Ambassadors program. This program supports communities in the Texas Rio Grande Valley through youth-led technology training. Participating students first engaged in comprehensive participatory action research to identify the most pressing technology needs within their community. Then, after a rigorous learning journey to master the identified technology skills, they planned and led a community training event to provide vital technological training to community members.

The program is co-led by ARISE Adelante, an organization that aims to empower immigrants in low-income communities in south Texas. ARISE and IDRA piloted the IDRA Digital Ambassador program in early 2024. The program will continue with additional students during the fall of 2024 with the generous support from Methodist Healthcare Ministries and from Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation.

In this episode, participants discuss the importance of student-driven programs in the community and how the IDRA Digital Ambassadors benefitted communities and the students themselves as leaders. As the students looked to help others, they also gained skills in public speaking and teaching adults with a diverse set of backgrounds and skill levels.

Carlos and Ashly are high school students in South Texas. Gabriela Benitez is a youth leader and community organizer with ARISE Adelante. Anavi Prakash is a student at Northwestern University who served as an IDRA communications intern in the summer of 2024.

Show length: 8:35 min

Send comments to [email protected]

Resources

Students Bridge the Digital Divide in Colonias – Highlights from IDRA’s Pilot Student Digital Ambassadorships, by Michelle Vega & Aurelio Manuel Montemayor, M.Ed., IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2024

IDRA Digital Ambassadors Program

Story by Connect Humanity: South Texas colonia students step up as tech connectors – A showcase of the Rio Grande Valley Digital Ambassadors Program

Story by the Rio Grande Guardian: Digital Ambassadors teach computer literacy skills to colonia residents

ARISE Adelante

IDRA Student Research & Activism

IDRA Student Programs

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, Spotify. Amazon Music or Google Podcasts.

The post IDRA Digital Ambassador Students Lead Community Technology Training – Classnotes Podcast 245 appeared first on IDRA.

Classnotes Podcast (September 16, 2024) 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the federal Gun Free Schools Act of 1994 – a landmark bill that promised to bring about an end to gun violence on school campuses. But schools are no safer now than they were when the law went into effect.

Policymakers and school leaders have used the law’s underlying policy rationales to justify harmful discipline and school safety measures. These include hardening school facilities, surveilling students and families, investing in school policing and security, and relying on so-called “zero tolerance” punishments that push students out of school and into the criminal justice system.

Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., talks with colleague, Morgan Craven, J.D., and Andrew Hairston, J.D., from Texas Appleseed about how, three decades after the Gun-Free Schools Act’s passage, these policies and practices continue to harm students – particularly Black students, other students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities.

This podcast episode continues our series of episodes on education and the law, where IDRA works to uplift the stories behind landmark cases and laws impacting education civil rights.

Show length: 47:37 min

Send comments to [email protected]

Resources

Thirty Years Later, the 1994 Gun-Free Schools Act Continues to Harm Students and Communities, by Rebekah Skelton, IDRA Newsletter, March 2024

What Safe Schools Should Look Like for Every Student: A Guide to Building Safe and Welcoming Schools and Rejecting Policies that Hurt Students, by Morgan Craven, J.D., IDRA

33 Years Later, Tough on Crime Still Bad for Students, by Makiah Lyons, J.D., Knowledge is Power, February 24, 2023

Commentary: Texas bills offer illusion of school safety, Paige Duggins-Clay, San Antonio Express-News, May 2, 2023

Willful Defiance: The Movement to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline, by Mark R. Warren (Amazon)

Joint Testimony in Opposition to SB 245, submitted by IDRA, Texas Center for Justice and Equity, and Texas Appleseed Against SB 245, to the House Committee on Public Health, April 12, 2023 – See video

Zero Tolerance Policies Push Students Away – High Attrition Rates of Black Students and Hispanic Students Are Linked to Exclusionary Discipline, Supplemental analysis in 2015-16 IDRA attrition study, by Roy Johnson, M.S., IDRA

Listening Session on Federal Relief – The Next Steps for our Children, Teachers and Parents in Uvalde – Testimony by Morgan Craven, J.D., IDRA National Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement Presented before the U.S. Congressional Children’s Caucus, September 26, 2022 – See video

Commentary: It’s past time for corporal punishment to end in schools, Morgan Craven, San Antonio Express-News, October 6, 2023

Listen to every episode!

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of IDRA Classnotes, sign up to receive an e-mail alert as soon as a new show is published and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, Spotify. Amazon Music or Google Podcasts.

The post The Law in Education – Gun Free Schools Act – Classnotes Podcast 244 appeared first on IDRA.