Education Evolution

It’s all too common that our high school graduates go on to college unprepared for the rigor of the college classroom. Or that they go into the workforce without the tools and knowledge they need to succeed. It’s costing everyone dearly--from the cost to our industries to train new graduates to even those graduates’ future incomes.

Stanley Litow, today’s guest, has a solution. And it’s one that’s been growing since its inception as a single school in Brooklyn, NY in 2011. Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) has since grown to 240 schools in 12 states and 28 countries and has helped to close the achievement gap among some of the most undereducated youth.

On this episode, Stanley explains the philosophy behind P-TECH, how it supports schools, students and industry, why it saves us all money, and what we as educational leaders can do to help support models like this.

Stanley S. Litow is a Professor at both Columbia and Duke University. At Duke University, he also serves as Innovator in Residence. Stan is the author of The Challenge for Business and Society: From Risk to Reward and co-author of Breaking Barriers: How P-Tech Schools Create a Pathway from High School to College to Career.

He previously served as President of the IBM International Foundation and as Deputy Chancellor of Schools for the City of New York. Before his service at IBM and the NYC public schools, he served as President and Founder of Interface and as Executive Director of the NYC Urban Corps, operated out of the Mayor’s Office.

He has served on multiple Presidential and Gubernatorial Commissions and in addition to his service on the SUNY Board of Trustees; he also serves on the board of Roosevelt House and the Citizens Budget Commission.

Stan helped devise the innovative school to college to career program called P-TECH, as well as the IBM Corporate Service Corps, often referenced as the corporate version of the Peace Corps.

He has received multiple awards for his community service, from organizations such as the Anne Frank Commission, the Martin Luther King Commission, and the Center for an Urban Future as well as the Corning Award from the New York State Business Council.

[2:00] Stanley’s journey of contributing to society

[6:15] Challenges in education today

• [7:21] How P-TECH is working to change that
• [12:12] How P-TECH is set up
• [19:01] The cost of remedial courses for high school graduates
• [20:13] The financial benefits of completing college
• [26:16] What’s the next step
• [28:17] How P-TECH influences high school curriculum
• [33:49] Getting buy-in from key stakeholders
• [37:48] How to get businesses to say yes to teenage interns
• [50:42] Stanley’s magic wand
• [52:28] Maureen’s takeaways

• Stanley’s book: Breaking Barriers: How P-Tech Schools Create a Pathway from High  School to College to Career
• P-Tech website
• Barack Obama Book: The Barack Obama Biography
• Email Maureen
• Maureen’s TEDx: Changing My Mind to Change Our Schools
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep

As educators, we know the importance of making sure our students feel safe. Their learning depends on it.

But we often forget that the success of our students depends on our teachers and school staff members feeling safe and heard, too. It’s only with the safety of our teachers that they can show up fully for the students they’re charged with supporting.

This week on the podcast, Michael Vargas of Lead By Impact and I talk about how the psychological safety of our teachers transfers over the safety and success of our students. Because with that safety, teachers are likelier to share ideas and strategies, and are more open-minded and understanding.

I hope you’ll tune in and think about how you can facilitate more open conversations in your own schools and create a structure around collaboration and sharing.

Michael is an international facilitator with nearly 10 years of experience.  Utilizing his Master in Clinical Psychology, improv, and design thinking background Michael facilitates workshops and speaks to organizations on developing collaborative and productive team cultures.  Lead By Impact supports teams to develop psychological safety, building trust, and effective communication.  They have worked with organizations like Dropbox, Salesforce, Kaiser Permanente, ACLU, Evergreen Middle School, the County of San Diego, and many more.

