PBL Simplified for Administrators by Magnify Learning

In this episode of PBL Simplified for Administrators, Ryan Steuer, CEO of Magnify Learning, addresses the common challenges educational leaders face when implementing Project Based Learning (PBL).

The episode explores why PBL can feel overwhelming for teachers and ineffective for students, identifying system gaps and mindset issues as main causes. The discussion emphasizes the importance of sustainable systems, internal supports, and a shift in culture to achieve lasting success with PBL.

Main Points

• Common Struggles with PBL: Many educators feel that PBL doesn't work for their students or it is too much for teachers, but these issues usually stem from implementation gaps, not PBL itself.

• Importance of Systems: Effective PBL requires robust systems that persist beyond individual leaders, ensuring sustainability and consistent results.

• Student Readiness Myth: Research disproves the myth that students must be "ready" before engaging in PBL; in reality, PBL helps students master foundational skills.

• Teacher Overload: PBL feels overwhelming when it's treated as an add-on, rather than fully integrated into how schools operate through internal support, shared expectations, and strong leadership modeling.

• Cultural Transformation: When properly supported, PBL changes school culture, empowering teachers, engaging students, and creating a cycle of continuous improvement.

• Grassroots Movement: Success comes when everyone—from the leadership team to teachers—shares the vision and commitment to PBL, becoming a self-sustaining force within the school.

  
  

• "If the work you're doing doesn't last beyond you, it was never a system."

• "The research shows that your kids actually need project based learning to master the basics of literacy and math."

• "What if the implementation just wasn't spot on? What if there's a better way?"

Call to Action

Ready to transform your school's approach to PBL and create lasting change? Visit magnifypbl.com to take the next step in your PBL journey.

In this episode, Ryan Steuer addresses a common challenge faced by school leaders: “We’ve already done Project Based Learning (PBL), but it’s not working.”

Drawing on real case studies and over a decade of experience, Ryan explores why initial PBL efforts often stall and what it takes to create a sustainable, high-quality PBL system. He discusses the difference between surface-level implementation and authentic, empowering PBL practice, and offers actionable guidance for leaders to build systems that last, drive engagement, and achieve meaningful student outcomes.

Main Points

• Many schools have invested in PBL training, but often see limited or short-lived impact, lacking authentic engagement and student empowerment.

• A common pitfall is focusing on process—forms, rubrics, and end products—without prioritizing authenticity, real-world relevance, and community partnerships.

• Authentic PBL demands robust, meaningful interactions with community partners, not just presentations to peers and teachers.

• Success in PBL requires a system at every level—district, school, and classroom—that fosters ongoing reflection, innovation, leadership alignment, and internal teacher capacity.

• To grow a culture of sustained excellence in PBL, schools need to build internal support and leadership, including PBL-certified teachers who can onboard new staff and lead professional development.

• The ultimate goal is for schools to operate independently, continually innovating and improving PBL practices without reliance on outside trainers.

“If you’ve already done PBL and your classrooms aren’t producing lights out, newsworthy end products, it’s probably because you’re missing community partner engagement and you’re lacking a system that understands what high quality, authentic project based learning should look like.”

"You don’t have a PBL process problem—you have an authenticity problem and a systems problem."

"If it doesn’t last without you, it was never really a system. It was your passion. But I want you to have a system, a system that works without you."

Call to Action

Ready to move from “we’ve already done PBL” to authentic, sustainable project-based learning? Visit magnifypbl.com to access resources and take the next step in building a high-impact PBL system for your school or district.

In this leadership guest episode, Frank Oldani and Matt Fry from Belvidere School District 100 in Illinois share their insight on doing school differently and advancing career readiness in K-12 education.

The conversation covers building strong community partnerships, redefining career pathways beyond traditional college, and practical steps for sustainability in student programs. Listeners will find actionable tips, real-world stories, and best practices that can be applied in districts across the country.

Main Points

• Transforming School Approaches: Both Frank and Matt discuss their journey from traditional teaching to innovative, student-centered practices focusing on career and technical education (CTE).

• Career Readiness Pathways: They outline the four-year progression for students: career exploration in freshman year, exposure and site visits in sophomore year, job shadowing in junior year, and work-based learning or internships as seniors.

• Building and Sustaining Partnerships: The importance of developing trust with community partners and celebrating small wins is emphasized, along with practical methods for expanding and maintaining collaboration.

• Essential Employability Skills: The episode highlights that skills like cultural competency, growth mindset, initiative, and professional communication remain foundational for student success, even as job markets change.

• Advice for Educators: Both guests stress the value of teamwork, taking chances, looking inward to schools as career partners, and the need for marketing student successes to ensure program sustainability.

