Kathy Barnette welcomes Leah Ferretti, founder of Mississippi Ready, to break down educational crises in Philadelphia and Mississippi. Ferretti reveals a study regarding the pre-K to prison pipeline, showing that private prison organizations actually use children’s reading scores to determine where to build their next facilities. Grassroots activist John Allante McAuley, shares how low literacy rates directly impact individuals’ ability to understand legal documents and write letters once inside. We contrast this with the rise of birth tourism companies and a Supreme Court that will not uphold bans on birthright citizenship.
Leah Ferretti shares her personal account as a "mama bear on steroids," explaining how she decided to get a student loan and obtain a master's degree in dyslexia therapy to help her children after their local school failed to provide a therapist. We discuss how information regarding school choice and education freedom is often gatekept by local school districts and the state Department of Education. Dawn's guests look closely at how the entire student population shifted in Mississippi through rigid, phonics-based instruction, noting that the "Science of Reading" must be nonpartisan rather than blocked by the left.
Finally, we address educational failure and spending issues in Philadelphia. Kathy and her guests slam the practice of "social promotion," which passes students through grades regardless of achievement so they don’t "feel bad". John Allante McAuley rips Philly leadership for retaining non-teaching "climate teachers" with $200 million while neglecting rigor. We debate why education spending disappears into central offices, often leaving teachers to buy supplies like toilet paper themselves, and why Philadelphia should copy Mississippi’s use of literacy specialists to coach teachers.