• [1:56] What is psychological safety
• [3:34] Schools evolving for all learners 
• [3:56] What prevents teachers from speaking up
• [8:59] Ways schools can start these conversations with teachers and create safety
• [14:23] Transferring this idea to students and to life in general
• [15:55] Clarity in structure and process
• [21:33] Us vs. Them is an opportunity for clarity
• [23:26] Tools to help teachers move beyond the traditional landscape
• [26:06] Setting the soil to help this idea grow
• [30:49] How to reframe if no one has questions
• [32:29] The deep wisdom of nurturing people’s intuition
• [35:06] Turbo Time Questions
• [46:18] Michael’s magic wand
• [49:45] Maureen’s takeaways

• Building a Psychologically Safe Workplace--Amy Edmondson’s TEDx talk
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Nobel Peace prize winner Daniel Kahneman
• Link to Psychological Safety Infographic from Lead by Impact
• Episode 61: Examining Polarity Thinking with Lindsay Y. Burr
• Maureen’s TEDx talk: Changing My Mind to Change our Schools
• Email Maureen
• Maureen’s Changing My Mind to Change Our Schools TEDx talk
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep

We’re all guilty of spending a little too much time on screens these days. Thank you to the chaos of the last 18 months for this. 

And not all of this screen time is due to distance learning. SO much of it is time on social media. It’s completely changed the way we interact with others and the agency we have over our time and even our thoughts. It’s true!

I recently watched The Social Dilemma, a documentary on Netflix. It explores the dangerous impact that social media has on all of us and how it’s specifically designed to manipulate our thoughts and our actions. The experts behind these platforms call themselves out!

The scariest part? We don’t even see it happening because it’s happening so slowly. 

Tune in to this episode as I explore the damage that’s being done thanks to social media and offer some ideas to open the conversation in schools and families to combat the issue. Social media isn’t bad but we do need to look at it with a more discerning view so we don’t use it as the crutch it’s become.

• [1:59] Screen time and teens
• [3:33] Impact of social networking
• [4:33] The experts of social media
• [5:28] The most urgent problem of our time
• [7:00] Profit at all costs driving tech companies
• [7:23] If you’re not paying for the product, you ARE the product
• [8:05] Comparing illegal drugs and the software industry
• [9:33] How social media is harming the psyche of our youth
• [10:26] Social media as a source of loneliness
• [11:39] Schools and families can combat these challenges
• [13:47] Engagement and a reality check
• [14:50] Pointers and takeaways from the documentary--right from the experts
• [15:58] Get educated with Stanford Internet Observatory
• [18:09] Business models with accountability and humane design

• The Social Dilemma Trailer
• The Social Dilemma Quotes
• Tristan Harris’ 2017 TED Talk: How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day 
• #mysocialtruth
• Center for Humane Technology tips for educators and parents
• Center for Humane Technology: How to take back control
• Stanford Internet Observatory
• Email Maureen
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep

With schools going back into session and, at the same time, COVID numbers starting to climb again, it’s difficult to know what this “new normal” will look like. 

The entire educational landscape has shifted, and it’s impossible to know what it will look like in the coming months and years. In this conversation with Meg Ormiston, we talk about how things won’t--and shouldn’t--go back to “normal,” whatever normal might have been pre-COVID.

This is a great time for teachers and educational leaders alike to take a look at what worked before schools closed, how they shifted to engage students remotely during COVID (and what didn’t work), and make changes to what day-to-day school will look like moving forward. It’s time to pivot to put the responsibility of learning where it should be...on the students. But to do this effectively, students need choices and empowerment.

Listen in to find out what Meg has done to help teachers navigate online learning and support them through learning how to teach with technology--even if they’ve never used a Google product before. It’s a mindset shift that no one expected but that we all need to navigate.

Meg Ormiston, in her role as a consultant, partners with school systems that have committed to 21st-century learning experiences for everyone. Meg creates a unique partnership in each district, reflecting the mission, vision, and direction that local leaders identify. Her districtwide projects include guiding teams through the visioning process, designing and delivering professional development, facilitating classroom modeling, developing student leaders in technology, and educating parents.

