Charter School Superstars

This week, Ryan interviews Dr. Cara Candal, Senior Fellow at the Pioneer Institute and Director of Educational Opportunity for the Foundation for Excellence in Education. In this podcast, Dr. Candal talks about the successes of the Massachusetts charter sector and the policy environment that helped make those successes happen. Dr. Candal also identifies common policy issues that inhibit growth and...

This week, Ryan interviews Cheryl Rose, Principal at the Edison School of Innovation, in Glendale, Arizona. In this podcast, Cheryl talks to us about the school’s educational philosophy of educating students to solve the unknown problems of the future. Her school places a strong emphasis on STEM, project-based learning, and apprenticeship-style teacher preparation. You can find out more about her...

This week, Ryan interviews Clifton Alexander. Clifton is the owner of Reactor Design Studio, a Kansas City based creative design company. In this podcast, Clifton talks to us about Reactor and the services it provides for charter schools. Clifton also stresses the importance of why a charter school needs to build a brand and how effective branding can enrich a school’s external and internal stakeh...

This week, Ryan interviews Kelsey Nicole Nelson, the Manager of Campaigns and Publications for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. When our guest is not empowering charter advocates, she is an award-winning sports journalist and broadcaster for FOX sports, the Arena Football League, and other outlets. Kelsey talks to us about her dual background in sports and education alongside the...

This week, Ryan interviews Dr. Andrew Jarboe, AP US History Teacher at Match Charter Public School in Boston, Massachusetts. Andrew talks to us about the British Parliamentary debate program that he built at his school (which has now become an inter-school competition) and why he wanted to expose his students to BP debate. Andrew also provides valuable advice on how you can build similar programs...

This week, Charter School Superstars is on the Charter Talks stage at the 2019 National Charter Schools Conference in Las Vegas. Our guest is Douglas Rodriguez, president of Doral College in South Florida. Doral College is unique among higher education institutions in that it is the first and only college to be founded by charter schools to provide college education opportunities to charter school...

This week, Charter School Superstars continues its interview series from the National Charter School Conference in Las Vegas. Ryan’s guest is Jim Houliston, Partnership Evangelist for Helios. Helios provides paperless HR services for K-12 institutions that are designed to be comprehensive for the complete employee lifecycle. In this interview, Jim talks to us about the unique HR challenges that K-...

This week, Charter School Superstars is at the at the National Charter School Conference in Las Vegas. Ryan interviews Danielle Riha, 2019 Alaska Teacher of the Year from the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School. In this interview, Danielle talks to us about her inspirational story in education, including her unusual journey into the teaching profession and how she overcame her difficult first ye...

This week, Ryan interviews Debra Boyd and Robert Nickell, managing directors at BB&T capital markets. In this interview, Debra and Robert talk to us in more detail about tax exempt bond financing for charter facilities, including discussing things that charter schools must do to ensure success post-financing. You can find out more about their work by visiting www.bbtcapitalmarkets.com . Host: Ryan...

This week, Ryan interviews David Holbrook , Executive Director of Federal Compliance and State Relationships for TransACT Communications. In this interview, Dr. Holbrook walks us through key components of the federal legal requirements for serving English language learners under the Civil Rights Act and the Every Student Succeeds Act. You can find out more about his work by visiting www.transact.c...

This week, Ryan sits down with Oscar Sweeten-Lopez, President of College Success Tools for the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. In today’s interview, Oscar informs us about the Dell Scholars Program, a foundation and student resource network that helps low-income students get into, and eventually graduate from, college. Oscar also gives us some insight on preparing students for college and futur...

This week, Ryan interviews guest Bob Bourgault, Executive Director of the Almond Acres Charter Academy in San Miguel, California. In today’s interview, Bob speaks to us about his overall philosophy on education. Bob also talks about strategies on growing the natural leadership skills in every child to cultivate a broader swath of leaders. You can find out more about his work by visiting www.bobbou...

