At every Critical Questions in Education conference, we invite a guest speaker who can really help us think through our theme question(s)—someone with some special expertise or background about the questions, usually with a national reputation, too. We first framed these as “Keynote speeches,” but in the last few years have come to call them “Academy Talks.” Instead of inviting these leading figures to the conference to give a speech, we want them to “talk to us”–earnestly, frankly, personally, and sincerely in a more informal conversational setting. We usually get their permission to videotape these talks, and so we can share the talks with you here.

We hope you enjoy and learn from these Academy Talks.

Francisco Ramirez, Stanford University

Gary Orfield, UCLA

Stephen Heyneman, Vanderbilt University

Laurene Heybach, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

Gary Borich, UCLA

Linda McNeil, Rice University

Mark Bauerlein, Emory University

Daniel Kaufman,  Missouri State University

Christopher Lucas, University of Arkansas

Paul Theobald, Buffalo State University

Kieran Egan, Simon Fraser University

Jeremy Gunn, American Civil Liberties Union

Nel Noddings, Stanford University

Jordan Lorence, Alliance Defense Fund

David Owen, Iowa State University

Susan Ohanian, Independent Scholar

Philip Cusick, Michigan State University