Digical Education

Happy 2019, and I think you will be energized by the enthusiasm for our work that Shannon Buerk has.

Shannon is the founder and CEO of engage2learn (www.engage2learn.org) and works with communities across the U.S. to design strategic and innovative learning solutions. Shannon's solutions are grounded in proven best practices that focus on systems thinking and Future Ready Skills. She has implemented scalable, effective coaching processes for educators on change, conflict resolution and communication. She was also recognized in 2017 with a Stevie Award as the Most Innovative Woman of the Year.

She has a deep desire, big vision, and integrated approach to change. I get to ask her a number of questions and there are many more I would like to ask. However, I was struck by her desire to modernize public schools and learning, the belief she has in the power of the public school, and a purposeful vision for designing culture and coaching innovation. I hope you will check out the engage2learn website, blog, and other resources that she mentions to learn more.

Albert Cheng is an educational researcher and professor at the University of Arkansas, was a post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard's Program on Education Policy and Governance, and was once a high school math teacher.

In this conversation, I ask Albert to share some of his most interesting findings from the Education Next Poll: https://www.educationnext.org/public-support-climbs-teacher-pay-school-expenditures-charter-schools-universal-vouchers-2018-ednext-poll/.

Likewise, I ask Albert to share some of his experience as a researcher and why its important, and lastly, I ask him to share about his findings in regards to the role of faith in education whether that be in religious schools or the faith of educators. He is doing more research on this area, but some earlier research he has done includes this article produced in the Journal of Catholic Education: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://www.uaedreform.org/albert-cheng/&httpsredir=1&article=1882&context=ce.

Despite some tech and connectivity issues with my simple podcast, I think you will gain some amazing nuggets of wisdom from this podcast on vision, collaboration, and leadership development.

I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Nigel Genders, Chief Education Officer of The Church of England Schools, along with prior-podcast participant Andy Wolfe, Deputy Chief Education Officer of Leadership Development, on their work developing a "Vision for Education and the Common Good" for the UK.

There are 4,700 Church of England schools that educate over a million students, which makes it the largest school organization in the UK. See below for some resources that Nigel and Andy mention.

The CofE Vision for Education: https://www.cefel.org.uk/vision/

Leadership of Character Education: https://www.cefel.org.uk/character/ 

Ethos Enhancing Outcomes: https://www.cefel.org.uk/visionresources/

Ashley Berner ([email protected]) is the Deputy Director of the Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins University and the author of Pluralism and American Public Education: No One Way to School.

A year ago I had a conversation with Ashley regarding the argument in the book about the ideas for and potential behind a more pluralistic approach to education in the United States. In this conversation, she shares what has happened since last year with the argument, and how pluralism might actually be a Middle Path in education policy between the current public system and a privatized alternative. Likewise, she shares about the Knowledge Map Project that is providing incredible insights into  developing a greater "vision for an educated person."

Resources mentioned:

NCEE: www.ncee.org

The New Teacher Project: www.tntp.org

50Can: www.50can.org

Chiefs for Change: www.chiefsforchange.org 

Ed Reports: www.edreports.org 

According to a recent article school and prison design are historically linked, and I was interested in having a conversation with Danish Kurani about this and how we alter our educational spaces for a new reality.

I've appreciated a number of conversations with Danish over the years as he has sparked a new energy for us to "cultivate happiness", "re-village" our schools, consider educator "comfort" and well-being, and consider "people-centric design".

Danish Kurani is Chief Designer at Kurani, Instructor at Harvard, Lecturer at Stanford, and is an American architect building environments to improve the human condition. You can find more information about Danish's projects at www.kurani.us.

According to Rex, educators as a whole display the characteristics of fatigue in a similar way as is described as The Caregivers Dilemma.

Rex Miller is the author of Humanizing the Education Machine and The Healthy Workplace Nudge, and in this conversation we discuss his new MindShift project that is a mesh of these two books as he seeks to discover solutions to the issues that are plaguing educator well-being.

For more information on Rex Miller and MindShift: https://rexmiller.com/mindshift/

In this conversation, Corey DeAngelis who is a Policy Analyst for the Cato Center for Educational Reform shares his thoughts on the election and what it might mean for Education Policy. Our conversation meanders from a review of Education Research, the election results, states to keep an eye on, and exciting research that he and other colleagues are working on.

I met Corey via Twitter, and you can find many of the resources he references if you follow him @DeAngelisCorey; however, some of the resources I link below as it may provide greater reading and context to his research and other work that is taking place in research and school choice policy.

Corey's Dissertation: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://t.co/mPQQCyfSsU&httpsredir=1&article=4215&context=etd

Impact of Regulation on School Options: https://www.heartland.org/publications-resources/publications/research--commentary-burdensome-regulations-prevent-high-quality-schools-from-participating-in-voucher-programs-in-ohio-and-milwaukee

Mental Health and School Choices: https://fee.org/articles/why-teen-suicide-is-lower-in-states-that-have-more-school-choice/

Milwaukee's Voucher Schools: https://www.the74million.org/analysis-milwaukee-religious-schools-voucher-students/ 

I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Marilyn Rhames of "Teachers who Pray" who I met in June 2017 at an Urban Education Summit. She was recently interviewed by Frederick Hess for Education Next, and I wanted to ask her some follow-up questions about her work, the role of faith and pray in our profession, and what gets her excited for schools and our profession.

Article: https://www.educationnext.org/straight-conversation-teachers-pray-founder-marilyn-rhames/ 

Marilyn Rhames is the founder and CEO of Teachers Who Pray. Marilyn also taught in Chicago Public Schools for 15 years and is a blogger for the Education Post (www.educationpost.org/network/marilyn-rhames/). And she is in the process of completing her book The Master Teacher: 12 Spiritual Lessons That Can Transform Schools and Revolutionize Public Education.

I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Cara Stillings Candal who is a Senior Fellow at Pioneer Institute and the author of The Fight for the Best Public Charter Schools in the Nation. In this conversation, we discuss the findings of her research, the lessons learned from Massachusetts about the role of autonomy and accountability in state policy, and how to foster innovative school solutions as a desire to impact the educational quality for all students.

Here is a great article that helps summarize the findings of the book: https://www.educationnext.org/fight-for-the-best-charter-schools-in-the-country-what-massachusetts-got-right-wrong/

This conversation is with Ben Bajarin who is a tech analyst for Creative Strategies in Silicon Valley, a parent of middle and high school students, spouse of a special education teacher, and a high school tennis coach.

In this conversation, I started with a question from a prior podcast visitor (Tom Arnett), will tech (AI) replace teachers? And then we roll into a slew of other topics in regard to tech and schools. Ben's points on data, integration, and collaboration really struck me as these are places where we can make significant strides in thinking more creatively about teaching and learning.

For more about Ben and Creative Strategies: https://creativestrategies.com/team/ben-bajarin/