Productive Disruption

Brett Roer currently serves as Outlier.org’s High School Strategic Partnerships Lead after 16 years of empowering high school students in Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx. His mission has been to equip high school students with the foundational academic skills needed to graduate from their best-fit colleges and feel both academically and financially supported along the way.

Outlier.org works with high schools to build best-in-class, online dual-enrollment programs for students. Starting their junior year in high school, students with Outlier.org certificates can build a track record of academic success, explore new subjects, and earn transferable college credits from the University of Pittsburgh, a top 60 nationally ranked school.

Outlier courses are developed in partnership with instructors from schools like Yale, Harvard, and MIT, and at a cost of only $400 per course, we’re on a mission to expand access to high-quality education and reduce student debt.

Connect with Gabby Dionisio from Rhodes Branding. 

Batsheva Fankel is a former teacher and administrator turned podcast host, educational consultant, author, and entrepreneur. She received her bachelor's degree from NYU and her Masters of Arts in Teaching from The American Jewish University. Currently, she is the host of Overthrowing Education, an edgy yet entertaining show that addresses the revolutionary changes that are happening to create more meaningful education. Batsheva is the author of The Jewish Educator's Companion and creator of The Lenses of Questioning kit. 

To connect with Batsheva on LinkedIn, click here. 

To view her website, click here. 

To connect with Gabby on LinkedIn, click here. 

For more than 10 years, the Trane Technologies BTU Crew initiative has brought STEM learning to life in classrooms across the U.S. The initiative teaches students the concepts of energy efficiency and sustainability using their own school building as an educational tool. Designed for easy integration into current science programs, it helps students grow analytical skills with hands-on learning through interactive digital tools, empowering them with new skills and teaching them to become stewards of energy conservation in their communities. Trane's Educator in Residence, Dan Whisler, spent more than 30 years in the classroom as a science teacher and now leads the BTU Crew initiative. He joined Productive Disruption to talk about the project and the growth in STEM programs nationwide.

Van Robotics develops social robots that teach skills-based lessons while collecting data about individual users and leveraging machine learning techniques to develop smart, social robot tutors. Their robots offer a plug-and-play, widely accessible solution for schools, after-school programs, and parents with students struggling in core subjects. Van Robotics CEO Laura Boccanfuso joined Productive Disruption to chat about the ABii robot and how her company is helping students make impressive gains in the classroom.

Daisy Christodoulou is the Director of Education at No More Marking.  In 2019 she was recognized in the New Year's Honors List with the Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to education. Daisy has also authored three books: Teachers vs Tech?: The case for an ed tech revolution, Making Good Progress? The future of Assessment for Learning, and Seven Myths about Education. Daisy joined Rhodes Branding's Productive Disruption to talk about worldwide trends in education and her work at No More Marking around comparative judgment.

Since 2009, Ball State University's immersive learning production, Ball State Sports Link, has emerged as a national leader in sports media and production. Graduates can be found at ESPN, Turner Sports, every professional sports league, and many NCAA Athletics Departments across the country. BSU's Sports Production major was the first four-year academic track in the nation and was spearheaded by Chris Taylor. Chris joined Productive Disruption to talk about the program's history and how its manic focus on creative storytelling has led to student-produced Emmy-award-winning content.

The mission of the Call Me MISTER® (an acronym for Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) initiative is to increase the pool of available K-12 teachers from a broader more diverse background. Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Roy Jones, and Site Coordinator, Mark Joseph, joined Productive Disruption to chat about the program's origins and provide their thoughts on the national teacher shortage.

If you've ever Googled a school, you've likely come across their Niche profile page. With more than 27 million users last year, the Niche platform helps its users discover the schools, companies, and neighborhoods that are right for them. Niche analyzes dozens of public data sets and millions of reviews to produce comprehensive rankings, report cards, and profiles for every K-12 school in the United States. Niche's Senior Enrollment Insights Leader for K-12, Angela Brown, joined Productive Disruption to talk about the platform and the state of enrollment and recruitment in the K-12 landscape.

Rhodes Branding is launching a podcast in December 2021 called Productive Disruption! The podcast will spotlight bold and innovative ideas in K-12 education. Episodes will be posted once per month starting in December. Full episodes will be posted wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as the Rhodes Branding YouTube channel. Subscribe and share!