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The Parent Scoop - bringing research and knowledge to parents, from parents.

Hosted by Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, Ed.D., education professor and mom of two. 

The Parent Scoop is produced by Marko Kucher (Ameena's husband and partner). The podcast's theme music - Jazz Baba - features their teenage son, Josef Kucher, on guitar. The artwork for the podcast was created by their daughter, Laila Kucher, in collaboration with her dad.

About

The Parent Scoop Podcast

Ameena’s perspective: The Parent Scoop was born out of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. While self-quarantining and trying to juggle work and my children's education needs, I thought a lot about what other families were going through and wanted to put out some sort of resource that might help out working parents. As a professor at a school of education, I had access to a lot of interesting people and thought that interviewing education researchers and practitioners might be useful to “put out in the world” since so much of academic research is not easily accessible. However, I wanted to make sure that my guests were not just just speaking from their academic knowledge and expertise but also from their lived experiences of actually parenting - hence a podcast for parents, by parents (who are also researchers and/or practitioners in education writ large). Deciding to go the podcast route was easy since everyone was using their eyes so much during the pandemic with all the additional screen time - esp. working parents. And so The Parent Scoop Podcast was born, a podcast for parents, by parents (which is why the Parent scoop can also be read as the Parent’s Cooperative, since it’s a cooperation between parents. It can also be read as the Parents’ Coop - to signify both home and the fact that we’re all cooped up!).

Your Host, Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, Ed.D.

I’m a mother, an academic, an avid home cook and a seasoned traveler who has lived in four countries across three continents. I was born in Karachi, Pakistan and moved with my family to Hong Kong when I was a year old. I spent most of my childhood in Hong Kong before returning to Pakistan (this time, the bustling city of Lahore). I spent about seven years in Pakistan before heading off to Germany for college. During my time in Germany, I met Marko and we eventually got married and moved to New York City in 2000, where Marko had recently started working. While in New York City, I earned my doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. Since 2009, I have been a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, where I direct the International Educational Development program. After commuting from NYC to Philly for 7 years, I finally decided to move the family down to Philly. We’ve been living in Philly since 2015 and both my kids attend Philly public schools. The best thing about starting this podcast has been to finally be able to work with Marko (involving the kids has been an added bonus ). 

A Family Affair

The Parent Scoop is a family production. Marko manages the production end - from sound to editing and everything in between (including the music!). Our teenage son, Josef, plays guitar on the opening tune, which Marko named “Jazz Baba”. Josef is responsible for uploading the episodes and setting up/managing all the podcast hosting sites. He also makes sure his mother doesn’t write anything too cringeworthy on social media. Our daughter, Laila, frequently checks the stats of the show and also provided the artwork for the cover art - a mixed media piece called “Philly” that Laila made with her Dad (out of cardboard inserts, paint, glue, and some imagination!).