The Miseducation of Dallas County is a podcast that seeks to understand what our poorly remembered history can tell us about the challenges we face today in our public school systems. From underfunding to over testing, from segregation to gentrification, The Miseducation tells stories that are focused on schools and school districts in Dallas County, but these realities can be found in urban and suburban school districts across the country.

Episode 1: A Morbid Fear of Taxation

This episode explores the “morbid fear of taxation” in the 1870s regarding education, and the similar opposition to raising taxes today.

Episode 2: Test Scores and Trampolines

This episode looks at N.W. Harllee – both the man and the Dallas ISD early childhood center named after him.

Episode 3: The Oral History of Margaret Benson

In this special podcast, Margaret Benson discusses what it was like to attend a Dallas high school in the years immediately following Brown vs. Board of Education.


Episode 4: The Politics of Propaganda

This episode dives into the Dallas Independent School District’s vote to fast track the renaming process for four elementary schools.

Episode 5: What's a Scorecard and How Do We Win?


A podcast that unpacks why Commit maintains a county scorecard, and what it measures.

Episode 6: Cementrification


Go behind the headlines and into the history about two low-performing schools in West Dallas closing. It to do with a lot more than test scores.

Episode 7: Desegregation ≠ Integration

Segregation, separate and unequal school systems, are perpetuated not just by superintendents and judges, but by the decisions each of us make.
Episode 8: A Conversation with Superintendent Hinojosa




A candid conversation with Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa about his experience as a student during court ordered desegregation efforts in 1971 and issues and opportunities that face the school district today.
Episode 9: The Oral History of Mollie Belt



Mollie Belt, the CEO and publisher of The Dallas Examiner, provides us a glimpse into her life growing up in Dallas in the 1940s and 50s, and a look at how segregation and integration impacted her education and her life.

Episode 10: Access > Affordability



The Dallas County Promise was launched this year as an ambitious effort to dramatically increase the number of high school graduates who earn a college degree or certificate. But don't call the Promise just a scholarship, because making college affordable isn't the biggest obstacles to overcome to create access for students who are often the first in their family to attend college.