Meg is the lead author in the NOW Classrooms series of five books published in 2018. The books, written by 27 practicing educators, are organized into grade bands of K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 and a leadership guide. The NOW Classrooms: Lessons for Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through Technology books are practical and sequence technology skills K-12. The 3-5 NOW book was awarded a Teachers Choice Award by Learning Magazine. Also, Meg was named in “2018’s Most Influential People in EdTech” by Tech and Learning Magazine.

After twelve years of teaching and coaching in the classroom, Meg volunteered on her local school board, facilitated grant projects, and continued researching and writing about best practices.

To learn more about Meg’s work, follow @megormi on Twitter.

• [1:45] Meg as a tech inspiration before and during COVID
• [2:30] Empowering students to own their learning
• [4:40] Change in student energy
• [5:26] Retraining teaching force
• [9:06] The changing landscape of professional development
• [12:20] One size does not fit all
• [14:45] The importance of technology
• [17:00] Why replicating the school day didn’t work in COVID
• [20:40] Now is the time to not go back to what was
• [21:45] Taking the paper out of teaching
• [24:26] We need to give up control for the sake of learning
• [28:38] Rapid fire round
• [35:16] Meg’s magic wand: Let students work in groups, be empowered, and explore and make mistakes.

• Meg’s email
• Solution Tree: NOW Classrooms educational technology series
• Mighty Networks app and online PD
• Tech Teachers website: 
• "The Arrow" 
• End of Average (Unlocking Our Potential by Embracing What Makes Us Different  book and TEDx Talk by Todd Rose
• Essentialism--The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
• Carol Dweck’s TED talk: The Power of Believing You Can Improve
• Episode 12: Micro-Teams Enhancing Student Agency and Learning
• End of Average: Unlocking Our Potential by Embracing What Makes Us Different book and TEDx Talk by Todd Rose
• Email Maureen
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep

TED talks are so valuable because of the ideas they share across the world. When Patti Dobrolowski drew me standing on a TEDx platform, it sparked a goal in me: to stand on a TED stage.

Fast forward a bit to the big idea that became my TED talk. 

I’ve done a lot to amplify my voice around changing our schools. That’s why this podcast exists in the first place! And after more than a year of working on my big idea, Changing My Mind to Change Our Schools is officially recorded and on its way to TED.

We all have big ideas, and we can all speak them to the world. Some through TED, others through podcasts, and still others through a community of people who want to hear our message.

Listen in to today’s episode to hear where my own TED talk came from and who was pivotal in it getting recorded.

[1:40] What is a TED Talk?

[3:28] Why I did a TED Talk

[4:20] Changing My Mind to Change Our Schools

[5:33] Flashbacks of memorization

[6:22] TED is a labor of love

[7:28] Learning through the Education Evolution podcast guests

[9:16] My big TED idea

[11:45] Acknowledgments

• Edmonds School District Youth TEDx 

• Episode 59: Pulling Together to Change Schools--but Keep What’s Working

• Episode 56: Getting to the Brainy Business of School Change with Melina Palmer

• Episode 61: Examining Polarity Thinking with Lindsay Y. Burr

• TEDx Everett

• Episode 2: Inviting Imagination and Our Agilities into Teen Goal Setting with Patti Dobrowolski

• Cherry Street Films

• Email Maureen

• The Education Evolution

• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution

• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution

• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution

• EdActive Collective

• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids

• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America

• The Micro-School Coalition

• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition

• LEADPrep

As we strive to create environments where all students feel seen, heard, valued, and are thriving, it’s important to ensure that students feel supported and connected with not only educators, but also each other. This may seem difficult to accomplish when you consider that kids come from all different backgrounds and have different needs and methods of learning, but we as educators can gently encourage better social inclusion in education.

Today’s guest, Kathleen Marcath, joins the podcast to discuss the importance of inclusion literature in our classrooms, especially as it pertains to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Inclusion literature not only helps normalize and celebrate the differences we have, but it keeps kids engaged and fosters better communication and connection between them socially.

Listen in as Kathleen shares about her experience with writing inclusive children’s literature & her mission to extend the conversation of inclusion.

