Disrupt Education Podcast

When Tressa Pankovits was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune's and CBS in Chicago, she covered the Chicago Public Schools on a regular basis - and that sparked in her the desire to someday play a role in improving public education policy.  Today, Tressa is the Co-Director of Reinventing America's Schools Project at the Progressive Policy Institute.   Tressa Talks about Teacher Burnout, U...

Curtis Valentine is in his third-term as At-Large Member of the Prince George's County Public School Board of Education where he serves on the Academic Affairs Committee. Curtis champions the increase of male educators through his Male Educator Network (MEN) of PGCPS. Curtis also champions increasing parental engagement of fathers through his #FatherhoodForum.   A graduate of Morehouse Colleg...

Corey Scott is a Internal Communications Specialist, an Education Enthusiast, and driven to help prepare new SPED Teachers for their First Day in the Classroom.  Corey shares his educational journey and his teaching experience where he decided he was not willing to continue in the system.  Corey transitioned out of the classroom into the private sector.  He also created Day One Teac...

Kevin Leichtman is an experienced teacher, with 8 years of experience teaching each grade level from 7-12th in ELA & reading, along with teaching college undergraduate courses on equity, diversity, and social justice. Kevin authored two books, "The Perfect Ten" and "Teacher's Guide to the Mental Edge." I am the co-founder of TLC Educate alongside his wife, Dr. Anala Leichtman. He also directs...

Episode 1 of the "Teacher Burnout Series."  Melodi Sterner talks about her learning journey and how she is pivoting in the profession of education to help thousands instead of hundreds.  She is an educator transitioning out of the classroom into the private sector.   Learn more about Melodi connecting with her on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melodi-sterner/  The Disru...

Jalen Ponder is an entrepreneur who shares his learning journey.  Starting a marketing partnership at the age of 14 in Detroit, Jalen learned along the way how to launch and grow business.  Jalen has a strong work ethic and learns something every interaction he has in business.  Now as the CEO of Evendtor, he connects businesses and organizations to promote turn key events from star...

I speak with my son Henry Hostrawser about how he looks at school and having a job while in high school.  Continuing on the student voice series, Hank talks about being in high school through Covid and how he balances his job and school work.  Hank is a Junior at Riverside-Brookfield High School in Brookfield, Illinois.   The Disrupt Education Podcast is a proud member of The EdUp E...

When the pandemic hit, Seth Raphael found an opportunity to fix a problem missing classes online.  He created LinkJoin.  Now as a freshman in high school, he shares his learning journey and how he would change things in school.  His version of learning along with many students varies, and that is exactly what Seth suggests school systems lean into... a variety of ways to allow stude...

Episode 1 for 2022!  Kicking off student voice month, Shrobana Sengupta talks about her experience in private schools.  As a senior in high school, she suggests that we drop some of the basics of high school curriculum and add more variety in courses in order to help students identify more of what they are really interested in before their next level of education.   Connect with Shr...

2021 is a wrap for the podcast.  It was one hell of a year.  Disrupt education podcast host Peter Hostrawser reflects on why he started the podcasts, a quick recap of the year and what is coming in 2022. The Disrupt Education Podcast is a proud member of The EdUp Experience Podcast Network #rebelteachernetwork Check out our sponsors below eLearning Partners Need help starting your eLearn...

Maureen O'Shaughnessy helps schools become more inclusive and empowering spaces for all learners, using her vast experience of leading schools and setting up her own schools.  She is a career educational activist with over 30 years of transforming learning in schools to better serve all students. Maureen is on a mission to connect the dots between education, belonging, and youth empowerment....

Tanya Sheckley and UP Academy is reinventing education by customizing learning for each student, integrating project-based learning throughout its curriculum, and supporting students with disabilities to attend alongside able-bodied students in mixed-age classrooms. Inspired by the will, drive, and desire of her daughter, Eliza, who was born in 2009 with cerebral palsy, UP Academy is proving that...

