What Students Want

We typically highlight a few of the most interesting quotes from the podcast - by which we seek to tempt you to listen. Tony Wagner is the kind of guest who makes us want to dangle the entire transcript in front of our audience. Everything he says deserves to be a featured quote. 

As one of the most cutting edge thinkers in innovation and leadership, and a globally recognized voice in education, Tony Wagner is a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute. He comes to us after twenty years at Harvard, and he worked as a high school teacher, principal, and university professor. He is the founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility, and has published six books: Most Likely To Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for The Innovation Era, co-authored by Ted Dintersmith; Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World; and The Global Achievement Gap. 

In this podcast, he goes to the heart of the problem faced by schools and parents today and gently leads us forward with an understanding of the magnitude of change he is proposing, what it will take to make it happen, and the paradigm shift we will see if we can persist through the challenges. 

Let’s listen...

Quotes:

02:27 “The world simply doesn’t care what our students know anymore, because Google knows everything. What the world cares about is what our students can do with what they know. We live in the innovation era now.” 

04:21 “We are born curious, creative, imaginative; that’s the human DNA. The longer kids stay in school, the less curious they become.” 

06:08 “The first starting point is to help adults in your school community - both parents and teachers - to understand the nature of a changing world. That’s the first job of a leader.”

09:09 “Too often, leaders feel pressured to provide the answers. (Instead, teachers) need to feel empowered to find better solutions.” 

16:16 “In the world of innovation, it’s - fail early, fail often, fail fast, fail forward, fail cheap, but FAIL and learn from failure.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

Tony’s books on Amazon - including his soon to be published memoir, Learning by Heart - https://www.amazon.com/Tony-Wagner/e/B001H6OMJ6%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

“The Finland Phenomenon” - http://www.tonywagner.com/the-finnish-phenomenon-inside-the-worlds-most-surprising-school-system-a-great-resource-now-available/

All Together Now by Suzi Boss -  https://www.suzieboss.com/

The Hewlett Foundation - https://hewlett.org/

Mastery Transcript Consortium - https://mastery.org/

Measures of Effective Teaching Project, The Gates Foundation - https://www.gatesfoundation.org/media-center/press-releases/2013/01/measures-of-effective-teaching-project-releases-final-research-report

Where to learn more about the guest:

Website - http://www.tonywagner.com/

Tony at Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/tony-wagner-9b53aa7

Twitter - DrTonyWagner

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: 

David Perell is a bright, curious mind, dancing around important concepts with a global tribe. We hope that a lot of our 21st-century students will turn out just like him. His weekly podcast offers interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world. His blog is the voice of our society’s pioneers, laboring to come to terms with the impact of technology on our ideas. And his writing course - Write of Passage, shows us a new way to share our thoughts. Teachers and students fuse into a two-way learning network online.

David joins us to saunter through the education landscape as we consider how we consume information, take risks, design childhood, stunt “genius,” and can cultivate serendipity as the vehicle to a rich life.  

Join us to explore the diverse possibilities unfolding in education, and the ways that unexpected discoveries result from an innovation mindset.

Quotes:

7:54 “We need to define what we mean by ‘education’ because it no longer needs to be this one-way transfer of information; it can now be collaborative and dynamic in a way that was never possible before.” 

20:18 “‘Genius’ is hitting targets that nobody can see. Rather than trying to incentivize crazy thinking and ideas that have a lower chance of success, but a huge outcome if they do succeed… we are trying to cut off all the risk in society... to make sure that nobody really suffers.”

28:00 “A lot of good parenting is letting things that might be difficult in the short-term, but good in the long-term - letting those things happen.” 

30:25 “The problem with the college system isn’t that it’s ‘the college system.’ It’s that it’s the ONLY system that a lot of people feel like they can go through in order to be successful.”

38:10 “My issue with the school system is that there is only one way to do things in terms of how to be successful; its the lack of diversity in the number of paths you can take. That’s not sustainable.”

49:45 “We live lives that are far more interesting than we think they are; if we can recognize how interesting our lives are through a conversation and then build processes to write, we can spend less time actually writing and more time living an interesting life. And by sharing our best ideas, we can become a magnet for serendipity and people, ideas, and opportunities.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

Monday Musings https://www.perell.com/join

North Star Podcast, Neil DeGrasse Tyson - https://www.perell.com/podcast/neil-degrasse-tyson

North Star Podcast, Seth Godin - https://www.perell.com/seth

North Star Podcast, Mason Hartman https://www.perell.com/podcast/mason-hartman

The Write of Passage https://www.writeofpassage.school/

Why Can't School Be Fun https://www.perell.com/blog/why-cant-school-be-fun

Tweetstorm on Netflix https://www.perell.com/tweetstorms/netflix

What The Hell Is Going On? https://www.perell.com/blog/what-the-hell-is-going-on

Timeless Learning book https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Learning-Imagination-Observation-Zero-Based/dp/1119461693

Airbnb Experiences https://www.airbn

Conor Heaton guides expansion strategy for the Cristo Rey Network as their Director of School Growth. A former trial attorney in Chicago, Conor is an expert on the legal side of feasibility studies and what it takes to launch a school. It is his passion for helping young people, however, that speaks most clearly when he shares his experiences with us.

