Are missed deadlines always a choice?

When students miss deadlines, is it always because they made a poor choice—or is the reality much more complicated?

In this episode of Education Upgrade, Jake Schulke and Morgan Torres-Unger-Castleberry examine the purpose of deadlines in education, how they compare to deadlines in the professional world, and whether academic grades should measure learning, responsibility, or compliance. The conversation explores why many students have far less control over their schedules than adults and what that means for grading practices, accountability, and student success.

Topics discussed include:

• late work policies
• grading for equity
• grading reform
• standards-based grading
• mastery learning
• homework
• academic accountability
• executive functioning
• student autonomy
• intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation
• classroom assessment
• continuation schools
• educational psychology
• teacher decision-making
• preparing students for the real world
• consequences vs. punishment
• educational philosophy

Whether you're a teacher, administrator, parent, education student, or simply interested in improving schools, this discussion challenges some of the most common assumptions about deadlines, responsibility, and learning.

Education Upgrade is a podcast exploring evidence-based ideas about teaching, learning, grading, psychology, school reform, and the future of education through conversations with teachers, researchers, and education professionals.

#Education #Teaching #Teachers #EducationUpgrade #Grading #StandardsBasedGrading #MasteryLearning #Assessment #Homework #LateWork #TeacherPodcast #EducationReform #EducationalLeadership #School

Should cheating mean an automatic zero?

When a student cheats, should the consequence always be a zero—or should a grade continue to measure what the student actually knows?

In this Essential Question, Jake Schulke and Morgan Torres-Unger-Castleberry explore academic integrity, cheating, and grading through the lens of Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman. They discuss whether cheating should be treated as a disciplinary issue, an assessment issue, or both, and examine how teachers can uphold academic honesty while ensuring grades remain an accurate measure of student learning.

Topics include:

• Academic integrity and cheating
• Whether cheating should result in an automatic zero
• Punishment vs. measuring learning
• Mastery-based grading
• Retakes and reassessments
• Formative and summative assessment
• Grading for Equity (Chapters 9–10)

This clip is part of Episode 18 of Education Upgrade, a discussion of Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman and how grading practices influence learning, motivation, and student success.

📚 Book Discussed: Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman (Chapters 9–10)

🎙️ Watch the full Episode 18 for the complete conversation on grading, assessment, educational equity, and mastery learning.

#Education #Teaching #EducationReform #GradingForEquity #AcademicIntegrity #Assessment #Teachers #EdChat #MasteryLearning #EducationUpgrade

What makes a teacher truly effective?

In this conversation, Jake Schulke sits down with educator and Navy veteran Brett Barker to explore classroom leadership, student relationships, and what movies can teach us about education, adolescence, and growing up.

Drawing from experiences in the military, continuation high schools, and middle school classrooms, Brett and Jake discuss why relationships matter more than authority, how healthy boundaries create better learning environments, and why the best educators never stop learning from their students.

The conversation eventually turns to storytelling and film, exploring how movies like Mean Girls, Dead Poets Society, and Dangerous Minds continue to shape the way we think about teachers, teenagers, and the human experience.

Questions explored

• What makes students respect a teacher?

• Can military leadership improve classroom management?

• Why do relationships matter more than authority?

• How do continuation high schools differ from traditional schools?

• What can teachers learn from their students?

• Why do movies resonate so strongly during adolescence?

• What does Dead Poets Society teach us about education and purpose?

• How do stories shape our beliefs about teachers and schools?

Topics covered

• Classroom management

• Educational leadership

• Continuation high schools

• Teacher-student relationships

• Military leadership

• Adolescent psychology

• Student motivation

• Film and education

• Mean Girls

• Dead Poets Society

💬 We'd love to hear from you. Which teacher had the greatest impact on your life? And what movie best captures adolescence? Share your thoughts in the comments or connect with us using the link below.

🎙 Education Upgrade explores education, psychology, leadership, and learning through conversations with teachers, researchers, and educational leaders.

New full episodes, Reel Talk, educational clips, and Essential Questions are released regularly.

Connect with Education Upgrade:

https://linktr.ee/educationupgrade

Chapters

0:00 Introduction & Brett's Journey into Education

9:42 What Continuation High School Taught Us About Students

24:30 The Teachers We'll Never Forget

42:43 Are Schools Teaching the Right Things?

1:03:25 What's Holding Public Education Back?

1:17:26 What Can Teachers Learn from the Military?

1:29:20 Why Literature Still Matters

1:34:32 Reel Talk: The Movies That Shaped Our Generation

1:53:24 Dead Poets Society and the Purpose of Education

2:02:03 The Evolution of Teen Films

2:19:06 Do Movies Shape Culture—or Reflect It?