Kathleen Marcath has a B.A. degree in Deaf Community Studies. Years of experience as a special education sign language supporter have kindled her passion for helping children reach their educational potential. Kathleen is delighted to help fill the need for picture books illustrated in American Sign Language and is the author of My Monster Truck Goes Everywhere With Me, an educational and fun story that teaches 32 signs in American Sign Language. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother, and resides in Michigan.

To learn more, you can visit her website or find her on Facebook and Instagram.

• [1:48] Following our passions in life and making a difference
• [8:48] Inclusion as a lens for selecting an illustrator
• [9:58] Benefits of ASL for children and everyone
• [28:07] Kathleen’s Magic Wand: Sign Language instruction and practice available in schools for children of all ages
• [30:03] Maureen’s Take-Aways

• My Monster Truck Goes Everywhere With Me
• Isaac Liang, illustrator
• Whole Brain Living book and TED talk by Jill Bolte Taylor
• Christine Sun Kim’s TED talk on the enchanting music of sign language
• Seattle’s public bilingual ASL Rosen Family Preschool
• Jim Kwik
• Email Maureen
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep

Did you have that teacher that just got it? The one that helped you learn to creatively, problem solve, and believe that you could do it—even when you were SURE you couldn’t? 

Today in this very special episode, we will take a look at a teacher who has made a lasting impact. I'm chatting with Terry Risdon, unofficial co-founder of our LEADPrep micro-school, an amazing hands-on science teacher, and my educational partner-in-crime since 2014. 

Terry has helped grow LEADPrep into a learner-centered sanctuary serving a multitude of students over the past seven years. All good things must come to an end, and Terry is retiring, but her legacy of educational excellence and accessibility will live on in our students, teachers, and our community. 

Terry Risdon is the recently-retired Director of Learning at LEADPrep. Her education is in Zoology, Ecology, and Secondary Education. After teaching briefly in public schools, Terry found her heart’s calling while homeschooling her son through high school, in addition to teaching many other homeschooled students and students with special needs. She can be found gardening with native plants, swimming, and watching birds at her backyard feeders in her spare time.

For more information, visit LEADPrep’s website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

• [3:11] Inquiry-based learning starts with the student exploring
• [5:06] Scaffolding to get past student resistance
• [14:43] Science and service-learning combined
• [16:58] Obstacles to learner-center, hands-on learning
• [21:23] Turbo Time with Terry
• [29:09] Terry’s Magic Wand: Letting students design and implement their own learning experiences
• [30:52] Maureen’s Take-Aways

• Inquiry-based learning
• Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History is a 1989 book on the evolution of Cambrian fauna by Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould
• The Disarming Case to Act Right Now on Climate Change, Greta Thunberg’s TED talk
• LEADPrep’s video tribute to Terry
• LEADPrep’s Tribute to My Partner-in-Crime blog
• Email Maureen
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep

Our antiquated educational system needs transformation. But how do we go about creating a system that reaches the needs of students in an equitable, inclusive, and learner-centered way? 

Today I’m talking with Alin Bennett, Vice President of Practice and Field Advancement at Education Reimagined. His career has been dedicated to creating learner-centered, equitable education in a variety of school leadership roles. 

Education Reimagined supports school transformation at the national level and creates an equitable education system, offering a powerful vision for America’s future.

Alin Bennett is Education Reimagined's Vice President of Practice and Field Advancement. He is a staunch advocate for national school transformation and creating an equitable education system. His previous work has included supporting curriculum development, leading advisories, and leading schools in ways that continuously advanced learner-centered, equity-based practices. Alin is based in Providence, RI, where he lives with his wife and two young children.

Learn more about Education Reimagined on their website or by following them on Facebook or Twitter.

