Shannon Kelly, Director of Upper School at Mount Madonna School in California, shares a fresh perspective that focuses on viewing students more holistically in their educational journeys. With a campus that is located in an intentional yoga community on 355 acres of land, students at Mount Madonna engage in an educational path that focuses on developing self-awareness and global-mindedness. Shannon bluntly discusses her belief that universities are not doing enough to take into consideration student character in the college admissions process.

In this episode, we get to speak with Tommy Reddicks, the Executive Director of the Paramount School of Excellence. The Paramount School of Excellence sits on 5.5 acres of farmland that is located in the inner city. Tommy believes in an interdisciplinary approach to career readiness that involves hands on learning on the farm. As a result, the Paramount School is developing its students into environmental stewards whom actively apply their learning at school.

Dr. Harding is the Superintendent of Mountain View Los Altos High School District in Mountain View, CA. Both Mountain View High School and Los Altos High School have received the Gold Award from the U.S. News & World Report. The district also boasts a 98% college going rate for the its graduates. A focal point of this episode is on building career readiness through local partnerships with companies like LinkedIn and Adobe. With a specific mission to build confidence within students from low-income backgrounds, Dr. Harding discusses his belief that educators have a moral imperative to support ALL students.

In this episode, we speak with Robert Mendoza, Headmaster of Fairmont Preparatory Academy in California. With a school population that contains 67% international students, Fairmont is working to prepare its unique student body to handle the rigors of college. Recognizing that student needs vary, Fairmont strategically places different cohorts of students within learning programs that are tailored to their different learning needs. The process is working as 92% of the school’s students are getting into top 100 colleges.

In this episode, Steve Ford discusses how innovation was applied toward narrowing the opportunity gap for his students at Highland High School. He is now the Principal of Academies of the Antelope Valley Charter School. Remarkably, Steve has been able to apply the process of design thinking to get his students full ride scholarships to universities they would have been otherwise unable to afford. Listen to his story as he describes how he has been able to teach his students startup methodology and entrepreneurship while helping them craft their powerful narratives to get the attention of colleges.

The Path to Higher Ed is a SchooLinks hosted podcast community that explores trending topics and issues in the area of college and career readiness. Our featured guests are pushing education forward by constantly learning from, innovating and applying their college and career readiness practices.

In this episode, we discuss design thinking with Nicole Cerra, Co-Founder and Director of Learning at Design Tech High School in San Mateo, California. The focus of the conversation centers on the impact that can be generated through constant iteration and technology experimentation. These tenets of design thinking pervade the school culture and are manifested in coding instruction, environmental design projects, and a Makerspace. Looking through the lens of a Design Tech HS student, there is a clear vision of student success by way of the unique self-discovery and differentiated learning opportunities offered through technology integration. As Nicole stresses, students need to apply their digital experiences in real-world scenarios in order to ensure the highest-level synthesis of learning.

In this episode, Sharon Howell, Head of School at Indian Springs School in Indian Springs Village, Alabama, talks with us about the value of character development in college readiness. With a perspective that is informed by experience working for Harvard in higher education, Sharon believes that students experience a lack of college readiness when they become too focused on external and outcome-oriented motivations. While subscribing to the John Dewey model of education, Sharon seeks to maintain a culture that revolves around student democracy and ownership.

This episode with Jason Roderick, Director of Counseling Services at the Providence Country Day School in Rhode Island, focuses on the social and emotional aspects of college readiness. Often times we become so wrapped up in the academic factors of college readiness that we forget students are also experiencing an emotional journey on that path. Fortunately, there are counselors like Jason who go above and beyond to let his students know that they are already successful just by honoring and being who they actually are. By discussing the level of anxiety that students experience in the journey toward high school graduation, as well as what can be done to support them in self-exploration, Jason provides a powerful voice in the education conversation.

Dr. Paul Gothold, the new Superintendent for the San Diego County Office of Education, dives into his views on what can be done to provide more equity in our education system for all learners. The implementation of these views led to remarkable success in bridging the opportunity gap that existed during his previous role as Principal of Lynwood High School in California. He discusses the moral imperative that educators have to keep at-risk students in school instead of suspending or expelling them when they are struggling with disenfranchisement from the education system. With an eye toward restorative justice and meeting more than just the academic needs of his students, Dr. Gothold is ready to embrace the challenges of his new position with a student-centered, heart-driven approach.