Getting Smart Podcast

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Mason Pashia is joined by Michael Crawford of America Succeeds and Chris Unger of Northeastern University to explore what it really takes to help young people build durable skills. Drawing on a 16-month study of 12 innovative high schools, they discuss how schools can make skills like collaboration, communication, and critical thinking explicit, visibl...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Mason Pashia talks with Chris McNutt of Human Restoration Project about how empathy interviews can help schools move beyond traditional surveys and toward more meaningful, student-centered change. The conversation explores Polaris, a platform designed to gather and analyze qualitative student voice data at scale, and highlights how districts are using...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Shawnee Caruthers sits down with Dr. Whitney Oakley, superintendent of Guilford County Schools, to explore the Guilford Guarantee—a bold district commitment that every graduate leaves high school with college credit, an industry-recognized credential, or a meaningful work-based learning experience. The conversation highlights what it takes to build rea...

Outline (0:00) Introduction & Ancient Grains (6:45) Teaching Across Contexts (11:39) The Stimulation Gap (17:36) The Hook, Pitch, Awakening & Strengthening Framework (28:14) Civics, Democracy & the Classroom (37:19) Civic Virtues & the Role of Schools Links Read the full blog here Watch the full video here Dr. Douglas Yacek LinkedIn

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Mason Pashia sits down with Keri Rodrigues, founder and president of the National Parents Union, to explore the power of parent voice in education. From school safety and special education to report cards, trust, AI readiness, and student data privacy, Keri shares why families must be treated as true partners in shaping better learning experiences. Thi...

In this episode of Catching Up, Nate McClennen and Mason Pashia explore the ideas shaping the future of learning and work—from the link between school innovation and enrollment demand to the rise of student influencers as a new form of district storytelling. They also dig into AI's growing role in education, including bias in feedback systems, the homogenizing effect of generative tools, and how A...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Nate McClennen talks with Liza Garoznik, founder and CEO of Real Discussion, about one of the biggest questions in education today: how do we teach and assess durable skills like communication, listening, and collaboration? Framed by the rise of AI and growing concern about a "conversation crisis," the discussion explores why authentic interaction must...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Mason Pashia sits down with Joana Ponce and Catherine Alves, featured in Roadtrip Nation's  Explore Your Interests , for a thoughtful conversation about passion, purpose, and the messy reality of career exploration. Together, they reflect on how exposure to new people and possibilities helped them rethink the idea of a single "right" path, and why lear...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Nate McClennen sits down with Dr. Adel DiOrio to explore how school leaders can move from fragmented initiatives to real coherence through knowledge management, transformational leadership, and coaching. Drawing on her research in rural school systems and insights from  The Coach's Playbook , Adel shares why documenting what works, building strong rela...

Why do so many promising ideas in education stay stuck in individual classrooms? In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Nate McClennen talks with Rebecca Wolfe about what it takes to turn innovation into lasting system change. From teacher agency and school leadership to accountability and knowledge-sharing, they explore how schools can create the conditions for ideas to spread, scale, and...

Every school that has tried to change and failed has done so for the same reason: the system kept producing exactly the results it was designed to produce, and nobody changed the system. What Lake City Area Schools discovered — through honest self-examination, disciplined sequencing, and a refusal to mistake movement for progress — is that real transformation requires a different kind of courage t...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom Vander Ark speaks with Stephanie Reisner and Steph Loeck of GPS Education Partners about how work-based learning can transform student engagement, career readiness, and economic mobility. Drawing on 25 years of experience and their new book,  Make School Work , they explore what makes work-based learning truly high quality, why employer preparation...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Nate McClennen sits down with Vriti Saraf, CEO of Ed3, to explore a timely and essential question: How do we move from using AI for efficiency to using AI for human flourishing in education? Drawing on Ed3's new research,  The Emerging Role of Teachers in the Age of AI , the conversation examines how artificial intelligence is already reshaping teachin...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Nate McClennen sits down with Gianna Biaggi, founder and executive director of the Magnolia Project, to explore how schools can treat the community as campus. Together, they discuss how Magnolia Project connects middle and high school students with local mentors through immersive, hands-on learning experiences that build agency, engagement, and career...

Students at Wellesley High School are helping imagine what learning could look like in 2040. In this episode of the  Getting Smart Podcast , Mason Pashia talks with Alty and Anaya, two learners from the school's Evolutions (EVOLS) program, about designing future-ready classrooms, visiting innovative schools, and building skills through hands-on, project-based experiences. From CTE-inspired spaces...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom Vander Ark speaks with Dr. Deborah Kenny, founder of Harlem Village Academies and author of The Well-Educated Child, about what it means to educate for depth, agency, and purpose in the age of AI. Their conversation explores deeper learning, Montessori, International Baccalaureate, Socratic dialogue, and the kind of rigorous, student-centered exper...

Nate McClennen and Mason Pashia unpack a wide-ranging set of ideas shaping the future of learning, from AI "hive minds" and youth relationships with AI to portraits of a graduate, durable skills, and real-world learning. They explore what it means to prepare students for a non-routine economy where judgment, collaboration, agency, and ownership matter more than ever. Along the way, they highlight...

In this episode of the  Getting Smart Podcast , Tom Vander Ark talks with Jean-Claude Brizard, CEO of Digital Promise, about the launch of the Center for Learner Pathway Innovations and what it will take to build New Pathways that are truly "unbounded." They dig into the barriers that keep learners from seeing and accessing opportunity (visibility, value, and recognition gaps), why pathways must b...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Nate McClennen sits down with author and education advocate Ted Dintersmith to rethink what math should look like in a changing world—especially as AI makes rote procedures less relevant. Together they unpack the limits of test-driven instruction, the consequences of low math and data literacy for civic life, and why classrooms should prioritize estima...

Stephanie Malia Krauss returns to the Getting Smart Podcast for a conversation with Tom Vander Ark about her new book,  How We Thrive: Caring for Kids and Ourselves in a Changing World . Together they explore why so many adults and young people feel overwhelmed and depleted—and what it looks like to "rehumanize" school and home by protecting the essentials that help humans thrive. The discussion w...

Learning doesn't happen "in rows," and Kevin Stoller has seen firsthand how the right environment can change everything. In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Mason Pashia talks with Stoller—author of  Creating Better Learning Environments  and host of the  Better Learning  podcast—about designing learner-centered spaces that support movement, choice, collaboration, and community connectio...

In this episode of the  Getting Smart Podcast , host Victoria Andrews sits down with student leaders from Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technology (NEAT) to explore what happens when a  Portrait of a Graduate  becomes more than a poster on the wall. Kaylyn Rosado, Connor Mawhiney, and Anna Montero share how student voice shaped their school's learning model—from a student ambassador...

In this episode of  Catching Up , Nate McClennen and Mason Pashia explore what's changing in education—and what should change next—through the lenses of infrastructure, accountability, and emerging technology. They discuss a "smart city" view of transportation and connectivity, unpack new research on how parents respond to grades vs. standardized test data, and examine a Florida study on how schoo...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, host Rebecca Midles talks with Kelly Coffin, superintendent in Farmington Hills, Michigan, about what it really means to "go slow to go fast" in district transformation. Coffin shares how leaders can build trust and capacity through co-design with educators closest to students, stay connected through daily visibility and listening routines, and "test t...

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Victoria Andrews sits down with Eric Wearne of Kennesaw State University and the National Hybrid Schools Project to explore what research is revealing about hybrid models (often 2–3 days on campus and 2–3 days at home), including facilities and regulatory challenges, who teaches in these settings, and why learner-centered culture matters. They also dig...