Learning Can’t Wait

In this episode of Learning Can’t Wait, host Hayley Spira-Bauer speaks with Lucy Martin of the Children’s Literacy Project about the power of storytelling to expose—and solve—the literacy crisis in America. Lucy shares her unconventional path from creative work in music, comedy, and film into documentary filmmaking focused on literacy as a justice and poverty issue. The conversation centers on Sentenced, a feature-length documentary that tells the story of adults living with illiteracy and its generational consequences, as well as the Moonshot series, which highlights districts and states—like Mississippi—that have made meaningful, systemic progress in literacy. Together, they explore why stories change culture in ways data alone cannot, how communities beyond schools can play a role, and why literacy is one of the most solvable and urgent challenges facing our education system today.

In this episode of Learning Can’t Wait, host Hayley Spira-Bauer speaks with Dr. Peter Stiepelman—former superintendent, author, and host of An Imperfect Leader—about human-centered leadership, equity, and the courage to lead without pretending to be perfect. Drawing on his journey from Long Island to Oakland, Missouri, and now Colombia, Dr. Stiepelman reflects on what leadership looks like across vastly different contexts and why vulnerability, reflection, and inclusive decision-making are essential. The conversation explores teacher retention, rural education challenges, equity work during the Black Lives Matter movement, and the power of learning from mistakes to build more just, resilient school systems.

In this episode of Learning Can’t Wait, host Hayley Spira-Bauer sits down with Dr. Jenny Nash, Head of Education Impact at LEGO Education (U.S.), to explore how hands-on, inquiry-based learning can re-engage students in classrooms amid a growing disengagement crisis. Drawing from her 20-year journey as a STEM educator and education leader, Dr. Nash explains how LEGO Education designs standards-aligned science, computer science, and AI learning experiences that make abstract concepts tangible, joyful, and meaningful. The conversation highlights the importance of teacher and student voice in product design, age-appropriate AI literacy, collaboration over isolated screen time, and redefining assessment to include durable skills like creativity, resilience, and teamwork—all with the goal of helping students build a lifelong love of learning.

In this "Learning Can't Wait" podcast episode, host Hayley Spira-Bauer interviews Dr. Melissa Sadorf, Executive Director of the National Rural Education Association (NREA), who shares her 32-year career in rural Arizona schools from teacher to superintendent before leading advocacy efforts. Sadorf defines rural beyond geography as issues of access to resources and human capital, challenges misconceptions of rural schools as "backwards" by emphasizing their role as community hubs and innovative assets, and highlights the "Why Rural Matters" report, which analyzes data across 50 states on student outcomes, mental health, policy, and more to advocate for 10 million rural students. She stresses needs like reliable funding, teacher recruitment/retention policies, and an asset-based lens, while advising new rural educators to build deep community relationships.​

The episode explores how three co-founders of Building Leaders—Dr. Kalpana Rao, Kyle Conley, and Jennifer Dubey—are reimagining school leadership by centering lifelong learning, psychological safety, and global perspectives for principals who are often “one of one” in their buildings. They trace personal journeys through classroom teaching, turnaround schools, global education, burnout, and recovery to highlight the need for more holistic definitions of success for leaders and students, beyond test scores and rigid accountability systems. The conversation surfaces post-COVID challenges like sustainability, staffing crises, and rising student needs, and shows how Building Leaders creates peer communities, reflective school visits, and coaching to reduce isolation and elevate the expertise of current practitioners. Throughout, they argue for structural shifts—shared leadership models, ongoing coaching, and deeper community engagement—so principals can lead with vulnerability, purpose, and balance instead of exhaustion and compliance.​

The episode follows Paymon Rouhanifard’s journey from an expected career in finance into teaching in West Harlem, where seeing “the Matrix” of classroom realities and systems-level decisions pulled him into education policy and district leadership before founding Timely, an AI-powered master scheduling tool for middle and high schools. He and host Hayley Spira‑Bauer unpack today’s budget and enrollment headwinds, including declining birth rates, growing numbers of students with higher needs, and federal funding uncertainty that makes district leaders cautious even when core dollars remain intact. Rouhanifard explains how master schedules concentrate 80–90% of districts’ budgets and can either hide inefficiencies or unlock major savings and student supports when built intentionally, sharing examples like Lubbock ISD identifying 37 unneeded vacancies and saving over $2 million without increasing class size or cutting electives. The conversation closes by exploring how tools like Timely can free hundreds of hours for school leaders, give teachers schedules before summer, and create the conditions for better instruction and student support, as well as Rouhanifard’s advice that early-career educators should refuse to passively accept the status quo and instead think deeply about root causes and systems solutions.​

This episode of the Learning Can't Wait podcast features entrepreneur and EnlightApp founder Dieumerci Christel, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree whose journey runs from a refugee camp in Tanzania to building an empathy-centered edtech company in the U.S. He shares how his father started the first school in the Nyarugusu refugee camp, how multilingual refugee youth’s talents were often overlooked, and how culturally responsive educators in North Dakota unlocked his potential by seeing his assets and pushing him beyond labels like “ELL” or “C student.” These experiences fuel his mission to translate empathy and student voice into actionable data for teachers, so they can build ongoing, deeply relational classrooms where students feel they belong and can differentiate themselves in an AI-driven world.​

This episode explores how AI is reshaping school-based social work and youth mental health, through the lens of Dr. Marina Badillo-Diaz’s work as a professor and founder of The AI Social Worker. The conversation covers global disparities in access to mental health care, how AI tools and AI companions are already part of students’ lives, and why ethical, human-centered integration of technology is essential. Dr. Badillo-Diaz describes both the risks (from deepfakes to unsafe chatbots and child exploitation) and the possibilities (equity, access, support for neurodiverse learners, and time-saving tools for practitioners), emphasizing that AI should support—not replace—the human relationships at the heart of social work.​

This episode of the Learning Can't Wait podcast features Kunal Dalal, Chief Parentologist at AI Parentology, exploring how generative AI can support parents emotionally and practically while reshaping education and leadership. He traces his path from teacher and principal to startup founder and AI parenting advocate, explaining how tools like ChatGPT can reduce parental stress, deepen connection with children, and inspire creative rituals like AI-generated dream journals. The conversation also unpacks agentic AI as “AI as infrastructure,” examines how schools and leaders might adopt agentic mindsets, and urges parents to slow down, focus on being “present ready” rather than “future ready,” and intentionally model joyful, human-centered uses of AI for their kids.​

The episode explores how games can transform learning when they are used intentionally, highlighting Games for Change’s work to help students and educators harness play, game design, and technology for deeper engagement and social impact. Arana Shapiro shares how she moved from being “not a games person” to seeing games and organized play as powerful tools for student-centered classrooms, purposeful technology integration, and empowering young people as changemakers through programs like the Games for Change Student Challenge and Game Plan.​