Making School Meaningful w/ Lauren Porosoff

About this episode

Lauren Porosoff discusses the superficiality of compensatory programs in schools and their impact on genuine learning.

Whether it was during her nearly two decades as a middle school humanities teacher or as diversity coordinator or grade-level team leader, my guest today kept returning to the same question: why does school so often feel like the opposite of learning? Lauren Porosoff's answer isn't a new program or a new curriculum, instead she offers a holistic way of thinking about how systems are connected to outcomes. And Lauren joins me today to talk about compensatory programs: the wellness kits, the diversity posters, the one-off professional development workshops that schools layer one on top of the other to signal that they value belonging, creativity, or student wellbeing, without ever changing the underlying framework for how students and teachers actually spend their time. In this episode, we talk about why schools reach for these fixes, why they backfire, and why they may be especially vulnerable to attack precisely because they're so superficial. Lauren's website is theteachernerd.com [http://theteachernerd.com/], and her book (one of many!), Teach for Authentic Engagement, is available from ASCD. Jailbreak Your PD…

People in this episode

Host: Human Restoration Project

Guest: Lauren Porosoff

Topics covered

• education
• school systems
• student wellbeing
• diversity in education
• professional development

Keywords

• compensatory programs
• student engagement
• holistic education
• school reform
• teacher development

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ASCD, theteachernerd.com, Kappan

Books & works: Teach for Authentic Engagement

More episodes of Human Restoration Project

• Teaching in the Wreckage of the Real: A Narration · May 30, 2026 · 27 min
• We Are Worldbuilders: A Narration · May 16, 2026 · 15 min
• The Future of Public Education is a Community School feat. Kelly McMahon, Jitu Brown, Angelia Ebner, and Dave Greenberg · May 2, 2026 · 57 min
• The Promise (and Persistent Myths) of Montessori Education w/ Andrew Faulstich, Dr. Ayize Sabater, and Kelly Jonelis · April 18, 2026 · 1h 8m
• Spring Break 2026: HRP Summer Book Club & Montessori Mythbusting · April 4, 2026 · 5 min
• Reanimating the Art of Teaching w/ Gary Stager · March 21, 2026 · 1h 29m