Welcome to the Freedom to Learn podcast. I'm your host, Ginny Gentles. This season, we're diving

into what it means to return education to states, communities, and families, and we're exploring

what becomes possible when education is freed from union dominance and federal control.

Today I'm joined by Stephen Wilson, author of The Lost Decade, returning to the fight for Better

Schools in America.

Stephen has been at the Center of Education Reform for more than three decades, from his

role in Massachusetts landmark 1993 Education Reform Act to founding Ascend Learning, a gap-busting

network in charter schools in Brooklyn, New York.

He's a senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and co-founder of the National Summer School Initiative.

In this conversation, we dig into the entities that force the lost decade in K-12 education onto students, families, and school communities.

We examine how colleges of education teach, or preach really, ideology,

how union power and demands can strain district leadership,

how no excuses, charter schools, initially transformed outcomes for low-income students,

and why some charter networks abandoned that focus.

We explore the rise of anti-racism fervor that engulfed the K-12 sector,

and we discuss what it will take to return to academic excellence.

Stephen Wilson, welcome to Freedom to Learn.

Delighted to be with you, Jenny.

Your book, The Lost Decade, Returning to the Fight for Better Schools in America,

addresses your story, your role in Massachusetts 1993 Education Reform Act,

your charter school leadership, and your cancellation.

You're really going to treat history there, aren't you? Yeah, back to the 90s.

...