Matthew Raidbard is a former men's college basketball coach and senior level college athletics administrator. He has a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, and recently published a book called, "Lead Like A Pro: Effective Leadership Styles For Athletic Coaches." The book is based on his research and experiences as a coach, and even though it was written through a sports lens.  It is a great r...

Eric Hayes is an inclusive educator at The American International School of Vilnius.  He takes us on a journey through his own learning and how he discovered building on student strengths.  As an educator and a life long learner himself, He knows how to find and help students by building on their interests with a student centered approach.     Connect with Eric on LinkedIn...

Ekta Sahasi has first-hand experience in taking ideas from inception to scale both within corporates and startups. Ekta also specializes in early-stage venture development, strategic initiatives, and strategies for scaling startups. Ekta has experience in both leading due diligence as an investor and as well as fundraising for early-stage ventures. Ekta was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as the...

Ken Wallace is an award winning Superintendent of one of America's "most innovative" school districts.  That district was Google's first K-12 partner.  He is also the founder of the Chicago Coaching Center and founding partner of the Illinois Personal Learning Network.     Ken is never one to hold back.  He tells it like it is and creates learning systems that work .....

Dave Gee is the CEO & Co-Founder at Hello Digital Ed, EdTech Founder, Amazon Best Selling Author, Entrepreneurship and Digital Marketing Faculty, who is passionate about Building Future Student Innovators and Entrepreneurs.  We discuss his learning journey and how he is helping students learn and teachers teach current business courses to their high school students like social media marke...

Eric Santos is a National Board Certified Teacher currently serving as a Regional Educational Technology Coordinator for K-12 schools in Illinois. As an experienced STEM educator, his former students won multiple science and STEM competitions. Eric has secured nearly $40,000 in educational grants for classroom materials and equipment for his students across his career. Eric also writes secondary s...

Rocky Singh Kandola is an Author, Speaker, Actor, Convict, Lover, Traveler, Entrepreneur, & CEO.  His journey is nothing short of remarkable.  Through horrific conditions in schools and life, he figured out how to remove toxicity and grow businesses that help people.  We talk about his life and his journey through awful educational systems.   Learn more about Rocky on Linke...

Michael Vargas is an international facilitator with nearly 10 years of experience.  He is the founder of Lead By Impact .  Utilizing his Master in Clinical Psychology, improv and design thinking background Michael facilitates workshops and speaks to organizations on developing collaborative and productive team cultures.  Supporting teams to develop psychological safety, building tru...

Academic integrity has been at the core of Eric Gibbs's professional career for over 20 years. In those two decades, Eric has served in various high-growth EdTech leadership roles at Aplia, Cengage Learning, and Turnitin.  President of  Ouriginal , a plagiarism software that assists K-12 districts and higher education institutions in safeguarding their academic integrity initiatives. Eric has help...

Sarah Baker Andrus is the founder and CEO of Avarah Careers, a career coaching business. She’s worked on all sides of the hiring equation, as a recruiter, hiring manager, and a career counselor, serving in the corporate world, non-profits, and academia. When it comes to the hiring process and how it works from the inside, she’s seen it all. She shares her learning journey and how she is disrupting...

Jacqueline Evanecz is a teacher-turned-entrepreneur, who's using her years of experience in elementary and secondary education to create a peer network for students to direct and manage their own projects. She has seen how transformative learning can be when students take the reins, so her mission is to support teachers and the work they are doing to foster self-directed learners in their classroo...

Kyle Wagner is the founder and chief [co] learning experience designer for Transform Educational Consulting Limited, an organization that empowers forward thinking schools and educators to create more globally, socially and emotionally aware citizens through Project-Based Learning.    As a former educator at High Tech High, the school featured on the hit documentary “Most Likely to Succe...

A self professed podcast addict, when she heard Rick Mulready, of The Art of Paid Traffic say “Facebook ads are simple. They are all about the numbers,” everything for Meredith Kallaher just clicked.   An A-Ha moment, maybe?   Her CPA and 6 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers combined with her social media marketing expertise has uniquely prepared Meredith to help businesses execute and im...