Spotlight 4 Success

Send us Fan Mail Joy sounds simple until you try to lead with it every day. From Summer GAEL 2026 in Jekyll Island, Georgia, we sit down with Tawana, the principal of Sumter County Elementary School, to talk about what it really looks like to “bring the joy” into a new building and why that mindset can change everything from teacher morale to student engagement. Website: spotlight4success.com 

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people say they “ended up” in education, but Breanne Smith can trace it back to something more specific: a childhood surrounded by schools, a teacher who changed her life, and a gift for connecting with kids that never let go. We’re recording at Summer GALE in Jekyll Island, Georgia, and Breanne Smith joins us as the assistant principal of Danielsville Elementary in Madis...

Send us Fan Mail Screens are convenient. They are also easy to skim, easy to distract us, and increasingly easy to “complete” with AI without truly learning. That’s why we wanted a straight, practical conversation about what actually helps students remember, practice, and improve. Think Factory Podcast sits down with Devin Pintozi, Chief Operating Officer of American Book Company in Woodstock, Geo...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of kids don’t hate writing, they hate the feeling of being judged while they’re trying to think. From the Summer GALE conference on Jekyll Island, Georgia, we sit down with Matthew from Read Write Create to talk about a more human way to teach creative writing, one that starts with imagination and ends with stronger writing skills. Website: spotlight4success.com

Send us Fan Mail Science gets a lot easier to love when it feels like it belongs to your life. From the floor of the Summer Gale Conference in Jekyll Island, Georgia, we sit down with Erika James from Style Education to talk about a practical challenge schools face every year: how do you choose a middle school science curriculum that truly fits your state, your standards, and your students? Websit...

Send us Fan Mail A new school year doesn’t just need fresh energy; it needs better systems. From the GAEL conference in Jekyll Island, Georgia, we sit down with Brooks Robinson from Sumter County Schools to talk about what it really takes to support students consistently, not just when a problem becomes impossible to ignore. Website: spotlight4success.com 

Send us Fan Mail From Summer GALE in Jekyll Island, Georgia, we sit down with Sabrina Smith, safety director for Valdosta City Schools, to get specific about what school safety looks like at the district level. Sabrina explains how her background as a former police officer and early work as a school resource officer led her into a role focused on proactive prevention. We talk about the practical s...

Send us Fan Mail Two schools in one building. Over 700 students. Around 100 adults to support and coach. That’s not a leadership thought experiment, that’s a normal day for Hollie Walters, principal of Dooly K-8 Academy in rural Dooly County, Georgia. We sit down with Hollie for a grounded conversation about what school leadership really looks like when the work is big, the community is tight-knit...

Send us Fan Mail AI is moving faster than school systems, and our students already know it. From the SCASA Conference in Myrtle Beach, we sit down with Kendra, an assistant principal from Windsor Elementary, to talk about what school leaders are seeing right now and what actually helps classrooms thrive. Website: spotlight4success.com

Send us Fan Mail The best teacher pipeline might already be sitting in the school library. We’re recording from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the SCABSE conference, and our guest Eboni Amaker makes a powerful case for why school support roles like media clerk are packed with untapped educator talent. Website: spotlight4success.com

Send us Fan Mail A lot of schools talk about “college and career readiness,” but what does that actually look like on a Tuesday morning with real students who have real barriers? From the SCABSE conference in Myrtle Beach, we sit down with Latonya Jackson from Columbia High School in Richland One to unpack how Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) turns good intentions into clear next steps: soft ski...

Send us Fan Mail The kids who get labeled “trouble” are often the ones carrying the most untold story, and they’re also the ones schools struggle to reach with typical discipline cycles. From the SCABS conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, we talk with Coty Martin, CEO of Adversity University and a licensed therapist, about what it looks like to build student resilience before things fall ap...

Send us Fan Mail Professional development can be either a box to check or a lever that changes schools. From the SCABSE conference in Myrtle Beach, I sit down with Brian Edward, principal of Louisville Middle School in Chester County and president-elect of SCABSE, to talk about what makes educator learning actually useful and why this conference keeps drawing teachers and administrators from acros...

