Field Trip Podcast

A California school district in a high-poverty community sets out to revamp its teacher evaluation system… and finds itself going much further, exploring new ways to promote teacher leadership and spark deep conversations about teaching and learning.

Robla School District in Sacramento, California set out to re-examine how they conducted teacher evaluations. Their existing process wasn’t helpful at promoting in-depth conversations that would help teachers grow. So they formed a design team of teachers and administrators to solve the problem together.

In this interview with Superintendent Ruben Reyes and peer facilitator Crystal Saladin, we asked:

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

One of the best things teachers can do to improve their practice is to film themselves teaching, then replay and reflect. This week, we speak with well-known researcher and author Dr. Jim Knight, to learn how teachers and administrators can best use video to enhance teaching, mentoring and coaching.

Dr. Knight’s 2014 book Focus on Teaching looks at this topic in-depth. In this interview, we ask him about:

Books, videos and other resources from Dr. Knight can be found at www.InstructionalCoaching.com.

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

How does a district strive for equity when it serves two distinct, racially-diverse communities?

A few miles east of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights University Heights School District serves the mostly white community of Cleveland Heights, as well as the much larger and more diverse city of University Heights. We spoke with Dr. Talisa Dixon, Superintendent, about her 4 years leading the district and working for equity:

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

What makes a leader? What makes some employees more likely to initiate projects and tackle problems in new and proactive ways? Why are some conversations so difficult to have in our teams? This week, we look at these questions in light of three common “Ways of Knowing” — that is, meaning-making systems we all use, whether we realize it or not.

In this interview, we speak with Dr. Ellie Drago-Severson, Program Director, and Professor of Education Leadership and Adult Learning & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University, and her doctoral student, Christy O’Connor, a PhD student in Education Leadership at Teachers College and school administrator at Florham Park School District in New Jersey, about:

For more information about this please see Ellie’s best-selling books Helping Teachers Learn: Principal Leadership for Adult Growth and Development (Corwin, 2004) and Leading Adult Learning: Supporting Adult Development in Our Schools (Corwin/The National Staff Development Council, 2009), as well as Becoming Adult Learners: Principles and Practices for Effective Development (Teachers College Press, 2004) and Helping Educators Grow: Practices and Strategies for Supporting Leadership Development (Harvard Education Press, 2012). She is also a coauthor of Learning for Leadership: Developmental Strategies for Building Capacity in Our Schools (Corwin, 2013), Learning Designs: Reach the Highest Standard of Professional Learning (Corwin, 2015), Tell Me So I Can Hear You: A Developmental Approach to Feedback for Educators (Harvard Education Press, 2016) and Leading Change Together: Developing Educator Capacity Within Schools and Systems (ASCD, 2018).

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

With an innovative approach to teacher leadership, Virginia Beach City Public Schools used design thinking to empower teachers to implement personalized learning in the classroom.

In this interview with Janene Gorham, Director of Teacher Leading and Learning at VBCPS, she shares:

“I think teaching is really hard and complex — and I think the most powerful learning experiences that we can provide teachers are ones where they take an active leadership role in their own learning. That’s really the most exciting part of my day: working to build the capacity of teachers to be leaders."

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

A financial incentive to reduce the number of personal days teachers take? Here’s the story of one district’s efforts to save money and improve instruction.

Dr. Cecelia McLoon is the Human Resources Director at Jeff Davis County Schools in Georgia. In today’s episode, she discusses the financial incentive they’re offering to any teacher with fewer than four absences, how it’s going over with their employees, and the impact they’re seeing already. We also ask her about:

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

A new administrator, a new partnership and a lot of hard work. This is the story of Bonneville Elementary’s journey from underperformance to academic rigor and a renewed culture.

In 2014, Bonneville Elementary was in the bottom 1% of elementary schools in Utah. Ogden School District saw the need for change and sprang into action. With a new principal, a partnership with school transformation organization Ed Direction and a willingness to ask hard questions and roll up their sleeves, Bonneville Elementary is a completely different place today. This is their story.

In this interview, we speak with Janice Bukey, Principal; Sarah Roberts, Executive Director of Instructional Leadership; and Dr. Hollie Pettersson, Ed Direction’s co-education practice lead.

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

After a funding crisis at Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in Texas, the district decided to try a different coaching model to build teacher capacity.

In this interview, Dr. Suzanne Newell, Executive Director of Curriculum & Instruction and Dr. Laura Koehler, principal of Grapevine Middle School, discuss their new strategy.

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

At Franklin Public Schools in Wisconsin, building the capacity of teachers means developing principals.

In this interview, Director of Teaching and Learning Christopher Reuter and principal Erin King share what they’ve learned over the past few years as FPS has worked to grow building leaders as well as teachers.

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.

Gresham-Barlow School District in Oregon has a fresh perspective on learning walks. Looking for a way to offer professional learning opportunities that promote teacher voice and teacher agency and that lead to growth in instructional practice, they began something they call “Collaboration Walks,” where teachers collectively decide on focus areas before observing a lesson.

In this interview, we speak with instructional coach Sarah Hayden, about:

Field Trip is a podcast from Frontline Education.