In today’s episode, Tom interviews iLEAD Academy’s Director, Larisa McKinney, iLEAD Academy teacher Jessica Crenshaw, and Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative Director of Innovation, Alicia Sells.

 

Tom was in Kentucky last month and took a visit to iLEAD Academy — a new school developed out an idea from five western Kentucky Superintendents who wanted to create a cooperative high school that offers a STEM focus with Project Lead The Way (PLTW) courses. Alicia Sells, OVAC Director of Innovation, was asked to work on it and she went above and beyond expectations.

 

iLead Academy is an Early College High School where the goal is to help students earn an associate's degree, or, at the very least, a significant amount of credit towards college. In a career-focused accelerated pathway, they are preparing students to succeed in an increasingly project-based and global economy, and are creating opportunities to help students develop a competitive advantage.

 

Listen in to this episode to learn more about iLEAD, why it’s successful, the obstacles Jessica, Larisa, and Alicia have overcome, and their advice for other communities looking to start a new, innovative, career-focused school much like iLEAD.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:14] Clips from Tom’s tour of the iLEAD’s woodshop.

[2:58] About the shop at iLEAD.

[3:46] The concept behind iLEAD, the process students go through, and how many students go there.

[4:50] About iLEAD’s accelerated learning experience and the different pathways students can take.

[6:15] iLEAD’s small-focused learning environment that also allows students to maintain affiliation with their traditional, home school district.

[7:49] Alicia introduces herself and she explains where the idea of iLEAD came from.

[10:33] Jessica, a teacher of World Civ and English, introduces herself and explains how she teaches her classes.

[11:27] What it has been like for Jessica to teach English using the Summit Learning Platform.

[12:58] The benefits to Jessica’s blended-learning classroom with an emphasis on teacher-involvement and the growth she sees in her students.

[14:56] The project-based elements in the courses.

[15:42] How Larisa manages to balance it all: Summit learning, Project Lead The Way, and interfacing with five districts.

[18:06] ‘Owning their own learning’; the many choices the students have at iLEAD and how Larisa cultivates this level of agency.

[19:58] Jessica’s mentorship to a group of students.

[21:39] Alicia’s favorite part about iLEAD and her advice to other communities wanting to start an innovative school like iLEAD.

[23:24] Students’ strength in overcoming the absence of parents to pursue education.

[23:46] Larisa’s advice to communities that want to start an innovative, career-focused school like iLEAD.

[25:30] Jessica’s advice to classroom teachers.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

iLead AcademyGovernor's Scholar Program

Summit Learning Platform

Project Lead The Way

 

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