Getting Smart Podcast

By Getting Smart

This podcast has over 500 episodes highlighting developing trends in K-12 education, postsecondary and lifelong learning. Each week, Getting Smart team members interview students, leading authors, exp... more

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The podcast currently has 751 episodes available.

Best of Getting Smart Podcast

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Number 1: Are schools collecting too much data? | Dr. Kelly Page
Digital badges and credentials promise to finally show what a learner actually knows. Dr. Kelly Page says that promise has a dark side nobody's talking about. In this episode, host Mason Pashia talks with Dr. Kelly Page, a social design ethnographer and author of "When Credentials Cause Harm: Unpacking the Risks of Verifiable Learning and Work Records." Kelly has spent years documenting how well-intentioned credentialing systems can end up excluding, surveilling, or flattening the very people they're supposed to empower. They get into who actually controls a learner's record, why some of the most marginalized communities are also the most wary of the video documentation these systems rely on, and why more data isn't the same as the right data. Kelly makes the case for a future built on self-sovereign data, where students and workers, not districts or vendors, own and control their own records, and shares practical advice for school leaders on what to ask before adopting any new credentialing technology. Guest Links Kelly's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkellypage/ Live What You Love (LWYL Studio): lwylstudio.com When Credentials Cause Harm (book): https://www.amazon.com/When-Credentials-Cause-Harm-Verifiable/dp/1969861029
September 09, 202646min
Number 2: Catching Up: Meta's Billion-Dollar Payout, AI Search Bias, and Fixing Student Voice
In this episode of Catching Up, Nate McClennen and Mason Pashia get into what happens after a $2.5 billion settlement lands, and whether "fund real life" is actually a better answer than another wave of mental health apps. They also talk through a study showing AI models recommend completely different schools depending on which one you ask, and why that's a bigger deal than it sounds. From there, the conversation turns to a real tension in AI and education right now: efficiency versus efficacy. Nate makes the case that the real opportunity isn't faster lesson planning, it's building AI tools around what learning science already tells us works, things like spaced practice, real-time feedback, and targeted instruction. He also breaks down a simple way to think about how school systems actually learn, separating implementation, innovation, and continuous improvement, and why mixing them up is often where districts get stuck. Mason brings a deep dive on moving past tokenistic student surveys toward real intergenerational co-design, with some genuinely striking examples, a student-drafted AI policy bill that passed 82 to 16, and the Kentucky Student Voice Team's constitutional lawsuit against their own state. They wrap up with something a little lighter: a living room full of guitars at a family wedding, and a pottery shop in Illinois that's run entirely on the honor system, two small reminders of what real human connection still looks like. Links If Social Media Companies Owe Billions, Let's Fund What Kids Need Taylor Lorenz in the Guardian PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP https://whiteboardadvisors.docsend.com/view/aka3amitbucqs8f7 Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) Youth Power Fund
September 04, 202658min
Number 3: Janice K. Jackson Ran Chicago Public Schools. Here's What She'd Change. | Janice K. Jackson
Public education is facing a moment it hasn't seen in decades: shrinking enrollment, an explosion of school choice options, and real questions about who should even be in charge of a district's decisions. In this episode, host Mason Pashia talks with Dr. Janice K. Jackson, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest school district, and current executive director of the Aspen Institute's Education and Society program. Janice led CPS under mayoral control and has watched the district's shift toward a hybrid, partially elected school board unfold in real time, all while Denver debates moving in the opposite direction. Mason and Janice start with technology and screen time, why Janice thinks blanket phone bans miss the real issue in classrooms, and why she worries restrictive policies often land hardest on low-income students. They talk through what it actually looks like to involve parents in decisions rather than just informing them after the fact. The conversation then turns to governance. Janice explains the real trade-offs between mayoral control and an elected school board, why she believes accountability gets harder as more people are put in charge of a district, and what she's watching in Chicago's board election this fall. They close by digging into the rise of microschools and alternative school models, the tension between competency-based learning and a transcript system that hasn't meaningfully changed in over a century, and what public schools can realistically do with underused buildings as enrollment declines. Guest Links Face the Nation CBS Interview — https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-janice-jackson-on-face-the-nation-january-31-2021/ The Education Equation Podcast/Interview — https://youtu.be/6g7b6Nz_XXw Aspen Institute Education & Society Program — https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/education-and-society-program/
September 02, 202633min
Number 4: The $1,700 School Tax Credit Public Schools Should Be Talking About | Antonio Parés
A new federal tax credit is launching in January 2027 that could bring real money into public schools, and most districts don't even know it exists yet. In this episode, host Nate McClennen talks with Antonio Parés, founder and principal of Walnut Hill Workshop, about the Education Freedom Tax Credit, also known as the Federal Tax Credit for Scholarships, or FTCS. The program lets any taxpayer redirect up to $1,700 to a scholarship-granting organization, or SGO, at zero net cost to themselves. Antonio breaks down how the credit actually works for donors, how school districts can take advantage of it, and which fees and expenses qualify. He makes the case that public education, not just private schools, is in a strong position to benefit from this program, since districts already have the donor relationships, trust, and infrastructure that most new scholarship organizations are starting from scratch. Nate and Antonio also dig into the still-unresolved 90/10 rule, which will determine how much of every donated dollar has to go directly to scholarships versus administrative costs, why shared SGO infrastructure across districts might make sense, and what concrete steps superintendents, school board members, and district leaders should be taking right now, well before Treasury's final guidance comes out in September. Whether you're new to this topic or already tracking it closely, this conversation lays out what's known, what's still uncertain, and how to start preparing. Learn more about Antonio's work at Walnut Hill Workshop: https://www.linkedin.com/company/walnut-hill-workshop/ Related reading: "Want Federal Tax Credit Money for Public Schools? Here's What to Do Now" (The 74): https://www.the74million.org/article/want-federal-tax-credit-money-for-public-schools-heres-what-to-do-now/
August 26, 202651min
Number 5: Are We Designing Schools for Systems or for People? | Jane Shore
Dr. Jane Shore is an education researcher, school co-founder, and author of "People-Based Learning: The Future of Learning is Human" (Routledge, 2026). She joins host Rebecca Midles to talk about her three-part framework, connect, reflect, and affect, and why the future of education depends on human connection, not just technology. Jane is the founder of School of Thought PHL, a school built at the intersection of learning science, neuroscience, and visual thinking. Jane's Book: https://www.routledge.com/People-Based-Learning-The-Future-of-Learning-is-Human/Shore/p/book/9781041089858 Jane's School (School of Thought PHL): https://revolutionschool.org/ Jane's Substack: https://substack.com/@schoolofthought Jane's Edutopia Profile: https://www.edutopia.org/profile/jane-shore/ Jane's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-r-shore/
August 19, 202633min