School Reboot

In this episode of School Reboot , Courtney Dickinson and Sarah Zuckerman talk with Steve Seidel and Adria Steinberg, longtime education leaders and founding members of the Group School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Steve and Adria reflect on what it means to build a school around student voice, choice, trust, and democratic decision-making. They share how the Group School challenged traditional co...

In Part 2 of this School Reboot conversation, Courtney Dickinson and Sarah Zuckerman continue their discussion with Mike Domina, Principal of McAvinnue Elementary School, and David Anderson, Principal of McAuliffe Elementary School, both in Lowell Public Schools. Together, they explore how schools can rethink assessment, student choice, collaboration, and the definition of success in public educat...

In this episode of School Reboot , Courtney Dickinson and Sarah Zuckerman talk with two public school leaders from Lowell who are rethinking what school can feel like for students and teachers. Mike Domina of McAvinnue Elementary and David Anderson of McAuliffe Elementary reflect on what it takes to build schools where joy, trust, and belonging are not extras, but the foundation for learning. They...

This episode explores how schools can balance well-being and achievement without sacrificing rigor. With guest Anne Anderson of Denmark’s Playful Learning Project , we examine how playful, inclusive learning strengthens academic skills, supports neurodiverse students, and builds belonging. The conversation challenges deficit-based systems, highlights practical classroom shifts, and reframes play a...

Recorded live at the School Reboot Podcast Release Party, this episode brings together previous guests Jeff Riley and Mitch Resnick for a conversation with Courtney Dickinson and Sarah Zuckerman about what schools must become in a rapidly changing world. Jeff and Mitch explore how schools can move beyond compliance-driven models and instead nurture creativity, curiosity, agency, and deeper learnin...

Rebecca E. Wolfe, PhD joins School Reboot to discuss why bottom-up innovations in education rarely spread, even when they demonstrate strong outcomes. Drawing on a paper she just released for the Hoover Institution entitled Can’t Get There From Here: A Framework for the Start, Spread, and Scale of Bottom-Up Innovation in Education, she outlines a framework for catalyzing classroom-born ideas, supp...

This episode features Mitch Resnick of the MIT Media Lab, creator of Scratch and author of Lifelong Kindergarten, on why schools must shift from instructionism to constructionism and design learning around the Four Ps: Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. Mitch explains how creative learning grows through experimentation, iteration, and the creative learning spiral, and why “low floor, high ceiling...

This episode features Jeff Riley, former Massachusetts Commissioner of Education and cofounder of Day of AI, on why schools must move beyond compliance and refocus on deeper learning, teacher trust, and student well-being. Jeff explores how over-mechanized systems have stalled progress, why task predicts performance, and how empowering teachers leads to stronger engagement and outcomes. The conver...

This episode asks: are we measuring what truly matters for students? With guest Nick Morgan, Senior Consultant at Learning Forward and Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, we move beyond standardized test scores to a simple playbook: pick a clear outcome, track a few quick measures (exit tickets, tallies, short surveys), and iterate fast. We replace “fidelity” w...

In this episode of School Reboot , we explore how choice transforms classrooms into places of curiosity and joy. From self-guided stations rooted in Universal Design for Learning to tiered assignments that let students “choose up,” we see how autonomy builds engagement and rigor. Responsive projects—like student newspapers, environmental proposals, and creative clubs—turn curiosity into leadership...

This episode of School Reboot rethinks school discipline from the ground up, moving away from punishment and compliance toward care, conversation, and kids’ real needs. Drawing on motivational psychology and moral development research, we explore why fear-based systems fail to build lasting judgment and instead demoralize both students and teachers, with real costs for learning time and equity. We...

This episode of School Reboot explores how schools can move beyond one-size-fits-all teaching and create learning experiences that truly fit every child. We start with Start-of-Year Listening Conferences , a simple but powerful practice where teachers meet families to listen. With this simple practice, teachers learn about a child’s strengths, challenges, hopes, and motivations, while families fee...

This episode of School Reboot dives into three powerful shifts that can transform how students experience school from the moment they arrive. First, we explore the idea of a “Skipping Please” culture —reframing the rules and expectations around student movement. Instead of “no running” or “sit still,” schools can say yes to skipping, stretching, and moving as a natural part of learning. This appro...