DA Podcasts

District leaders are under increasing pressure to support the individual needs of students with disabilities, who comprise approximately 15% of national public school enrollment. One way to help students with special needs is by providing a digital learning environment. One study* revealed that online learning has provided this population with added flexibility and convenience to manage and absorb...

Arming students with the skills to traverse the internet responsibly is education's latest challenge, says these two leaders live from the Future of Education Technology Conference. 

"We oftentimes don't think much about training with adults on social-emotional development, but we're not done growing," says Karen G. Foley, president and CEO of JPA Chicago.

Johnston County Public Schools Superintendent Eric Bracy used ESSER dollars to pay for a high-quality, research-based curriculum. Now, the move is paying off.

Cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and diversity are three of the top issues in K12 IT departments. They are also the big themes at next month's FETC 2025. 

Over the years, Director of Purchasing Gary Kerbow has been tasked with daunting construction projects when helping Hurst Euless Bedford ISD expand. Once, the board of trustees needed a recently acquired building up and running as quickly as possible, but copper thieves had looted the entire infrastructure, requiring extensive rewiring. Another time, Gary had to determine the full scope of repairs...

On the latest episode of District Administration's Talking Out of School podcastI, FETC featured speaker Kimberly Zajac share ideas for using the efficiencies of artificial intelligence to make instruction ever more inclusive.

Today, we're joined by Francie Alexander, senior vice president of efficacy and consulting research at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), to discuss the pressures placed on edtech companies to produce results in school districts around the country. She also shares her advice for those in charge of selecting edtech tools for their districts and how to choose the most effective product.

You’ve probably heard about AI's large language models. But what is a "small language model" and why might this fine-tuned version of artificial intelligence work better in K12? 

An incendiary presidential election, compounded by social media and cable news, is pushing us further away. But as superintendents and community leaders, we can bridge the gap, Katy Anthes says.

In this episode, we're by Sasha Rabkin, the chief of program strategy and innovation for the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research and development in K12 education. Today’s discussion is on philanthropy and its role in K12 education initiatives and how leaders can implement more inclusive models of philanthropy while utilizing eq...

Can school district leaders afford not to make media literacy a pillar of their instructional programs? Teaching the subject effectively is key to graduating students who are productive citizens, Superintendent Shari Camhi, says.

Jeremy Anderson walks us through how the National Math and Science Initiative is connecting districts with state and federal programs to close opportunity gaps and increase college access through advanced STEM education. 

Many districts are challenged by outdated, costly and inefficient processes when it comes to the purchasing and procurement of instructional resources, which can frustrate teachers and staff and create significant waste. In this podcast, the recently retired superintendent of the Spring Grove Area School District (Penn.) will discuss how the district found ways to better support teachers and staff...

Lauren Morando Rhim, executive director of the Center for Learner Equity, details her organization’s pivotal two-year study of how charter schools support students with disabilities.

In this episode, we sit down with Bill Salak, the CTO/COO of Brainly, who explains why we might be "under-informing" our students by prohibiting smartphone use in schools. 

Mike Duncan, CEO of Battelle for Kids, guides district leaders in developing a portrait of a graduate that offers students more more meaningful learning and durable skills. 

In this episode, you'll hear from three leaders from the State College Area High School in Pennsylvania who take us behind the scenes of their award-winning PBIS program, which has successfully reduced suspension days and improved the overall school climate.

We’re talking music and other topics with Craig Witherspoon, a former band teacher who is now superintendent of Richland County School District One in South Carolina. He was just namwed ssuperintendent of the year by the South Carolina Alliance of Black School Educators

"Emotional intelligence" is not only a vital part of Superintendent Atiya Perkins' leadership philosophy, it's how she stays in touch with her own humanity.

CAST's Lindsay E. Jones shares how the Universal Design for Learning is helping educators personalize rigorous instruction for an ever more diverse population of students.

What do you learn when you sit down to chat with 15 superintendents at all stages of their careers and from districts of all shapes and sizes? 

In the District Administration podcast, literacy experts Dr. Lynn Kulich and Dr. Robert Zewiecki from Renaissance Learning stress fluency's importance for reading comprehension and proficiency. Despite frequent assessments, fluency is rarely taught explicitly. The podcast covers evidence-based fluency practices, its impact on multilingual learners, and insights from the book "The Fluency Developme...

If you’re a superintendent or administrator trying to tackle public relations, this week's guests on District Administration's "Talking Out of School" podcast are here to help. Lynette White is the district and community relations coordinator at the Banning Unified School District and Renae Bryant is the director of plurilingual services at Anaheim Union High School District.

In this episode, we have a chat with InnovateEDU's founder and CEO Erin Mote, who shares some exciting news in the edtech space and advice for leaders on closing the digital access divide for students.