The Cristo Rey concept is based on a work/study program for high school students; they attend classes four days per week and work in a local business for one day per week. Conor shares that one key to success is positioning the work as an actual job - not as an internship. Performing a legitimate task for an appropriate level of pay leads to an appreciation by both the employer and the student for the value that they each receive from the work.

If you are curious about how a work/study program might work in your school, sharpen your pencil and turn up the volume. Conor’s practical considerations and enthusiasm will give you plenty to think about.

Quotes

05:12 “What’s so unique about (the work/study program) is it was conceived exclusively as a way of ‘keeping the lights on.’ After they implemented it, they realized how much the students were getting out of that work experience.”

16:52 “Communicating with community leaders and prospective families about whether Cristo Rey is something they want and would support is vital.”

20:00 “We don’t want to overpromise, but we want people to know who we are and who we are not, and who we can confidently serve and who we can’t.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

Cristo Rey Network - https://www.cristoreynetwork.org/

Cristo Rey Jesuit Instagram - cristoreyjesuit.wufoo.com/forms/mc4tpjp0lqw00l

Twitter - twitter.com/CristoRey

Where to learn more about the guest:

Cristo Rey Network - https://www.cristoreynetwork.org/about/national-office-staff

Conor Heaton at Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/conor-heaton-9674526/

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

In this episode, Ted Fujimoto, President of Landmark Consulting Group, entrepreneur, and expert in leadership development and organizational redesign, leads us to understand how to scale a school design with “fidelity.” The goal is always to achieve world-class performance. He explains the ways that system replication is not the same thing as “cloning.”

Everything Ted does is built on the pillars of trust, respect, and responsibility, and whether you are launching a school, or redesigning an organization in the fields of entertainment, music, technology, or real estate, that’s not a bad way to start. Ted is the co-founder and co-chair of the Right to Succeed Foundation. They intend to transform at least 6,000 public schools into “American Dream Schools” within the next ten years using “replicable deeper learning whole-school designs.” The key - whether you are trying to replicate a system design, or maximize the performance of one student - is in the relationships that are built. 

Ted always starts by creating a “power team culture.” If you would like to see a power team culture in your school or to transform your organization into a “dream school,” this is the man to talk to. Or, in this case - to listen to.

Quotes:

09:10 “Students - in a heartbeat - can detect when something is authentic or not, and whether they are safe or not. How do you create an environment that… ensures that no matter what is happening at home for a teacher, their first interaction with a student is in the right mindset?”

14:50 “Intrinisic motivation is what drives long-term, sustained performance and engagement by students and team members.” 

19:30 “The common factor (in these school design success stories) is that you are unlocking the intrinsic motivation of a student who never had that, and was never able to tap that motivation in an environment that was safe to do so, and... that same environment is positive for the school team members, as well.” 

22:11 “A program or a practice cannot exist in isolation. It could be the very best thing in the world, but what is most important is that you have the ecosystem around it to support it and sustain it, and not kill it.” 

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

New Tech High School - https://www.newtechhigh.org/

Big Picture Learning - https://www.bigpicture.org/

Prenda Schools - https://prendaschool.com/

Acton Academy - http://www.actonacademy.org/

Where to learn more about the guest:

Ted Fujimoto at Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/tedfujimoto

Landmark Consulting - consultlandmark.com

Right to Succeed - righttosucceed.org

Go All Creative - https://www.goallcreative.com/

Twitter - tedfujimoto

Twitter - RightToSucceed

Twitter - USADreamSchools

Twitter - GoAllCreative

Instagram - tedfujimoto

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

When you want the box seat view of what’s happening across-the-board in American education, you ask Liz Willen, Editor-in-chief at the Hechinger Report. She takes the gloves off for our Enrollhand interview and punches education “jargon” in the jaw, throws a strong right hook at funding cuts in the arts, and gives a head-butt to “innovative” rollouts that fail to garner support or create optimism.

Join us as we listen to Hechinger's Liz Willen for a bare-knuckled round of educational enlightenment.

Quotes:

02:00 “I can’t just blame educators because lawyers do this (use jargon) as well, and business people have a lingo that they use that also leaves others behind.”

05:45 “I’m very leery if anyone tells me that they can close the achievement gap.”