Quotes

“It’s less about preparing kids for a specific job and more preparing them to be able to adapt.” — Matt Fry

“You work really hard...and you celebrate the little wins, that one kid and that one partner you brought together.” — Frank Oldani

“You’re going to get disappointed, but if you stay true to the student needs, everything works out.” — Frank Oldani

Call to Action

Ready to deepen your leadership and innovate career readiness in your own district? Visit magnifypbl.com for resources, guides, and connections to help you lead inspired!

In this episode of PBL Simplified, host Ryan welcomes Dr. Jim Van Allan, co-author of Energy Bus for Schools, to explore how school culture drives meaningful transformation. Jim shares the origin story behind adapting Jon Gordon’s Energy Bus framework for education and explains why culture—not programs—is the foundation of successful schools.

The conversation dives into the difference between authentic positivity and “toxic positivity,” emphasizing the importance of acknowledging real challenges while maintaining a solution-oriented mindset. Jim highlights a common leadership pitfall—lack of consistency—and explains how sustained vision and follow-through are critical to long-term success. Through real-world examples, including a turnaround story from a struggling elementary school, listeners see how intentional culture-building can dramatically improve attendance, engagement, and morale.

The episode also tackles staff negativity, offering practical strategies like team-building and structured communication to strengthen relationships. Jim reinforces that empowering educators and fostering collaboration ultimately benefits students.

The discussion closes with actionable advice for leaders: prioritize shared identity, build strong connections, and create consistent opportunities—like assemblies—to bring school communities together.

Main Topics & Discussion

Host & Show Info
Host Name: Ryan Steuer
About the Host: Ryan is an education leader and advocate for project-based learning (PBL), dedicated to helping schools create student-centered environments. Through his work with Magnify Learning, he supports educators and administrators in building innovative systems grounded in strong culture and meaningful instruction.
Podcast Website: https://magnifypbl.com/category/pbl-simplified-podcast/

Community & Calls to Action

This episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast centers on the transformative power of professional networks in driving successful Project Based Learning (PBL) implementation. Host Ryan Steuer introduces the launch of PBL Networks, a platform designed to connect innovative educational leaders who are actively working to reshape schools through PBL. He emphasizes that while conferences provide valuable knowledge, it is the relationships and ongoing collaboration that truly move initiatives forward.

Ryan highlights real-world success stories, including a CTE leader who built a thriving entrepreneurial center where students secure high-paying jobs and win competitive business challenges. The episode underscores how learning from experienced practitioners can help leaders avoid common pitfalls and accelerate implementation. Listeners are encouraged to leverage shared insights, resources, and roundtable discussions within these networks to make informed decisions and build sustainable programs.

Ultimately, the episode reinforces the idea that systemic educational change requires collaboration among forward-thinking leaders. By connecting innovators and fostering shared learning, PBL Networks aims to scale impactful practices and support the broader goal of widespread PBL adoption in schools.

Topic #1 [0:00] – The real value of conferences: relationships over content
Topic #2 [1:15] – Introduction to PBL Networks and their purpose
Topic #3 [2:04] – Success story: building a high-impact CTE entrepreneurial center
Topic #4 [3:43] – Avoiding common implementation mistakes through shared experience
Topic #5 [5:27] – Access to resources, funding strategies, and certification success
Topic #6 [7:07] – Vision for scaling PBL through connected innovators

This episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast for Administrators features Dr. Jeremy Qualls, Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center in Williamson County, Tennessee. Jeremy shares how his district is redefining Career and Technical Education (CTE) by blending workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, and real-world problem solving into a dynamic, student-centered model. Moving beyond outdated perceptions of “vo-tech,” Jeremy highlights how modern CTE programs can prepare students for both high-paying careers and elite college admissions through authentic learning experiences.

A central theme is the power of community partnerships. From collaborating with Caterpillar to co-develop workforce pipelines, to working with the Tennessee Titans on real marketing challenges, students are solving real problems with real stakes. Jeremy emphasizes that nothing in their program is hypothetical—students build businesses, pitch ideas, and learn through failure.

He also underscores the importance of culture, relationships, and flexibility in leadership. By prioritizing student voice, authentic work, and adaptive teaching practices, his team has created a high-demand program with waitlists and measurable success. Ultimately, this episode challenges school leaders to rethink traditional education models and embrace innovative, partnership-driven approaches that truly prepare students for the future.

In this leadership episode, Ryan sits down with Mitch Weisburgh to explore Mind Shifting — a brain-based framework designed to help educators and leaders develop resourcefulness, resilience, and constructive collaboration.

If you lead a school or district, this episode digs into:

The conversation connects directly to PBL environments, where collaboration, innovation, and engagement are essential.

Mitch defines Mind Shifting as the ability to intentionally move from reactive survival thinking to resourceful, solution-focused thinking.

It consists of three core elements:

When leaders stay resourceful, they model it for staff and students.

Resilience isn’t “pushing through failure.”

It’s removing the concept of failure altogether.

