During their trip to Kentucky, our hosts sat down with Lu Young, Jason Glass, Justin Bathon and Caleb Bates, of Kentucky's United We Learn Coalition. This group is building a vision for the future of public education in Kentucky, with the goal of everyone in the commonwealth – educators, families, students, community members and business leaders – working together to support public schools in bringing about deep and authentic learning experiences for all students. As Rod and Jal spoke with the team, the following themes emerged: the importance of who is at the table when building a coalition around education reform; connecting past and present policies through grassroots initiatives; building common ground among all stakeholders to overcome the political polarity; the incredible value of the student perspective being deeply involved in the process; how the expectations of colleges and universities have driven education design; and whether designing K-12 education to get students to elite universities is even the best approach. No lightning round, but a small tangent focused on the Kentucky delicacies of mac and cheese and bourbon is sure to entertain. 

Check out the full United We Learn report.

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