In this Podcast, Angela and Davey synthesize Dr. Howie Knoff's November 8, 2025 Blog post which presents evidence that will fundamentally change how you understand school discipline and racial discrimination. Dr. Knoff and your Podcast Hosts summarize the latest research that reveals that Black students are, nationally, suspended from school at 3.8 times the rate of White students—not because of behavioral differences, but due to systematic racial bias. This significantly impacts Black students' psychological, academic, and social development, and it fundamentally rewires their developing adolescent brains for chronic trauma.
Indeed, when Black students experience unjust disciplinary accusations and actions, they suffer lasting increases in stress hormones, sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety that can persist for years. The research also shows that their still-developing emotional regulation systems become overwhelmed by feelings of rage, helplessness, and institutional betrayal. . . and that their adolescent brains simply cannot process these emotions effectively.
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Read the Full Text of this Podcast as a LinkedIn Newsletter:
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Read the Full Text of this Podcast as a Project ACHIEVE Blog:
CLICK HERE_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Davey and Angela discuss the “adultification” of Black students and its impact on implicit bias, how Black students experiencing disproportionate school discipline use "academic withdrawal" as a survival mechanism, and how Black students—who previously demonstrated high academic potential—are forced to expend their cognitive energy on threat detection and self-protection, rather than learning and collaboration. They also discuss how disproportionality creates intergenerational trauma that ripples through families and communities, and how Black students are publicly humiliated when disciplined in front of peers—experiences that lead to social isolation and lasting stigmatization within their school and peer communities.
This Podcast will transform your understanding of the documented trauma being inflicted on Black students in schools nationwide. This isn’t just about devastating statistics—it is about the human cost that implicit bias and discrimination has on Black students’ stress, anxiety, and trust, and how this systematically denies them their dreams and futures.
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What is Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive?
Davey Johnson and Angela Jones, AI-generated Educators, discuss recent reports, critical issues, and proven solutions to today's school challenges based on the work of Dr. Howie Knoff from Project ACHIEVE Educational Solutions (E-Mail: howieknoff1@projectachieve.info).
They synthesize Knoff's original, common sense, "no-holds-barred" bi-monthly Blogs (LINK: www.projectachieve.info/blog) that apply his 40 years of practical experience in schools nationwide. Knoff's information has helped generations of educators and others understand today's schools. . . and what needs to happen so that all students maximize their skills and outcomes.
Every Podcast's contents are based on original Blogs written exclusively by Dr. Howie. These original Blogs then are transformed into Podcasts using Google LM. Each final Podcast is meticulously checked for accuracy and content integrity by Dr. Howie prior to posting.
[Set Up a Meeting with Howie]: https://calendly.com/knoffprojectachieve1
Read the Full Text of this Podcast as a LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/improving-education-today-7282792274495717378
Read the Full Text of this Podcast as a Project ACHIEVE Blog: https://www.projectachieve.info/blog