Tennessee's General Assembly spent a week in January working through new education legislation that aims to address pandemic learning loss. Advocates say there's still a long road ahead to equity in education both during, and after the pandemic.
From teacher pay to education access, we'll talk with a panel of experts about the new laws and what else is needed to ensure all of Tennessee's students have equitable access to a great education.
Tune in live Wednesday at noon on WUOT. If you have questions for our panelists, email them to wuotnews@utk.edu or send them to @WUOTFM on Twitter or Facebook.
Gini Pupo-Walker is the state director for the Education Trust in Tennessee. She is also a longtime educator and a current school board member for Metro Nashville Public Schools. She formerly worked at Conexión Américas leading advocacy efforts to improve educational outcomes for Latinos in the state.
Janea Peterson is the coordinator of education and youth services at the Knox Area Urban League. The organization has received grants and partnered with state-wide non-profits to develop trainings and provide workshops to advance equity in education, both in Knoxville and across Tennessee.
Marta Aldrich is the senior statehouse correspondent for Chalkbeat Tennessee, a non-profit news organization reporting on education. She is a former news person at the Associated Press and her freelance work has been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and other national news outlets.
Dr. Dorian McCoy is the associate department head of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the University of Tennessee. His research focuses on people's of color experiences in higher education and has been published in more than 20 academic journals and book chapters.