Disrupt Education Podcast

Are schools really transforming education—or simply creating innovative exceptions inside the same traditional system? Peter and Alli unpack their conversation with Scott Palmer of Ford Next Generation Learning and challenge some of education's biggest sacred cows, including the master schedule, traditional definitions of student readiness, and the idea that work-based learning should only be...

Your school says it has career pathways. But what happens when you get behind the curtain? Scott Palmer of Ford Next Generation Learning joins Peter and Alli to unpack why real career-connected education requires much more than putting students into pathways. From leadership and work-based learning to community partnerships, career academies, the master schedule, and redefining student success, Sc...

What if the environment students learn in matters just as much as what they’re being taught? In this recap episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast , Peter Hostrawser and Allie Dahl revisit their conversation with Amy Zwiep of Bethel Community Education and unpack the ideas that continued to challenge them after the interview. They explore why learner environment, student voice, trust, curiosity,...

What happens when an educator stops asking how to improve the existing school model—and starts asking whether the model itself needs to change? Amy Zwiep spent years wrestling with that question. She believed students were unique, learned differently, and deserved opportunities to grow their individual gifts. But she also saw an education system often driven by curriculum, pacing, testing, and age...

Five students. Five completely different paths. And one powerful pattern: none of them waited until someone told them they were ready. In this special Disrupt Education Podcast Student Series recap , Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl bring back Jeremy Smith of pega6 to examine what Landon Breeden, Samanta Kavaliauskaite, Samantha Rosinski, Kerry Ao, and Jay Yang can teach us about the future of educa...

What if you don't need permission to start building the life you want? In the final episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast 2026 Student Series , Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl welcome Jay Yang , author of You Can Just Do Things , for a conversation about action, opportunity, failure, confidence, education, and taking ownership of your future. Jay started experimenting with entrepreneurship a...

What happens when a student stops waiting for someone else to solve a problem and decides to become the person who solves it? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast Student Series , Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Kerry Ao , the student entrepreneur behind Intertwine, an AI powered financial education platform now reaching more than 50,000 students across 230+ school distric...

What if students discovered their purpose before graduation instead of after? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast Student Series , Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl welcome Samantha Rosinski , a film and television production student at Chapman University whose career journey began with one middle school career exploration experience. Samantha shares how career and technical education, m...

What happens when you reconnect with a student two years after graduation? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast Student Series , Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl welcome back Samanta Kavaliauskaite , who first joined the podcast while she was still in high school. Now a college student, marketing manager, and business builder, Samanta returns with a fresh perspective on education, career...

What if the best career advice isn't choosing a path, but discovering your strengths first? The 2026 Student Series begins with an inspiring conversation featuring recent high school graduate and entrepreneur Landon Breeden. At just 18 years old, Landon transformed a dream of becoming a pilot into a thriving mobile detailing business that now services everything from cars and RVs to boats and...

Are we asking students the wrong question? What if the future of education is not about helping students decide what they want to become, but first helping them discover who they already are? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast , Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl reflect on their powerful conversation with Betsy Wills, author of Your Hidden Genius , and explore why aptitude discovery may...

What if we've been asking students the wrong question all along? Instead of asking, "What do you want to be?" maybe we should first ask, "Who are you naturally wired to become?" In this episode of the Disrupt Education podcast , Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Betsy Wills, cofounder of YouScience and author of Your Hidden Genius, to explore how aptitude discovery can help students, pa...

Some conversations deserve to be heard again. This week, we are re-releasing one of the most meaningful episodes in the history of the Disrupt Education Podcast in memory of our friend, educator, mentor, and extraordinary human being, Jen Sharp. Jen tragically lost her life on June 14, 2026, while doing what she loved most: serving others through the sport of skydiving. As the United States Parach...

What if the biggest disruption in education isn't AI... but how we design the school day? In this follow up episode, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack one of the most talked about conversations in Disrupt Education Podcast history with Jason Walke and his groundbreaking Mission Mondays model. From students who actually look forward to Mondays to teachers finding more instructional time, st...

What if school felt less like a schedule and more like a mission? Jason Walke returns to the Disrupt Education Podcast to unpack the first full year of Mission Mondays at Oldenburg Academy. Instead of treating field trips, guest speakers, service, internships, and life skills as interruptions, Jason helped move them into a focused weekly experience built around purpose, relationships, and real wor...

What if the biggest problem in education isn't students, teachers, or even curriculum? What if the system was intentionally designed to separate opportunity? In this follow-up episode, Peter and Alli unpack their thought-provoking conversation with Superintendent Chris Nesmith and explore some of the most disruptive ideas discussed on the podcast this year. From the false choice between colleg...

What if the biggest problem in education isn't students but the system we've built around them? In this thought provoking episode, superintendent and education innovator Chris NeSmith challenges the outdated "college vs. career" mindset that continues to limit student opportunities. Chris shares lessons from Germany's apprenticeship system, explains why career pathways should...

What are the truths students desperately need to hear before they graduate high school? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl have one of their most honest and challenging conversations yet about the things traditional education systems often avoid saying out loud. From work-life balance myths and GPA obsession to networking, internships, social capital,...

What happens when education becomes more focused on compliance than conversation? In this follow-up episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack the powerful conversation they had with Dr. Mark Covelle and dive even deeper into what is really happening inside schools right now. From “donkeys in bathtubs” to the future of Career and Technical Education, this episo...

What happens when Career and Technical Education stops fighting for respect and starts facing a much bigger problem: capacity? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl welcome back Dr. Mark Covelle, Administrative Director of Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, for a bold conversation about the future of CTE, workforce development, and what schools are sti...

What do thunderstorms and artificial intelligence have in common? Uncertainty, unpredictability, and the reality that you can’t ignore what’s already here. In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl reflect on their conversation with futurist Rachael Mann M.Ed and unpack what AI is really doing to education right now. From the overwhelming pace of change to th...

What happens when the world changes faster than education can keep up? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with futurist, author, and EdFuture founder Rachael Mann M.Ed to explore one of the most urgent questions in education today. From AI moving at exponential speed to the growing gap between classrooms and real-world innovation, this convers...

What actually makes a school “good”? It is a phrase we hear all the time, from real estate agents to school rankings, but when you stop and ask what it really means, the answers start to fall apart. In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl bring together a powerhouse group of voices to unpack one of the most misunderstood ideas in education today. From test...

Why do so many students reach senior year and still say, “I don’t know”? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Jason Van Nus and Dani Natter to unpack a hard truth: the problem isn’t student motivation—it’s system design. From the critical role of school counselors to the power of aligning work-based learning, advising, and real-world opport...

What if students are leaving school with the same skills—but completely different futures? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Kristy Volesky from Volesky Consulting and Brian Hansen from YouScience to unpack the real gap in education today: access, not ability. This conversation dives deep into work-based learning, social capital, and why...