Beyond the Classroom

On this episode of Beyond the Classroom, Host Tyler Kern discussed future-ready learning with Ron Stefanski, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships at Centric Learning, and Dr. Kevin Brown, Executive Director of Texas Association of School Administrators, which advocates on behalf of all the administrators in the state of Texas.

As the son of two educators, Brown has been a teacher for 31 years, an assistant principal, principal, an assistant superintendent, and a superintendent. He is also a long-time supporter of future-ready schools, even before he joined TASA. The concept entered his mind when he realized there’s more that schools can do for students than just focus on standardized tests.

“It is not easy to define, but I think for me that started when I was a principal in an elementary school that was really focused on standardized tests,” Brown said. “We were working really, really hard to do that, and we improved scores tremendously, but at the end of the day, I’m not sure we were serving our students very well.”

Learning should be more exciting, more engaging, more inspiring, and more relevant for the students, according to Brown. It shouldn’t feel like drudgery or remediation that had to go through all the time.

In 2008, just as Brown was becoming a superintendent, TASA came up with a document called “Creating a New Vision for Texas Public Schools.” Thirty-five superintendents came together to create the document, which “reads like the Declaration of Independence,” Brown said. The document focused on controlling Texas public schools at the local level, not the federal or state, and teaching students as individuals.