Instead:

Mitch shares the story of a Finnish superintendent who didn’t view initiatives as failures — only experiments that produced data.

Key shift:
From “Did this work?”
To “What did we learn?”

Conflict is inevitable. The question is how we use it.

Mitch explains five conflict resolution styles:

No style is inherently wrong.
Effective leaders are flexible and intentional.

True long-term change requires collaboration — especially in PBL environments.

When stressed:

You cannot reason someone out of a survival state.

This applies to:

Regulation first. Logic second.

In chaotic weeks (which every principal knows well), Mitch recommends adopting a Sage Perspective:

Apply the Pareto Principle:

Every challenge offers one of three gifts:

That action could be:

This reframes stress into growth.

Mitch shares a structure used in Finland called CASES:

It shifts discipline from confrontation to development.

The key: Practice it until fluent.
You won’t access structure in the heat of the moment without rehearsal.

Ryan reflects on how:

In Magnify Learning PBL workshops:

Brain science explains why this works.

You don’t debate them.

When people are in survival mode:

Instead:

People buy in when they see themselves in the process.

What if student behavior problems, burnout, and disengagement aren’t discipline issues… but brain issues?

In this powerful leadership episode, Ryan sits down with Dr. Lisa Riegel—author, neuroscientist, and education innovator—to explore how brain science, motivation, and belonging intersect with Project Based Learning.

Lisa explains why today’s students seem “different,” how stress shuts down learning, and why schools must shift from compliance to psychological safety, relevance, and identity-based belonging if they want real engagement.

If you’re leading a PBL shift, this episode will give you a science-backed roadmap for how to get humans—not just systems—to move.

When students feel unsafe, judged, or powerless, their brains switch into survival mode. Thinking shuts down. PBL works because it gives students control, relevance, and purpose—lowering stress and raising executive function.

Lisa explains the Expectancy-Value Theory:

Motivation = “I believe I can” × “I care about this”

If either side is zero, motivation collapses. That’s why irrelevant worksheets and rigid instruction fail—even with “good” kids.

If a student walks into class and feels like they don’t belong, their brain perceives danger. Fight, flight, freeze, or tune-out follows. Strong classroom identity isn’t a feel-good extra—it’s neurological survival.

Change feels dangerous to the brain—especially for high-performers who fear becoming beginners again. That’s why leadership must start with trust, celebration, and permission to fail.

AI is offloading human thinking at an alarming rate.

In five years, success won’t be about what students know—it will be about how they think, regulate stress, solve problems, and work with others.

www.lisariegel.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisariegel/

www.epinstitute.net 

www.jakapa.com

Neurowell book link

Aspirations to Operations book link

What happens when Career and Technical Education stops operating in silos and starts acting like a true regional partner? In this leadership conversation, Jason Lucia shares how he is redesigning CTE to expand access, strengthen district collaboration, and connect students directly to meaningful, high-wage career pathways. From innovative shared-campus programs to deep industry partnerships, this episode offers a bold vision for what CTE can become when leaders put kids first and challenge the status quo.

Start building a portfolio of student success stories—academic, personal, and career-based. Use those stories to initiate conversations with district leaders, community partners, and industry about what’s possible when you design CTE around students instead of systems.

PBL Readiness Scorecard: Assess your school or district’s readiness for Project Based Learning and receive personalized next steps at pblscore.com

As the year comes to a close, great leaders don’t just move on—they pause, reflect, and intentionally prepare for what’s next. In this episode, Ryan Steuer shares a powerful four-bucket reflection protocol used at Magnify Learning to help leadership teams identify what’s working, what’s broken, what’s confusing, and what truly mattered most.

This simple but effective structure can be used at the end of a school year, quarter, or major initiative—and it creates clarity, trust, and momentum for the future.

Leaders begin by naming the practices, systems, and initiatives that genuinely moved the work forward.

Examples include:

This step reinforces progress, boosts morale, and helps teams identify what should continue.

Next, teams openly name systems or processes that didn’t work as intended.

These might include:

This bucket invites honest feedback without judgment and signals that leadership is listening—and willing to improve systems, not blame people.

Confusion often hides beneath the surface, especially in complex systems. This bucket creates language for naming unclear expectations or mixed messages.

Common examples include:

Addressing confusion strengthens trust and prevents frustration from turning into disengagement.

The final bucket captures what filled people’s cups—the moments that mattered most.

Favorites often include:

This bucket reveals what motivates the team and where leaders should invest more energy moving forward.

Ryan emphasizes that many issues—especially confusion—can be resolved immediately once surfaced. Over time, this protocol becomes part of the team’s culture, not just an annual exercise.

Leaders can run it individually first, then with teams to maximize insight and impact.

PBL Readiness Scorecard: Assess your school or district’s readiness for Project Based Learning and receive personalized next steps at pblscore.com