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The series helps listeners understand and leverage the complexity of learning and development in ways that are clear, reflective, and actionable. Each episode brings together multiple voices to explore an important theme in depth, often illuminating connections across all five pathways. At the same time, each episode has a primary focus within one pathway, giving listeners an accessible way to enter the series, follow their interests, and put what they learn into practice.
To read about the five major thought lines and discover which episodes are linked to those thought lines.


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Coming Attractions - the Next Podcast and list of future topics and discussants for episodes 7 - 30.
This podcast will examine the 16 Success Drivers and how they can be holistically enacted and embodied in schools and across learning ecosystems. Listeners will learn and be able to think about the drivers and their interconnections, understand why a holistic approach is essential for equity and thriving, and explore principles for implementation across roles and settings.
55 min read


Creating environments that emphasize learning and thriving - Three interviews with Odis Johnson
In this episode, we continue our exploration of what it takes to create safe, nurturing, engaging, and equitable environments where all young people can learn deeply, develop fully, and thrive.Our guest is Odis Johnson, a Johns Hopkins University sociologist and data scientist who directs the Center for Safe and Healthy Schools and has spent his career studying how schools, neighborhoods, and technologies shape opportunity for young people. His work helps us see something eas
3 min read


Episode 6 - Creating Safe Nurturing Environments that Engage Learners and Foster Thriving and Robust Learning - Revised August 26
The chart includes hyperlinks to podcasts and English and Spanish Transcripts. Biographies of the presenters and reference materials may be found on this page Making Supports and Opportunities Fit—and Work—for Young People Hacer que los apoyos y las oportunidades se adapten a los jóvenes—y funcionen para ellos Episode 6: Making Supports and Opportunities Fit—and Work—for Young People Episode 6 brings together thirteen conversations about how schools, families, communities,
8 min read


Episode 5: Building Conditions for Learning, Well-being, and Thriving
Eight individual discussions with Megan Bang, Zaretta Hammond, Stephanie MacMahon, and Kim Schonert-Reichl by David Osher Description Learning is not just the transfer of information. It is not just memory, cognition, or skill acquisition narrowly understood. Learning is deeply human. It involves emotion and attention, identity and meaning, culture and context, relationships and belonging, the body and the brain, the present moment and the histories that young people bring
5 min read


Episode 4 -How to Leverage the Science of Learning and Development to Foster Robust Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
It is in five parts, plus a short introduction to the episode. The discussions are with: Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Stephanie Jones, Annemaree Carol, Jim Pellegrino, and Carol Lee. What also makes these conversations so important is that they bring together many of the leading scholars who have helped define, extend, and translate the science of learning and development across disciplines, institutions, and countries.You will hear from researchers whose work spans development
4 min read


Episode 3 - John King with commentary from Linda Darling-Hammond and Robert Pianta: Creating safe, nurturing environments that engage learners and foster thriving and robust learning.
Welcome to a framing conversation, one that provides intellectual orientation and a cornerstone conversation in the architectural sense upon which the entire podcast series rests. John reminds us that the school at its best is not merely an academic institution. It is a sanctuary, a place of safety, a place of intellectual challenge, a place where a young person is known, and that knowing can change a life trajectory. His story is not abstract. It's grounded in his lived expe
1 min read


Episode 2 -Supporting Social, Emotional, and Academic Well-being and Thriving in Challenging Times and Contexts
Description This episode is in three parts that explore how to support social, emotional, and academic well-being and learning in connected ways. Listeners will learn and be able to think about practices that integrate SEL and academics, understand why whole-person approaches deepen engagement and achievement, and explore principles of application across classrooms and community settings. Organizations, tools, materials, and research will be identified that can support implem
4 min read


Episode 1- Addressing Educational Inequities in the wake of covid-19 is in three parts.
Episode 1 Part 1: Addressing Educational Inequities in the wake of Covid-19 Description: This episode Equity, Evidence, and the Full Meaning of Learning examine how the COVID-19 pandemic widened longstanding educational inequities and what it will take to address them. Part 1 is an interview with Gloria Ladson-Billings and Michael Feuer on the purpose of the National Academy of Education Commissioning three papers to examine significant issues impacting schools and learning e
3 min read


Why were these podcasts made?
David Osher outlines why this podcast series was created and structured to translate the science of learning and development into practical, actionable knowledge for educators, policymakers, community leaders, families, and practitioners working with young people. Building on papers commissioned by the National Academy of Education in response to COVID, the series addresses long-standing equity challenges that have been intensified by pandemic disruption, political polarizat
1 min read
List (recent to oldest)of Posted Podcasts and Transcripts
Episode 5 - Building Conditions for Learning, Well-being, and Thriving
with: Megan Bang, Zaretta Hammond, Stephanie MacMahon, and Kim Schonert-Reichl by David Osher discussing learning as it involves emotion and attention, identity and meaning, culture and context, relationships and belonging.
9 min read


About Jane Sapp and the music - There's A River Flowing in my Soul -- from Brandeis University's Peace Building Through the Arts
https://www.brandeis.edu/peacebuilding-arts/current-projects/jane-sapp/index.html Sapp's music reflects the blues and gospel sounds of her Georgia youth and is deeply rooted in the spiritual, religious and historical experiences of the African American world. She has recorded four albums and has performed in concert halls (including Carnegie Hall, with Pete Seeger), colleges and community centers throughout the U.S. and in Sweden, Canada, Senegal and Mali, West Africa. As an
1 min read


Recent Publications of David Osher
Curriculum Vita of David Osher Books, Monographs, & Guides (1990–Present) Osher, D., Jagers, R., & Jones, W. (2025). How schools can promote student well-being and thriving in the racialized post Covid context. National Academy of Education. Osher & Pittman (2024). Equity-Centered Thriving. Arlington, VA: American Institutes for Research. Alexander, P. et al., Bridging Sciences: An Integrated Approach to Supporting Student’s Literacy Development (2024). Collaborative for Soci
7 min read


Youth Today Blogs
A flashlight on the life spaces of young people By David Osher, Thriving Youth Knowledge Exchange Posted on July 22, 2026 Every afternoon, millions of young people leave school and head to camps, libraries, sports fields, arts programs, jobs, youth organizations, faith communities, neighborhoods and homes. But millions do not. More than 3 in 4 of the children whose parents want them in afterschool programs — 22.6 million — are not enrolled because of cost, lack of availab
8 min read


Five Podcast Throughlines
1. How Young People Learn and Thrive The developmental foundations of learning: safety, meaning, challenge, emotion, culture, and whole-person development. Episodes: 3, 4, 5, 23, and 28 2. Relationships, Belonging, and Inclusive Communities Relational trust, identity safety, language, restorative practice, healing, and inclusive communities that support robust learning and thriving. Episodes: 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 3. Family and Youth Power, Culture, and Equity Share
1 min read

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