11:02 “Arts education should be an enormous priority for our country, and yet, it’s often the first thing that gets cut.”

14:00 “I think you see pockets of rebellion and a lot of second-guessing of the testing culture throughout the school system.”

25:05 “An array of various discussions about what goes wrong (will result) when you try to do something that’s brand new and allegedly innovative, but if people don’t understand it or buy into it, change can be a very difficult and slow-moving process.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

On Writing Well - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090RVGW0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

iNACOL - https://www.inacol.org

Hechinger Report Articles - https://hechingerreport.org/anatomy-of-a-failure-how-an-xq-super-school-flopped/

https://hechingerreport.org/one-mississippi-community-copes-influx-hispanic-students/

https://hechingerreport.org/inside-maines-disastrous-roll-out-of-proficiency-based-learning/

https://hechingerreport.org/as-states-push-for-news-ways-of-learning-some-kids-and-parents-feel-left-behind/

The National Center for Fair and Open Testing - https://www.fairtest.org/Grammy Music Education Coalition - https://grammymusiced.org/

Where to learn more about the guest:

Liz at Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-willen-5671a38

Blog - hechingerreport.org/

Twitter - hechingerreport

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

What do you get when an MIT physics graduate volunteers at the public library computer lab to tinker with a few kids building cool games, websites, and apps? He suddenly decides - with no background in education - to start a school, and a neighborhood micro-school called “Prenda School” is born. Eight months later, Prenda Schools are spreading like wildfire across the US - with 80 launched so far. 

Join us to learn about the explosion of an education vision based on the outrageous idea that school could be engaging and empowering to young people. Kelly Smith shares the humble beginnings of just wanting to help kids find their own love of learning and what it took for him to launch a micro-school movement. The story of Prenda Schools expansion contains seeds of insight for anyone seeking to expand their school. 

While Prenda School students take on the daily math and English tasks, they have also “debated the merits of school box top fundraisers, discussed the relative intelligence of raccoons versus cats and dogs, estimated the number of balloons that would fit in (Kelly’s) minivan (including all the students), explored present-day Yucatan peninsula, and approximated the amount of fresh water on the planet.” Does this sound like any day EVER in your own memories of education?

Have a listen... 

Quotes:

06:15 “I think it’s true right now, in 2019, that anyone could learn anything if they have an internet connection.”

27:06 “Empowering a learner is going to help all those (education or career) paths.”

27:55 “We are using academics to empower a learner who will then be able to do what they need to do in their lives.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

Prenda Schools - https://prendaschool.com/

BASIS.ed - https://www.basised.com/

4.0 Schools - https://4pt0.org/

Y Combinator - https://www.ycombinator.com/

Design 39 - http://design39campus.com/

Sugata Mitra - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugata_Mitra

https://www.theschoolinthecloud.org/people/sugata-mitra/

Design Thinking with Joe Erpelding -

https://blog.enrollhand.com/design-thinking-creating-the-future-with-joe-erpelding/

John Danner - https://medium.com/@johnwdanner

Where to learn more about the guest:

Kelly on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellysmith35

Kelly’s blog - https://prendacodeclub.com/blog

Kelly at Medium - https://medium.com/@prendalearn/im-not-a-teacher-but-i-opened-a-school-278ddef1ca70

Kelly on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WA7srw9GTo

Code Club - http://azcodeclub.org

Prenda Schools - https://prendaschool.com/

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Has the wild, wild west ever really been tamed? We consider this and other burning questions like: Is A/B Testing actually misleading? with our guest - Caylee Migliorini. Caylee has a rich career history in the education management industry. She joins us today to share her experience and expertise in marketing for school enrollment. She is currently the Senior Managing Director of Creative Services and Student Acquisition at BASIS.ed. Caylee offers valuable insights as we think about school marketing and the ways that it is likely to change in the near future. Whether you are a big school with a strong marketing presence or a small school with one toe in the swimming pool, today’s talk will leave you with plenty to think about, and immediate steps to take toward increasing your school’s enrollment. Let’s listen...

Quotes:

03:45 “That’s a really important place for anyone in enrollment to begin - understanding what the organization’s goals and objectives are.”

17:02 “Our job is not to sell something. Our job is to inform parents about the right characteristics - to give them an opportunity to make a decision that’s going to be the best decision for them.”

24:20 “We’re getting to a place where there might be systems that are trying to ‘do it all,’ and we might get into the danger zone of trying to over-automate contact. Sometimes a personal touch is more effective than 15 auto-generated emails.”

29:50 “Data integrity, security, and the safety of information is something to be very aware of when you’re choosing a system. People’s privacy is very important to them.”

31:07 “We are the wild, wild west right now in the US. The European countries have much stricter data privacy and information rules than we do, but we will get tighter.”

