🖊 The Ruckus Report
Quick take:
What if the most powerful classrooms in American history operated under segregation? Dr. Karida L. Brown reframes our understanding of Black education during Jim Crow and offers a compelling vision for nurturing students through ecosystems of care.
🤝 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker
Dr. Karida L. Brown is an NAACP Image Award-winning author, professor at Emory University, and public intellectual. Known for her groundbreaking research on systemic racism and Black life, she's the author of six books, including The Battle for the Black Mind.
🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules
🧠 Key Insight #1: Schools aren't neutral. And pretending they are is dangerous.
- What's broken: The myth that schools can be politically or culturally neutral.
- The shift: Acknowledge that education operates within a social context — and choose to humanize, not homogenize.
- Impact: Creates space for students' full identities and lived experiences to be seen, respected, and affirmed.
🧠 Key Insight #2: Teaching was once a radical act of love. And it can be again.
- What's broken: Emphasis on compliance, test prep, and disconnected pedagogy.
- The shift: Look to the Black teachers of the Jim Crow era, who taught with deep care and high expectations.
- Impact: Reignites student pride, dignity, and purpose — and helps staff reclaim meaning in their work.
🧠 Key Insight #3: The hidden curriculum still shapes student success.
- What's broken: Assuming equity exists because students share a classroom.
- The shift: Recognize and dismantle invisible systems of advantage and disadvantage.
- Impact: Equips students from all backgrounds to navigate — and transform — institutional structures.
💬 Quotable Ruckus
"Walk these halls like somebody fought like hell for you to be here." — Dr. Karida Brown
📈 Your Do School Different Challenge
Ready to implement these ideas? Start here:
- Tomorrow: Ask your staff, "What invisible messages does our campus send?"
- This Month: Create space for student or staff storytelling to elevate empathy and insight
- This Semester: Rethink your discipline or feedback systems through a lens of equity and care
Connect & Continue
🎯 Get the full episode transcript here.
🔗 Follow Dr. Karida Brown:
📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act
If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning?
This show isn't about doing school better.
It's about Do School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible.
🖊 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey
Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership with:
- ODP SOLUTIONS: Looking to create the kind of campus experience students never forget? ODP Business Solutions® transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary learning environments.
🔍 Visit odpbusiness.com/education and let's Do School Different.
- IXL: Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance.
🔍 Get started today at ixl.com/leaders
- PLAYPIPER: This episode of Better Leaders Better Schools is brought to you by Play Piper. At Piper, we believe STEM doesn't have to feel out of reach. Too many kids love gaming but give up on science and engineering because school doesn't spark their interest. That's where Piper comes in - hands-on STEM kits designed to turn curiosity into confidence and keep the pipeline of future innovators flowing strong.
🔍 Learn more at PlayPiper.com.
