In the 1960s, educator and founder of critical pedagogy, Paulo Freire, established an inventive literacy program for the marginalized working class of Brazil. His “cultural circles” were unique as they weren’t solely spaces to learn how to read and write but spaces of political awareness and democratic thinking. Freire resented…

This article is a follow-up to our 2019 post: I use evidence to inform my teaching. There is overwhelming research (documented on the Human Restoration Project website) supporting common sense initiatives to reimagine education. The current system isn’t working and we can do better. We’re past the point of waiting…

Psychology is integral to professional development and teacher training programs. Teaching concepts from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to stoplight behavior management charts are rooted in psychology. Our application of psychology in the classroom, however, is flawed. Emerging at roughly the same time, psychology and mass industrialization intertwined in problematic ways…

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Although understanding trends and modern research are integral to staying up to date, educators are inundated with conference and professional development opportunities that seem to all say the same thing. As a result, workshops can feel banal or pointless. How…

At Human Restoration Project, one of the core systemic changes we suggest is the elimination of homework. …

Horatio Alger Jr., the “rags-to-riches” storywriter in the mid 1800s, was well known for writing books with a common theme: a young boy with good morals who “picked himself up by his bootstraps” was able to make a name for himself. These stories provided hope to the disjointed masses whose…

Progressive education is in a time of “radical imagination.” Alex Khasnabish & Max Haiven, who coined the term, write, We are compelled to dedicate our imaginations to daydreams of individualized escape: lonely hopes of winning the lottery to evade our debts, or idle fantasies of revenge visited upon those who…

This update showcases our progress on our Human-Centered Interdisciplinary Subject, a project in creating an actionable cross-disciplinary, holistic course. As detailed last month in our Human-Centered Interdisciplinary Subject (IDS) update, we are creating a curriculum that features lessons, hands-on learning, and pedagogical understanding to create an interdisciplinary course: one that…

In creating an organization for lasting change, it’s vitally important we revisit the values in which we promote a human-centered education. Over the last 2 years as a nonprofit, our practices and thoughts haven’t strayed much from the core philosophy — but certain language and explicit practices have been absent…