Learning Can’t Wait

In Season 12 Episode 1, Hayley Spira-Bauer kicks off the new season with Dr. Denise Reading, CEO and Founder of Future Plans, in a powerful conversation on eradicating poverty through education and workforce alignment. Drawing from her upbringing in rural Arkansas, Dr. Reading shares how systemic bias and lack of access—not lack of talent—hold individuals back. She discusses Future Plans’ five-ste...

And that’s a wrap on Season 11 of the Learning Can’t Wait Podcast, a season filled with bold ideas, inspiring leaders, and meaningful conversations shaping the future of education. From leadership and workforce sustainability to teacher well-being and student-centered innovation, this season brought together voices across education to challenge the status quo and reimagine what learning can and sh...

In Season 11 Episode 18, Hayley Spira-Bauer sits down with Dr. Kip Glazer, Silicon Valley principal and author of Ready to Lead with AI, to explore how school leaders can navigate rapid technological change while staying grounded in human-centered learning. Drawing from her unconventional journey into education and leadership, Dr. Glazer emphasizes that in an era of AI disruption, principals must...

In Season 11 Episode 17, Hayley Spira-Bauer speaks with Dr. David Lawrence, Superintendent of Dayton Public Schools, about leading with visibility, urgency, and innovation to drive real system change. Drawing from his journey from teacher to superintendent, Dr. Lawrence highlights how hands-on leadership, real-time decision-making, and a shift from static strategic plans to dynamic “academic actio...

In Season 11 Episode 16, Hayley Spira‑Bauer speaks with Perry Rosenstein, Co‑founder and CEO of WriteOn, about the intersection of AI, writing instruction, and student-centered learning. Drawing from his journey as an entrepreneur and his experiences working closely with educators, Perry highlights writing as one of the most under-supported yet essential skills in schools. He shares how Write On w...

In Season 11 Episode 14, Hayley Spira-Bauer sits down with Deborah Kenny, CEO and Founder of Harlem Village Academies, to explore what it truly means to educate a child beyond test scores. Drawing from decades of leadership and her new book The Well-Educated Child, Deborah shares a refined philosophy centered on quality thinking, student agency, and ethical purpose. She reflects on her journey bui...

In Season 11 Episode 13, Hayley Spira-Bauer sits down with John White, CEO of Great Minds and former Louisiana State Superintendent, for a candid conversation on leadership, systems change, and the role of curriculum in driving student outcomes. Drawing from his experience leading post-Katrina education reform in Louisiana, John discusses how crisis can catalyze improvement, the importance of loca...

In Season 11 Episode 12, Hayley Spira‑Bauer speaks with Dana Ainsworth, founder of Tomorrow House, about reframing student behavior through the lens of nervous system regulation rather than discipline or motivation. Drawing from her own lived experience, teaching background, and research in trauma, polyvagal theory, and education policy, Dana explains how adverse childhood experiences, outdated sc...

In Season 11 Episode 11, Hayley Spira‑Bauer brings together Dr. Elizabeth Chu (Executive Director, CPRL), Jason Kamras (Superintendent, Richmond Public Schools), and Celeste Terry (Superintendent, NYC District 18) for a powerful conversation on systems‑level change that is producing real academic gains. The episode centers on All Systems Go and the REACH framework, highlighting how districts acros...

In Season 11 Episode 10 of Learning Can’t Wait, Hayley Spira‑Bauer is joined by Alicia Meyers, an early childhood educator and children’s book author, for a rich conversation about teaching, literacy, and neurodiversity. Alicia shares her journey as a lifelong teacher, her experiences teaching in urban classrooms in Washington, D.C., and how the COVID era inspired her to begin writing. She discuss...

In Season 11 Episode 9, Hayley Spira‑Bauer welcomes Frances Messano, CEO of New Schools Venture Fund, for a wide‑ranging and deeply personal conversation about equity, choice, and courage in education. Frances reflects on growing up in a working‑class immigrant family in Coney Island, how access and luck shaped her own trajectory, and why she has dedicated her career to making opportunity less dep...

In Season 11 Episode 8, Hayley Spira‑Bauer sits down with Christopher Hull, Co-founder & President at Otus, to explore how meaningful data use can restore time, clarity, and humanity to teaching. A former middle school teacher, Chris shares how mentors helped him find his voice and why classroom frustrations—especially inefficient, narrative‑driven problem‑solving meetings—sparked the idea for...

