The Advocate Podcast: Amplifying Voices. Challenging Systems. Prioritizing Children.
The Advocate Podcast centers real stories from social media to help parents, educators, and communities advocate for children with wisdom, courage, and compassion. Hosted by Dr. Kristi N. Love, the podcast challenges harmful narratives while offering restorative, equity-centered perspectives that lead to understanding and change.
Episodes
19 episodes
We Intervene for Academics, So Why Not Behavior?
Some students struggle loudly.Others struggle silently while everyone assumes they’re fine.In this episode of The Advocate Podcast, Dr. Kristi N. Love explores why schools often treat academic struggles with intervention and suppo...
How Does a Child Reach 8th Grade Still Struggling? Retention, Social Promotion, and the Support Students Deserve
In this episode of The Advocate Podcast, Dr. Kristi N. Love tackles one of education’s hardest and most emotional questions:👉 How does a child reach 8th grade still struggling academically?Through an honest and balanced c...
Passing, But Not Prepared: The Truth About Grades
Are passing grades really a sign of success… or just a sign students are getting through?In this episode, we take an honest look at a growing concern in education: 👉 Students who are passing… but not truly understandin...
If Not Traditional Grading… Then What?: Making Sense of Fair Grading
What actually makes a grade fair, and what happens when we mix learning, behavior, and completion into one number?In this episode, we go beyond traditional grading debates and get into the real questions educators and parents are asking ...
Grading or Gatekeeping? What Are We Really Measuring in Schools?
What if the way we grade students is not actually measuring what they know?In this episode, we take a deep look at traditional grading practices and ask hard but necessary questions about equity, accuracy, and student learning.Fro...
From At-Risk to At-Promise: How Words Shape Student Outcomes
What if the problem starts with the labels we use? I’m your host, Dr. Kristi N. Love, and on this episode of The Advocate Podcast, we explore how the words we choose in education shape student identity, expectations, and outcomes.<...
Gifted but Disengaged: The Truth Behind ‘Unmotivated’ Students
What if the students we label as “unmotivated” are actually the most misunderstood?In this powerful episode of The Advocate Podcast, Dr. Kristi N. Love sits down with a guest whose story challenges one of the most commo...
Beyond Bootstraps: What We’ve Been Told vs. What Is True
What if the problem isn’t that people aren’t working hard enough…but that we’ve been telling the wrong story?In this episode of The Advocate Podcast, we challenge the deeply rooted “bootstrap” narrative—the idea that success...
Intelligence-Led Literacy: Exploring Social and Environmental Determinants and Life Trajectories. A Conversation with Demetrius Paschel
In this episode of The Advocate Podcast, we explore why literacy is not just an education issue—it’s a justice issue. I sit down with an expert to discuss the social and environmental determinants that shape early childhood readin...
Before the Interview: Why Third Grade Reading Is a Justice Issue
Third-grade reading proficiency is often discussed as an academic milestone. But what if it’s also a justice issue?In this episode of The Advocate Podcast, Dr. Kristi N. Love begins a deeper conversation about why early literacy...
Literacy Is Liberation: Why Third Grade Changes Everything
Third-grade reading isn’t just a milestone, it’s a turning point. In this episode of The Advocate Podcast, Dr. Kristi N. Love explores why early literacy is one of the most powerful tools for equity, opportunity, and life outcomes. We ...
A Parent's Letter: Respecting Identity in Christian Schools
This week on The Advocate, Dr. Kristi N. Love shares a powerful letter from an anonymous parent at a Christian school advocating for respect, dignity, and belonging for her child.This episode isn’t an interview—it’s a reflection...
Until He Can Speak for Himself: A Mother’s Advocacy Journey
When Taylor Christina Terry sat in my 10th-grade classroom, neither of us could have imagined the journey ahead.Now a wife and mother, Taylor is raising her oldest son, Clayton, who has autism. In this powerful and honest conversation, s...
Communication vs. Understanding: When Advocacy Becomes Necessary
What happens when parents follow the rules, communicate clearly, and still aren’t heard?In this episode of The Advocate, Dr. Kristi Love continues the conversation sparked by her interview with Dr. Yanique Rolingson, digging dee...
Interview with Dr. Yanique Rolingson- Educator and Author
In this episode of The Advocate, we slow down and reflect on what it truly means to teach, lead, and serve with purpose in a season of exhaustion and noise.This thoughtful conversation explores teaching as a calling, the emotion...
Let the Child Speak
What happens when we slow down long enough to actually listen to children?In this episode of The Advocate Podcast, Dr. Kristi Love unpacks a powerful social media post that sparked strong reactions and uses it as an entry point ...
When Discipline Replaces Development
In this episode, we confront a hard truth in education: what happens when discipline becomes a substitute for development. Too often, students, especially those from historically marginalized communities, are punished for behaviors that are act...