This week, Ryan interviews guest Sue Jamback , Executive Director of RestorativeUS. In today’s interview, Sue talks to us about the idea of restorative justice, a movement that advocates restitution and repair over punishment when managing behaviors. Sue also talks about this approach in a K-12 environment, detailing various methods, procedures, and resources available to educators and families. H...

This week, Ryan sits down with Sonia Park, Executive Director of the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition. In today’s interview, Sonia informs us about the DCSC, an organization that supports charter schools that embody diversity across race, socioeconomic status, language, and abilities. Sonia also talks about her strategies for and the educational benefits of racially-diverse schools and classrooms...

This week, Ryan talks to Jennifer Reiter-Cook, Director of Southern California School Development for the California Charter Schools Association. In her work for the CCSA, Dr. Reiter-Cook has developed initiatives designed to cultivate the next generation of California charter school leaders. In our interview, our guest reflects on her work and discusses her process for empowering educators and ad...

This week, Ryan sits down with Heather Buskirk of K12. Heather is a National Board Certified Teacher and an expert in project-based learning. Heather talks about the model and discusses why it is beneficial for students (and teachers!). She also shares how project-based learning can work in the online environment and across an entire school's curriculum plan. Click here for Heather's recent articl...

This week, Ryan sits down with education reform activist and Riverhead Charter School Superintendent Raymond Ankrum. Raymond shares the story of this high-performing charter school, and how his team was able to move Riverhead's proficiency scores from the teens to the high eighties in just a few years. When Raymond is not running Riverhead's inspiring program, he is the co-host of the education po...

This week, Ryan sits down with entrepreneur and charter school graduate Tony Morales. Tony is a managing director at N2Growth, a prestigious multinational executive search firm. Our guest is also actively involved with a number of education-focused nonprofit organizations. Ryan talks to Tony about his charter school experience and how it helped bring him to where he is in life today. Tony also pro...

This week, Ryan talks to Reverend Dr. Jacquie Hood Martin. Dr. Martin is a minister, education advocate, author, and a co-organizer of the "Is School Choice the Black Choice" nationwide town hall events. Ryan talks to our guest about her education advocacy, her town halls, and the ways that school choice and charter education have served to empower the Black community as a whole (and not just stud...

This week, Ryan sits down with Mark Medema, the Managing Director of the Charter School Facility Center for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Ryan talks to Mark about strategies for charter schools to overcome the "facilities gap" that makes it more difficult for charters to procure suitable facilities relative to their traditional public school counterparts. Mark also discusses so...

This week, Ryan sits down with Lyman Millard, the founding partner of Bloomwell Group. With over twenty years of experience in the field of charter education, Lyman strives to help high performing charter schools and non-profit organizations find solutions to any strategic challenges. Lyman talks to Ryan about strategies to help charter schools boost their enrollment and also talks about his work...

This week, Ryan sits down with Heather McManus, the Chief Learning Officer for Camino Nuevo Charter Academy. Heather talks to Ryan about how Camino Nuevo strives to have positive impact in its community by implementing a learning culture based on college prep, social justice, and ethnic studies. Heather also provides her thoughts on the professionalization of teaching and what the education system...

This week, Ryan sits down with Sarah Boulos Fye of Somerset Academy, Inc.. In addition to being Ryan's podcasting co-host on "Big Ideas in Education" on Academica Media, Dr. Fye is also the Director of Strategic Planning and Academic Achievement for the Somerset Academy Charter School Network. Sarah talks to Ryan about her research in the area of teacher retention. Specifically, Sarah and Ryan dis...

This week, Ryan sits down with Kelly Pierce. Kelly is a former student athlete, academic advisor, and charter school teacher. Today, she is the CEO of Pierce Plan, a company that offers a Software as a Service platform that helps high schools track student academic progress toward NCAA initial eligibility requirements. Kelly talks to Ryan about her platform and the challenges that charter high sch...

This week, Ryan sits down with Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director of the Florida Charter School Alliance, to discuss the latest annual FLDOE charter school performance report. In the report, the Department reviewed over 4.2 million student state test scores and other performance data and concluded that the state’s public charter schools outperformed Florida’s traditional public schools in 82% of...