Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 10

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Before we talk about funding, programs, or the next big initiative, there's a more important step most systems skip: Zoom Out. In this leadership short, we step back from individual issues. We look at Washington State's education system from the balcony and ask: What problem is our education system actually designed to solve?

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 9

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

In Episode 9, we discuss how reading success doesn't happen by accident - and it doesn't happen naturally. This episode extends our special education focus from episode 8.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 8

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Leadership rarely unfolds under ideal conditions. More often, leaders are asked to move systems forward while expectations are changing, resources are limited, and communities are still adjusting to decisions that were necessary—but difficult.

In Episode 8, we examine how special education began to shift in Washington State and what that history reveals about leadership through change. Rather than focusing on compliance or technical requirements, this episode looks at how advocacy, law, and leadership collided—and how leaders were required to build systems while already operating them.

This leadership short explores why special education remains complex today, not as a failure of leadership, but as a reflection of what happens when moral urgency outpaces system capacity—and when leaders must carry responsibility before conditions are fully in place.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 7

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Once leaders are deep in the work—leading turnarounds, making high-stakes decisions, and carrying system-level responsibility—critique often comes from many directions. This episode focuses on a simple but powerful leadership move for those moments: asking the right question.

In Episode 7, we explore how experienced leaders respond when their judgment, decisions, or turnaround work is challenged by people who have not carried the same level of responsibility. Rather than arguing or becoming defensive, strong leaders use clarifying questions to re-center conversations around experience, accountability, and proximity to the work.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 6

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Before leaders can navigate competing truths, they have to answer a more basic question: What actually counts as a fact?

In this episode, we unpack the difference between truth, facts, findings, and interpretations — and why confusing them can lead to harm in leadership decisions.

Through a grounded conversation with an expert partner, this leadership short explores how evidence is produced, how process integrity matters, and how incomplete or constrained analyses can turn interpretations into “facts” that go unchallenged.

You’ll learn practical ways leaders can slow down, test claims, and distinguish between what’s verifiable, what’s interpretive, and where judgment enters the conversation — especially when the stakes are high and the pressure to act is real.

This episode is especially relevant for superintendents, principals, board members, policymakers, and leadership teams working to design shared solutions without scapegoating or oversimplifying complex systems.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 5

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Episode 5 takes the debate from Episode 4 — systems vs. expectations — and shows what leadership actually looks like when both truths collide in real life.

You’ll hear how leaders work through complex decisions with their teams through a grounded conversation with a sitting superintendent.

Leaders honor district values. They navigate legal and ethical guardrails. Leaders address competing stakeholder needs. They also design a “third path” when one side alone won’t solve the problem.

This episode is powerful for superintendents, principals, and leadership teams. It is also insightful for policymakers and anyone who wants to understand how leaders make decisions when the stakes are high and the truths are competing.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 4

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Episode 4 brings together the threads from Episodes 1, 2, and 3 and asks one of the biggest questions in public education:

Do children struggle because of the systems surrounding them, or because of the expectations adults hold for them?

This episode breaks down why leaders must think beyond either/or. You’ll learn how systems and expectations collide, how both can unintentionally cause harm, and why real improvement requires holding both truths at the same time.

This 7–8 minute leadership short features a Lincoln–Douglas–style moderated debate on one of education’s most persistent questions.

A powerful episode for superintendents, principals, policymakers, board members, and anyone seeking to understand the competing narratives that shape modern education.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 3

“The Balcony View: Seeing Children, Systems, and Community as One”

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

The balcony view is a leadership skill. It helps us step out of the noise of daily work. From this perspective, we can see how early childhood conditions, community supports, and school systems form one interconnected ecosystem.

Building on Episodes 1 and 2, this episode explores how every choice we make — expectations, funding decisions, policies, and community norms — either expands opportunity or increases risk.

This 5–7 minute leadership short shows how stepping back to see the full ecosystem around a child leads to better decisions and stronger, more supportive systems.

A perfect episode for leaders and policymakers who want to understand how children, communities, and systems shape one another.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 2

“The Hidden Space Behind School Decisions: Risk Management, Liability & the Real Forces That Shape Districts”

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Behind every school board decision, behind every new initiative, behind every “yes” or “no,” there is an invisible system shaping what’s possible: risk management.

In this episode, we break down why liability exposure — not budgets, not politics, not even vision — often becomes the real decision-maker in public education.

You’ll learn how insurance pools, court rulings, legal exposure, and policy constraints influence everything from mental health supports to field trips to innovation.

You’ll also see why increased funding after McCleary didn’t automatically lead to bold reforms: because funding determines what’s available, but liability determines what’s allowed.

For leaders seeking real change, understanding this hidden ecosystem is essential.

This 5-minute leadership short reveals how liability, insurance rules, and legal constraints often shape district decisions long before strategy or vision enters the conversation.

A perfect episode for school leaders, policymakers, and anyone who wants to understand the hidden system driving public education.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.

Learning Curve – Leadership Shorts

Where the complexities of education become the lessons we learn together

Excerpt from Episode 1

“Why Reading by Third Grade Isn’t About Third Grade at All”

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Reading by third grade isn’t about third grade — it begins at birth. If we want better literacy outcomes, we must improve the early conditions that shape a child’s brain, language, and stability long before they enter school.

This 5-minute leadership short breaks down why reading by third grade is actually shaped long before kindergarten and how early childhood language exposure, stability, and health set the foundation for later literacy.

A perfect episode for school leaders, policymakers, and anyone focused on improving student outcomes.

Produced by Dr. James Crawford. © 2025 James Crawford. All rights reserved.