In Season 11 Episode 7 of Learning Can’t Wait, Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, CEO and founder of Medley Learning, shares his journey from multilingual learner to educator, school leader, and edtech founder. He describes how early classroom experiences and the impact of a teacher who provided personalized language scaffolds shaped his commitment to equity and access. Brandon discusses the persistent gap...

In Season 11, Episode 6 of Learning Can’t Wait, Hayley Spira-Bauer speaks with Shane Purdy, an Assistant Superintendent in rural Georgia, about leadership, innovation, and what it takes to sustain strong learning opportunities in small communities facing major staffing headwinds. Shane shares how growing up as a minister’s kid who moved frequently shaped his people-first leadership, and how his ca...

In this Learning Can’t Wait episode, Hayley Spira-Bauer speaks with Dr. Mark Covelle, Administrative Director of Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, about why Career & Technical Education (CTE) is not a “second choice,” but a high-impact pathway that expands opportunity for students. Dr. Covell shares how he moved from traditional K–12 into CTE expecting it to be a temporary stop—only to exp...

In Season 11, Episode 4 of Learning Can’t Wait, Hayley Spira-Bauer sits down with Chris Bennett, an “engagement architect” whose career began in video games before expanding into education and behavior design. Chris explains why engagement is not the same as learning, and why motivation is not an on/off switch—it’s a continuum that requires different supports for different learners. Drawing on sel...

In Season 11, Episode 3 of Learning Can’t Wait, Hayley Spira-Bauer speaks with Julia Bialeski—educator, author, speaker, former principal, and current district leader overseeing recruitment and hiring in a large Maryland district serving 57,000 students across 78 schools. Julia shares how her wide-ranging experiences (teacher → instructional specialist/curriculum writer → assistant principal → pri...

Fleur Johnston—Founder and CEO of PeopleBench—opens by sharing her personal and professional journey, rooted in Australia and shaped by early exposure to educators “doing more with less.” She describes how studying psychology and working in early childhood environments led to a lasting fascination with adult behavior, organizational psychology, and how workplace conditions shape community impact.

In this New Season 11, first Episode of Learning Can’t Wait, John Branam and Steve Colón share the story behind the merger of Bottom Line and Get Schooled, two education nonprofits united by a shared mission to put students first. Drawing from their personal journeys as first-generation college graduates, they discuss how trust, values alignment, and a commitment to impact over ego made the merger...

In the wrap‑up of Season 10 of the Learning Can’t Wait podcast, host Hayley Spira‑Bauer reflects on a powerful season featuring 23 conversations with education leaders, innovators, and advocates shaping the future of learning. The season explored critical themes including artificial intelligence in education, human‑centered leadership, educator well‑being, literacy transformation, inclusive design...

In this episode of Learning Can’t Wait, host Hayley Spira-Bauer speaks with Lucy Martin of the Children’s Literacy Project about the power of storytelling to expose—and solve—the literacy crisis in America. Lucy shares her unconventional path from creative work in music, comedy, and film into documentary filmmaking focused on literacy as a justice and poverty issue. The conversation centers on Sen...

In this episode of Learning Can’t Wait, host Hayley Spira-Bauer speaks with Dr. Peter Stiepelman—former superintendent, author, and host of An Imperfect Leader—about human-centered leadership, equity, and the courage to lead without pretending to be perfect. Drawing on his journey from Long Island to Oakland, Missouri, and now Colombia, Dr. Stiepelman reflects on what leadership looks like across...

In this episode of Learning Can’t Wait, host Hayley Spira-Bauer sits down with Dr. Jenny Nash, Head of Education Impact at LEGO Education (U.S.), to explore how hands-on, inquiry-based learning can re-engage students in classrooms amid a growing disengagement crisis. Drawing from her 20-year journey as a STEM educator and education leader, Dr. Nash explains how LEGO Education designs standards-ali...

In this "Learning Can't Wait" podcast episode, host Hayley Spira-Bauer interviews Dr. Melissa Sadorf, Executive Director of the National Rural Education Association (NREA), who shares her 32-year career in rural Arizona schools from teacher to superintendent before leading advocacy efforts. Sadorf defines rural beyond geography as issues of access to resources and human capital, challenges misconc...

The episode explores how three co-founders of Building Leaders—Dr. Kalpana Rao, Kyle Conley, and Jennifer Dubey—are reimagining school leadership by centering lifelong learning, psychological safety, and global perspectives for principals who are often “one of one” in their buildings. They trace personal journeys through classroom teaching, turnaround schools, global education, burnout, and recove...