• [2:18] Education Reimagined Five Core Elements
• [3:33] The vital role of community in learning 
• [9:03] Beginning the journey of Education Reimagined
• [17:11] Learning about the Learning Lab
• [25:58] Agency is more than just a choice!
• [32:01] Alin’s Magic Wand: That all learners experience a sense of love and belonging with adults incorporating these practices into the learning environment
• [34:37] Maureen’s Take-Aways

• Education Reimagined Vision and Five Core Elements
• Education Reimagined’s Learning Lab
• Fred Rogers’: The Last Interview
• Lera Boroditsky’s How Language Shapes the Way We Think TED talk 
• The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
• Episode 61: Lindsay Burr on Polarity Thinking
• Episode 39: Jenny O’Meara and Donnell Cannon on community voice in designing schools
• Episode 4: Tom Vanderark in agile schools in place-based learning
• Education Reimagined resources
• Email Maureen
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep

What happens when we inspire youth? When giving them the tools, experiences, and room to show us how deeply capable and creative they are? And when we take project-based, experiential learning far outside the classroom and into nature?

By allowing students to explore the outdoors as the classroom, instead of offering the traditional lockstep recipe for “success,” we create critical thinkers, lifelong learners, and whole people excited to create positive change.

Today’s guest, Dawn Robinette, is bringing the classroom to nature in her micro-school. Dawn  is the founder and director of Camino De Santiago Nature School. Her school weaves core academics in with the study of nature-based subject matter and creates deep connections between students, parents, and Mother Nature. 

Dawn Robinette is the founder and director of Camino De Santiago Nature School, founded in January 2013. It serves as an alternative and unique educational resource for children 5 to 12 years old that provides them with academic experiences while immersed in nature. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1993, where the school’s philosophy of Learning By Doing resonated with her. At the University of Washington, Dawn’s master’s thesis was based on design-build. She spent nine months as a teacher’s assistant, working on a design-build project in which her class built a multigenerational home for the indigenous community of Yakima, WA. Dawn also taught young adults at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Art Institute of Orange County.

For more information, please visit her website or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

• [2:06] The beginnings of learning in nature
• [7:17] Making learning relevant through design-build projects
• [11:53] Summative assessment versus formative assessments
• [18:26] Roadblocks and obstacles for alternative education
• [37:33] Dawn’s Magic Wand: develop more programs to offer outdoor learning to students—even those in traditional educational environments 
• [41:19] Maureen’s Take-Aways

• Leo, Dog of the Sea chronicles 
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: instructive poetry on Chief Seattle’s web of life
• Tom Brown, Jr, naturalist, school founder, and author
• Schools are Killing Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk
• Cradle to Cradle Design, William McDonough’s TED talk 
• Harvard article on the importance of play
• Benefits of Nature for Kids
• U of Minnesota’s How Does Nature Impact Our Wellbeing?
• The Camino de Santiago
• Email Maureen
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep

Chad Carlson has been in the field of independent education for more than seventeen years, working with both middle and high school students in humanities, language arts, and Spanish. He recently returned to Boise after several years at an International Baccalaureate School in Bogotá, Colombia, and at an independent school in Sun Valley, Idaho. Chad received his B.A. in humanities from the University of Oregon and his M.A. in Latin American studies from UCSD and recently earned his Masters in Educational Leadership at Boise State University.

Learn more about One Stone by following them on Facebook and Twitter.

• [2:21] The origin story of One Stone, a student-founded high school
• [5:03] Benefits of student-driven learning
• [9:14] A student journey of discovery and redefinition
• [16:03] Living in Beta
• [22:22] Roadblocks to student-led and real-world, relevant learning
• [46:15] Chad’s Magic Wand: Getting rid of standardized tests and curriculum
• [47:26] Maureen’s Take-Aways

• Living in Beta Wayfinding
• Episode 47: Wayfinding Academy College
• Careers in a lifetime
• Episode 56: Learning About the Subconscious’ Impact on Our School Decisions
• Think Again by Adam Grant
• 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• All it Takes is Ten Minutes, TEDx by Andy Puddicombe, founder of Headspace
• Email Maureen
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep