CharterFolk

About CharterFolk

Jed Wallace brings you the people who are at the heart of the charter school movement. Listen to Jed chat with experienced school leaders, policymakers, funders, parents, and community members about the future of public education and charter schools. Episodes also available as video on YouTube.

Publisher

CharterFolk

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 May 2021

Latest episode

8 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

31 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Aug 2026

   Forever Young: Reinvention, Elders, and the Next Generation – CharterFolk Chat with Caprice Young

   Dr. Caprice Young joins Jed Wallace for a conversation about what nearly three decades in charter schools looks like from the vantage point of someone who has reinvented herself again and again — and what she thinks the movement itself now has to reinvent. Along the way: why the flexibility that made chartering worth doing has migrated almost entirely into California's non-classroom-based law, what Howard Fuller's Thanksgiving message means for a generation that takes charter schools for granted, the four waves of charter leadership Caprice has watched arrive, why she can't cling to the model she built twenty years ago, the funding cliff landing in '25-'26 and '26-'27, an LA elementary school built for twelve hundred kids that now serves two hundred fifty, and what a curiosity-driven middle school might look like five years from now. In this episode: How Joe Lucente and Yvonne Chan, "the troublemakers inside the school district," got pushed out to the Valley — and how charters spread from there "like crabgrass" Why every year of existence has meant a little less flexibility, and why the next charter Caprice would write is non-classroom-based — the one corner of California law where flexibility still lives Getting paid for how much work a kid does rather than how many minutes a kid's butt is in the seat — and what COVID proved about fitting the school to the kid instead of the kid to the school Losing our edge: The Accelerated School's early phonics advantage, and why 47% proficiency is not a victory Jed on a period of malaise in education — NAEP scores, "education depression," and the hundred-thousand-kids-a-year question mark Declining enrollment, $1,000 in digital marketing per new enrollment, and how that changes a school's financial model Howard Fuller's Thanksgiving message — why newcomers won't naturally get it, and why the stories have to be told again Yvonne Chan and Don Shalvey — and the car rides between Oakland and Stockton where a generation got its advice Four waves of charter leadership: district mavericks, community organizers, the Teach for America generation, and now charter alumni founding their own schools AI, the use of time, and middle schools that could be curiosity-driven instead of compliance-driven Why leaders in their 50s and 60s are coming back — and why Caprice can't cling to the model she created twenty years ago The COVID punchbowl pulled away: '25-'26 as an excruciating year, '26-'27 as when the deep cuts land, and an LA elementary built for twelve hundred kids now serving two hundred fifty Howard Fuller on the power to exit — and why there's less of it now, not more Two reasons for hope, turning seventy, and why a cancer survivor counts every moment as a blessing Show Notes & Resources: Navigator Schools (https://www.navigatorschools.org/) California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) (https://www.ccsa.org/) Learn4Life (https://learn4life.org/) Magnolia Public Schools (https://magnoliapublicschools.org/) ICEF Public Schools (https://www.icefps.org/) The Accelerated School (https://www.accelerated.org/) The Science Academy STEM Magnet (North Hollywood) (https://www.thescienceacademystemmagnet.org/) Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools (https://hccts.org/) The Education Daly, by Tim Daly (https://www.educationdaly.us/) "The Price You Pay to Make Social Change" — A Thanksgiving CharterFolk Chat with Howard Fuller (https://www.charterfolk.org/the-price-you-pay-to-make-social-change-a-thanksgiving-charterfolk-chat-with-howard-fuller/) "Exit, Voice, and Loyalty" by Albert O. Hirschman (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674276604) — the book Howard Fuller recommends on the power to exit Guest: Dr. Caprice Young — former CEO, Navigator Schools; founding CEO, California Charter Schools Association; former President, Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education Host: Jed Wallace (CharterFolk) Watch the full video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3y9TqbyJgc). CharterFolk Chat is produced by CharterFolk (https://charterfolk.org/).

2. 

   30 Apr 2026

   Broy: Straight Up, No Chaser

   Andrew Broy of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) joins Jed Wallace for a one-on-one conversation about how Chicago's charter movement has held its ground against CTU, what the Indianapolis reform model means for the rest of the country, and why state associations have to evolve faster than they've ever evolved before. Along the way: why CTU isn't the enemy (low expectations are), the Brandon Johnson administration's repeal of the SQRP school rating system, what Indianapolis is actually doing that nobody else is, the math that turned $4 million of political spending into $300 million of recurring operational funding, what 40 Chicago high schools with fewer than 200 students says about urban governance, the three preconditions Andrew lays out for blue-state-blue-city governance reform, and Andrew's closing John Lewis story about what real advocacy looks like. In this episode: Andrew's path from Teach for America in North Carolina to civil rights litigation in Atlanta to charter school advocacy in Illinois What changed his mind on charter schools — the Drew Charter School moment in East Atlanta Coming home to Chicago in 2010 and building the PAC, C4, and IEC infrastructure that made INCS effective Why CTU isn't the enemy — and why the real enemy is the persistent belief that low-income students of color can't achieve at high levels What the Brandon Johnson administration's repeal of SQRP cost Chicago parents The Indianapolis innovation-schools model — and the three preconditions that have to be in place for blue-state takeovers to work Why the "50% market share is a tipping point" theory of charter expansion didn't hold up Returning to first principles: charters as engines of innovation, not just alternatives 40 Chicago high schools with fewer than 200 students — and the structural decisions nobody wants to make How the Covid funding surge may accelerate urban district collapse Why state and city advocacy are inseparable — and what California members are signaling with an $11/kid dues increase The economics of dues: how $3K x 60K students = $180M in new operational money The 120x play: turning $4M of political spending into $300M of recurring operational funding in perpetuity Why state associations should run the federal Charter School Program (CSP) grant — and how INCS deployed its $25M growth grant Growth as a moral imperative — and the Karen Lewis debate Shifting from foundation funding to individual donor bases — and INCS's statewide alternative authorizer goal How to critique the traditional system without crossing into unfair attack — storytelling, structural advantage, and the $140M vs. $30M high school Andrew's closing John Lewis narrative on what real advocacy looks like Show Notes & Resources: Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) (https://www.incschools.org/) National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (https://publiccharters.org/) Drew Charter School (East Atlanta) (https://www.drewcharterschool.org/) Teach for America (https://www.teachforamerica.org/) Charter School Program (CSP) — U.S. Department of Education (https://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/grants-birth-grade-12/charter-school-programs) Indianapolis Public Schools Innovation Network (https://myips.org/chooseyourips/innovation-network-schools/) Guest: Andrew Broy — President, Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) Host: Jed Wallace (CharterFolk) Watch the full video on YouTube (https://youtu.be/0DFKXVWs3LQ). CharterFolk Chat is produced by CharterFolk (https://charterfolk.org).

3. 

   5 Mar 2026

   CharterFolk Chat with Shannon Hodge

   What does it take to lead one of the nation’s most visible and influential charter school networks? In this episode of CharterFolk Chat, Jed Wallace sits down with Shannon Hodge, the new CEO of KIPP DC Public Schools, just one month into her new role. Shannon’s journey is a masterclass in preparation and purpose—from her early days as a guidance counselor in Indiana during the rollout of No Child Left Behind, to her work as an attorney at Hogan Lovells, to founding Kingsman Academy for DC’s most vulnerable students, and later uniting the city’s charter sector as the founding executive director of the DC Charter School Alliance. Shannon offers a candid look at the realities of leadership, discussing the intentional, multi-year succession plan that prepared her to follow in the footsteps of legends like Susan Scheffler and Allison Fansler. She shares her strategy for leading in the "fishbowl" of KIPP DC, cutting through the noise to focus on the signals that matter most for students and families. The conversation also explores the future of "charterness," the vital importance of telling the multi-layered history of public education, and how to effectively engage newcomers in the fundamental mission of the charter school movement. For anyone interested in leadership, succession, and the future of public education, this is an inspiring and deeply insightful discussion.

Who has been a guest on CharterFolk

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Starlee Coleman
• Kevin Hall
• Marlon Marshall
• Brenda Cora
• Derrell Bradford

Reach and audience

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

YouTube views

5,503

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 43 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

59

Social presence

0

YouTube

68

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Books guests

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

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