Hip Hop Genius 2.0:
Remixing High School Education
Many educators already know that hip-hop can be a powerful tool for engaging students. But can hip-hop save our schools? In Hip Hop Genius 2.0, sam seidel, Tony Simmons and Michael Lipset introduce an iteration of hip-hop, told mainly through the story of High School for Recording Arts, that goes far beyond the usual approach of studying rap music as classroom content and looks instead at deeply honoring the knowledge of urban students.
The authors lay out a vision for how hip-hop's genius — the resourceful creativity and swagger that took it from a local phenomenon to a global force — can lead to a fundamental remix of the way we think of teaching, school design, and leadership. Hip-Hop Genius 2.0 is set to drop early 2022 and features contributions from Gloria Ladson-Billings, D Smoke, Herb Kohl, George Clinton, and David “TC” Ellis. All proceeds from this book go to support the students of the High School for Recording Arts. Read a free excerpt at The74 and another at High Tech High “Unboxed”.
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Building Bridgemakers (Excerpt from Hip Hop Genius 2.0)
This excerpt tells the story of where Walter Cortina’s (HSRA student) activism took him when the pandemic started and St. Paul went into lockdown. He has received the support and guidance to do personally meaningful work and receive academic credit for it, even though it falls outside of the confines of a traditional school setting.
How to Pay Your Students to Go to School: Student-Run Record Labels and the Creative Pedagogue
This article covers the work of High School for Recording Arts to leverage the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act to support opportunity youth with paid, for-credit internships on-campus. Written by Dr. Michael Lipset and published in the McGill Journal of Education 2021.
Nobody Ever Asked Me Why I Left School
This study was a youth participatory action research project funded by the Center for Policy Design to better understand why students leave some schools, then enroll and stay at others. It identified the importance of interpersonal press at High School for Recording Arts, i.e. the school's relationships-first approach to academic achievement.
Education Equity Requires Social Justice Warriors
This article by Tony Simmons and published in Education Weekly identifies the imperative for advocates for social justice in the fight for education equity. Published July, 2018.
When School Goes Home: Reimagining the Role of Educator
Dr. Linda Nathan and Dr. Michael Lipset documents HSRA's signature approach to establishing a representative and critically conscious workforce despite the challenges of working within America's public education system. Published as a Featured Article in the November 2021 issue of Phi Delta Kappan International.
The Ten Equity Commandments
Tony Simmons and Dr. Michael Lipset outline High School for Recording Arts’ ethos and approach to establishing and maintaining equity in education.
It Can Be Done
Through peer-reviewed research, Dr. Letitia Basford, Dr. Joe Lewis, and Dr. Moffet Trout document the High School for Recording Arts’ ability to disrupt the school to prison pipeline. At a time when many assume such outcomes to be impossible, this article shows that “It Can Be Done.” Published by Springer in The Urban Review in 2021.
Teacher-Powered Odyssey 2020 Keynote
The 2020 Teacher-Powered Odyssey Conference requested Tony Simmons, Executive Director of the HIgh School for Recording Arts, Haben Gebreghergish, HSRA Math Facilitator and 4 Learning Coach, and Walter Cortina, HSRA student and founder of Bridgemakers to deliver the keynote speech.
