Beyond the Margins: The Podcast

About Beyond the Margins: The Podcast

Welcome to Beyond The Margins, the podcast redefining education for students often overlooked and left behind. I’m Dr. Sohn A. Butts, the lead learner and host. This podcast exists to challenge traditional educational approaches, explore innovative strategies, and share real stories that transform learning. This channel is for educators, parents, and anyone invested in urban, alternative, and non-traditional education. You’ll get practical tools, research-backed insights, and creative approaches to boost student engagement, empower teachers, and elevate communities. From classroom strategies to big-picture ideas, Beyond The Margins is your go-to source for educational transformation. Why Subscribe? When you subscribe to Beyond The Margins, you’re joining a community of educators, parents, and education advocates committed to redefining what’s possible in learning. You’ll get: Weekly episodes with actionable strategies, stories, and insights. Exclusive interviews with experts and thought leaders in urban, alternative, and non-traditional education. Tips for boosting student engagement, classroom management, and leadership effectiveness. Tools to support equity, social justice, and culturally grounded learning. A community of like-minded changemakers ready to move education forward. Whether you’re scrolling for ideas, research, or inspiration, Beyond The Margins gives you tools you can use today and insights that transform tomorrow. Subscribe and join the movement and let’s engage, educate, empower, and elevate together.

Publisher

Dr. Sohn A. Butts

Category

education · kids & family

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Feb 2026

Latest episode

27 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

30 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Oct 2026

   When Schools Fail to See Us: Educator Beliefs, Student Identity, and Changing Learning Conditions

   What distinguishes a school that enrolls Black students from one intentionally designed to help Black students thrive? In this thought-provoking episode of Beyond The Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts welcomes educator and researcher Dr. Jaleel Howard for an examination of student engagement, identity, educational equity, and the social conditions shaping the experiences of Black students. Drawing from his own experiences as a Black boy navigating school environments that often misunderstood his behavior and identity, Dr. Howard shares how those early encounters influenced his journey into teaching and educational research. His work challenges educators to reconsider what meaningful engagement looks like and whether traditional measures of school success adequately reflect the experiences of Black students. The conversation explores the influence of educator beliefs, cultural representation, school resources, poverty, and institutional practices on students' academic and social experiences. Together, Dr. Butts and Dr. Howard discuss why students need to see themselves not only reflected in the curriculum but respected within the broader learning environment. They also examine the growing influence of artificial intelligence in education, the limitations of outcome-driven schooling, and the importance of reconnecting learning to identity, community, and purpose. Moving from research to practice, Dr. Howard offers educators actionable approaches to building meaningful relationships, creating psychologically safe classrooms, and developing learning environments where students feel valued, connected, and empowered to succeed. The episode closes with a powerful reflection on what Black boys need to hear more often and why love, affirmation, and authentic human connection remain essential to the educational experience. At its heart, this conversation asks whether we are simply expecting students to adapt to our schools or doing the necessary work to create schools that truly serve them.

2. 

   20 Oct 2026

   Beyond the World You Know: Identity, Cultural Exposure, and the Transformative Power of Studying Abroad

   What happens when students discover that their educational opportunities extend far beyond the communities and circumstances they know? In this episode of Beyond The Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts welcomes Mr. Franklyn Paris of Bridge Across Education for an engaging conversation about international education, cultural exposure, and expanding postsecondary opportunities for Black students. A Morehouse College graduate who has lived and worked in China since 2014, Franklyn shares how teaching English abroad led to earning a master's degree, learning Mandarin, and discovering opportunities that transformed his understanding of identity, purpose, and possibility. Through Bridge Across Education, Franklyn now works to connect African American students with educational pathways in China, including undergraduate and graduate programs, language immersion experiences, and potential scholarship opportunities. Together, they examine the affordability of international education, the importance of credible programs, the challenges and rewards of living abroad, and how global experiences can develop independence, resilience, and a stronger sense of self. The conversation also raises a larger question for educators, families, and communities: Are we doing enough to expose students to the possibilities we want them to pursue? This episode reminds us that student engagement and educational opportunity are shaped not only by what students experience in classrooms, but also by the worlds we help them discover beyond them.

3. 

   13 Oct 2026

   The Opportunity That Changed Everything: Second Chances, Apprenticeship, and the Power of Exposure

   Senator Cory McCray on Second Chances, Apprenticeship, and the Power of Exposure What happens when the opportunity that could change your life has been right around the corner all along, but nobody ever showed you where to look? Before becoming a Maryland State Senator, Cory McCray was a young man navigating school removals, juvenile detention, incarceration, and an uncertain future. At 17, he told his mother he was too far gone. Her response would help change the trajectory of his life: "I'm gonna keep believing in you until you believe in yourself." That belief, coupled with an apprenticeship opportunity he never knew existed, helped transform a young man struggling to find his way into a skilled electrician, entrepreneur, author, and public servant. On this episode of Beyond The Margins: The Podcast, I sit down with Senator Cory McCray for a powerful conversation about second chances, mentorship, workforce development, financial literacy, and the transformative power of exposure. We explore why apprenticeships deserve a place alongside college pathways, how career readiness begins long before graduation, and why access to opportunity means little if young people cannot see themselves belonging in those spaces. Senator McCray also shares how listening to students helped turn a request for driver's education into legislative action, why ownership and financial literacy matter, and what it means to use personal success to create opportunities for the next generation. But perhaps the most important question emerging from our conversation is this: How many young people have we asked what they want to become before we've done enough to show them what's possible? This episode reminds us that talent can exist without exposure, intelligence can exist without opportunity, and potential can remain unrealized when pathways remain invisible. Sometimes the most powerful intervention isn't another conversation about working harder. It's opening a door.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.