33:02 “Be true to who you are and what you offer.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

IDEA Public Schools - https://ideapublicschools.org/

KIPP Public Schools - https://www.kipp.org/

GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation - https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/02/14/what-is-general-data-protection-regulation/

Where to learn more about the guest:

Caylee on Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/caylee-migliorini-69349a26

BASIS.ed - https://www.basised.com/

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Keara Mascarenaz joined us for an explosive jaunt through innovation in education. We visited destinations such as: personalized paths for students, differentiated teaching, strong relationships vs. screen time, student ownership and choice, self-management, competency-based education, collaboration, social-emotional learning, building trust, inclusion and the value of diverse voices, making clear decisions, the right “size” of change to target, and operating systems for schools. Yes - all of that within 25 minutes. So, buckle your seat belt and hold on. The top is down, the sun is shining, and we’re going to break the innovation speed limit with Keara Mascarenaz at the wheel. 

Quotes: 

06:45 “Strong schools are really clear on their ‘why’ - why are they bringing in a particular program or initiative?”

19:30 “There are 3 ways that change can happen in an organization: individual change, team change, and organization/eco-system change. We try to shift the focus to the individual and team levels to get some early wins that can catch like wildfire across the organization.”

23:35 “(Good leadership includes considering) how can you narrate for your team and connect the dots between past and current decisions?” 

27:30 “In education, I am most excited about the current tremendous emphasis on empowering students to be agents of change.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

The New School Rules - https://www.newschoolrules.com/

The New Team Habits (Pre-publication contact) - https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-new-team-habits/book268366

Alexis Gonzales-Black, Holacracy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFY9ZtdtiS8

Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsieh - https://www.deliveringhappiness.com/

5 Ingredients to Create a Culture of Innovation in Your District - https://www.edelements.com/blog/5-ingredients-to-create-a-culture-of-innovation-in-your-district

Where to learn more about the guest:

Education Elements - https://www.edelements.com

Twitter - @kearamascarenaz

Blog - https://thekikibrief.wordpress.com/

Keara on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/keara-m/

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Our guest today is Many Pearce. She brings over two decades of fundraising experience to the conversation and generously shares her knowledge of the funding landscape. 

Mandy knows how to simplify a complex topic, and offers a long-range view of the changes happening in the grant writing world. In this episode, her dynamic teaching style brings so much infectious enthusiasm to the discussion that every listener will feel empowered to go out and find a grant for their program - even if they never considered it before.

Quotes:

05:10 “Educate yourself on what is open and available; there are lots of great, free resources online.”

08:45 “You want to research the grants one year ahead of when you need the money.”

22:19 “Foundations today aren’t just making donations because they want the warm, fuzzy feeling of philanthropy. They’re doing it as an investment and they want to know what the return on their investment is going to be.”

Where to learn more about the guest:

Email - https://fundingforgood.org/aboutus/

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/funding-for-good/

Blog - https://fundingforgood.org/blog-grid/

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtBr657H4PvL1-r3652brPg

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Indra Sofian offered us an inside look at the founding and launch of a progressive, student-directed high school known as Sora Schools. He walked us through the launch process from inspiration through formulation and iteration and ended with a glance towards his dreams for the future.

As a co-founder at Elevate Media, an Atlanta-based content-driven digital agency that provides marketing strategy, consulting, and content production services for businesses, Indra might seem to be an unlikely candidate for starting a school, but that is quite possibly what makes him so compelling. He is unfettered by the constraints of traditional education models and seems intent on formulating a new way of educating young people. 

Have a listen, and enjoy the energy and inspiration of someone determined to reinvent the wheel - as long as he ends up with a rocket.

Quotes:

13:00 “At every step of the way, we want student input because we really, really believe in giving the students agency.”

22:40 “Once a child gets to high school age, it becomes a bit more difficult for a parent to homeschool - regardless of the education level of the parent.”

26:30 “Most schools face the problem of oversight without context, so giving more power to the teachers - who are actually trying to make things work in the classroom - can be useful. Trust and support them to do their jobs.”

32:15 “I hope that the students who graduate from our program are entrepreneurial, thoughtful, independent, self-directed people.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

John Danner https://twitter.com/jwdanner

Keith Rabois https://twitter.com/rabois

Homeschooling https://twitter.com/rabois/status/1068167341949603841

Outschool https://outschool.com/

Workspace Education https://workspaceeducation.org/about/team/

One Stone https://onestone.org/

Where to learn more about the guest:

Personal website - indrasofian.com 

Twitter - @indysofian@soraschools

Indra on Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/indrasofian

Indra’s newsletter - medium.com/@indrasofian/

Sora Schools - https://soraschools.com/

For Sora Schools updates, news, and events, scroll to the bottom of their page and subscribe to the school’s newsletter.

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/