The Learning Curve

Updated: 30 Jul 2025 • 309 episodes
ricochet.com/series/the-learning-curve

“The Learning Curve” is where you’ll find straight talk about the nation’s hottest education stories - news and opinion from the schoolyard to the 2020 campaign trail. Co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal serve up provocative commentary on the issues that impact parents and kids, teachers and students, political leaders, policymakers and taxpayers all across the country. “The Learning Curve” features school leaders, innovators, bestselling authors, policymakers and more on how we’ll use education to prepare the next generation of Americans. Follow The Learning Curve on Send any suggestions, tips, and fan mail to micaela@pioneerinstitute.org. Listen to all episodes of The Learning Curve at Ricochet.com.

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In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng interview University of Maryland Emeritus Professor of English Vincent Carretta. Prof. Carretta explores the extraordinary life and enduring legacy of the first African-American to publish a book of poetry in English,

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In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Dr. Cara Candal of ExcelinEd interview former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education and co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI), Jim Blew. Mr. Blew reflects on his tenure in federal education leadership and his motiv

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In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Helen Baxendale of Great Hearts Academies interview award-winning English historian and biographer, Dr. Juliet Barker. She offers a rich portrait of the Brontë family, whose timeless contributions have widely impacted English literature and fictio

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In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng and Walter Blanks interview Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, who has served as superintendent-director of the Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District since 1994. A leader in vocational-technical education, Dr. Fitzpatrick reflect

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In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Massachusetts civics teacher Kelley Brown interview Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jack Rakove, Coe Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. Prof. Rakove explores the origins of the American Revolution and U.S. Constitution through the lives o

81 min
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In this special episode of The Learning Curve, guest co-host Ian Rowe interviews Steven Wilson, a senior fellow at Pioneer Institute and founder of the Ascend Charter Network. Their discussion centers on Wilson's new book, The Lost Decade, which concerns education's shift away from liberal arts and toward social justic

42 min
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