Send us Fan Mail AI is already in your students’ hands, so the real question is whether schools will pretend it isn’t there or learn how to use it well. From the SCASBE conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, we sit down with Dr. Felicia Williams, principal of Lake Marion Middle School in Orangeburg County Schools, for a grounded conversation about what school leadership looks like right now a...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people show up to an education conference hunting for a single magic strategy. We show up looking for something better: ideas that actually fit real classrooms and real kids. From sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the SCABSE 2026 Conference, I sit down with guest Taurus Hugee for a fast, honest conversation about what it means to “heighten education” while keeping it...

Send us Fan Mail A 98.6% graduation rate with students who arrive not on track to graduate doesn’t happen by accident, and it definitely doesn’t happen by labeling kids and hoping for the best. From the SCAPSE conference in Myrtle Beach, we sit down with Cedrick Richie, principal at Excel Learning Academy in Richland One School District, to get specific about what equity-driven leadership looks li...

Send us Fan Mail A single preview copy can be the difference between guessing and gaining. We sit down with a teacher who shares how American Book Company (ABC) books went from “something I tried once” to a repeatable system for better classroom instruction, stronger test prep, and measurable student growth. If you’ve ever stared down a high-stakes EOC and a limited budget, this conversation hits...

Send us Fan Mail A missed question should not be a dead end, it should be a map. We dig into what makes standards-based textbooks and assessments feel genuinely helpful for students and sustainable for teachers, using American Book Company resources as the jumping-off point. Website: spotlight4success.com 

Send us Fan Mail A single conference hallway can tell you a lot about what educators are carrying and what they still hope to build. From the NCASA conference in Wilmington, North Carolina, we sit down with Rochelle Brown, a CMS biology teacher with 26 years in education and a North Carolina Principal Fellow preparing for a full-year internship at Croft Community Schools in Charlotte. She talks ca...

Send us Fan Mail We’re recording from the NCASA conference in Wilmington, North Carolina, and we keep hearing the same challenge from school and district leaders: students need more support, but schedules and staffing are already stretched thin. So we sat down with Rene and Connie from Book Nook to get specific about what scalable high impact tutoring can look like when it’s built for real schools...

Send us Fan Mail We’re recording from the NCASA Conference in Wellington, North Carolina, and we sit down with Ashley, a fifth grade teacher from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools who’s stepping into a new season of education leadership. After 14 years in the classroom, she’s now a principal fellow through North Carolina Central, preparing for an administrator internship next year. That transition...

Send us Fan Mail We’re recording from the NCASA conference in North Carolina, and we sit down with Taylor Simmons, Director of Creative Design at Achievable Dream Urban Learning Leadership Center (AADULLC). If you’ve ever wondered what real school improvement looks like when it’s tailored to a district’s actual needs, this conversation gets specific fast. Taylor breaks down how AADULLC operates as...

Send us Fan Mail A surprise meetup at NCASA turns into a deep dive on what values based leadership looks like when you actually practice it every day. We sit down with Gina Watts, VP of U.S. Student Transformation at Growing Leaders, and Molly from the student transformation team, to talk about the Maxwell Leadership principles behind their work and why those principles still matter in real school...

Send us Fan Mail Leadership doesn’t start the day you get the title. It starts in the rooms where you admit what you still need to learn, then go get it. From the NCASA conference in Wilmington, North Carolina, I sit down with Tyneka and Toni, two Wake County Public Schools educators preparing for the next step as principal fellows connected to North Carolina Central University through CCP3 and th...

Send us Fan Mail A paid principal residency sounds almost too good to be true, but North Carolina is doing it and doing it with real rigor. From the floor of the NCASA Conference in Wellington, we sit down with Lauren, director of the North Carolina Principal Fellows Program, to unpack how the state is strengthening school leadership by investing in a clear pathway from educator to administrator....