Today on the podcast, Tom is speaking with Diane Tavenner and Mira Browne from Summit Public Schools.

With the backing of a group of parents, Diane Tavenner formed Summit Public Schools in 2003. Now, a network of secondary schools in the Bay Area in Washington State, the thirteen cohorts of Summit graduates have all graduated college-ready. As a mother, teacher, and network builder, Diane has learned a lot about getting kids ready for college, for work, and for life.

Since 2011, Mira Browne has served as the Chief External Officer at Summit Public Schools. With the launch of Diane's new book, Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life, Mira is stepping into a new role of leading an initiative called 'Prepared Parents' to share what they've learned about youth development and powerful parenting.

In this episode, Tom and Diane sit down together to talk about her new book, Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life, and some of the key ways they implement the ideas in her book at Summit. Mira also joins the conversation throughout to share more about Prepared Parents.

Key Takeaways:

[:14] About today's episode and guests, Diane Tavenner and Mira Browne.

[1:12] Tom welcomes Diane to the podcast!

[1:22] Diane gives a quick origin story of Summit Public Schools.

[2:15] Diane describes the Summit learning model.

[4:02] The kinds of learning you'll see if you walk into a Summit Public School!

[4:55] Diane shares about the incredibly unique opportunity Summit offers for students: two-week expeditions four times a year!

[7:00] Mira joins the podcast and talks about why and when she first joined Summit.

[8:30] What's Mira's favorite thing to show people at Summit when they first come to visit?

[9:50] Why did Diane write her book, Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life?

[12:06] Tom outlines the three sections of Diane's book as well as the first two chapters. Diane explains what the second chapter titled, 'Because it's a solvable problem,' means to her.

[14:57] Diane explains why she thinks the third chapter of her book, on real-world and project-based learning, is important.

[16:42] Tom highlights more of what is covered in Chapter three of Diane's book, and Diane speaks about why projects can be easy to take on but hard to do well.

[18:17] Tom and Diane speak about Summit's incredible teacher-to-teacher collaboration, why it is so successful, and how it makes a difference at Summit.

[19:21] Why is Chapter four's topic on self-direction important in education?

[20:52] Diane speaks about chapter five's topic on reflection and the role mentors play at Summit.

[22:04] Chapter six is on collaboration — what does collaboration look like at Summit?

[23:20] Chapter seven is on success habits — why are they important? And how do they help develop them at Summit?

[26:26] Chapter eight is on curiosity — how do they provoke curiosity with their learning model at Summit?

[28:22] In chapter nine, Diane talks about a set of universal skills and identifies a set of cognitive skills that are key in learning. How do teachers assess each of these cognitive skills?

[30:42] In Prepared, the epilogue provides a blueprint for parents. How has this become so important for Mira and what is her new journey going to be about?

[32:57] What will the Prepared Parents initiative look like at Summit?

[34:55] Mira speaks about the self-directed cycle in the epilogue of the book and how a parent can make that a part of their child's day.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Summit Public Schools

Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life, by Diane Tavenner

Mira Browne (LinkedIn)

Diane Tavenner (LinkedIn)

Turnaround for Children

Dr. Pamela Cantor

Getting Smart Podcast Ep. 217 with Dr. Pamela Cantor

PreparedforSuccess.org (The Prepared Parents initiative)

For More on the Building Blocks of Success, Listen to:

Episode 217 with Dr. Pamela Cantor!

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