The Learning Commons Podcast

In this premiere episode of the  Learning Commons Podcast,  we explore the growing movement toward outcomes-based contracting in education, an approach that ties investments more directly to measurable student outcomes. As districts face increasing pressure to demonstrate impact, make limited resources go further, and ensure that programs deliver meaningful results for students, more school systems are rethinking how they structure partnerships with education providers.

Episode guests:

Karl Rectanus is CEO of Really Great Reading (RGR), leading an outcomes-driven effort to ensure all students joyfully learn to read. Grounded in the Science of Reading and backed by more than 20 years of proven results, RGR is the answer to one of America’s most urgent challenges: a literacy crisis that compounds over time and hits historically underserved students hardest. When reading improves, everything else does too. An educator and entrepreneur, Karl previously co-founded and led LearnPlatform, named one of Fast Company’s 2023 Most Innovative Companies, where he pioneered rapid-cycle evaluation and set the industry standard for evidence-based decision-making in K–12 education. He brings that same outcomes-first mindset to RGR — shifting the focus from proving effectiveness to proving results, and driving rigorous implementation paired with accountability to change student trajectories at scale. Karl also founded Impact4Scale, co-chairs the Board of Directors at the Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), and is Founding Chair (Emeritus) of the Industry Council for the EdSAFE AI Alliance. The through-line across all of it: get started, care deeply, and learn quickly.

Dr. Brittany Miller, Chief Innovation Officer & Executive Director: Miller leads efforts to transform educational partnerships through outcomes-based contracting. Under her leadership, the Center has grown from supporting four pioneering districts to engaging 87 education agencies, with more than 63,000 students now served under outcomes-based contracts. Miller played a key role in developing some of the nation’s first OBCs as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Superintendent of Academics and later as Senior Director of Expanded Academic Learning at Denver Public Schools. Miller is also a former educator.