SupportED Learning Podcast

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe sits down with Andrew Cohen, founder and CEO of Brainscape—a smart-flashcard platform used by millions of students from AP through the bar exam —to explain why most of the studying kids do is a waste of time, and what the cognitive science says actually works. Dr. Joe and Andrew break down why highlighting and rereading f...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe sits down with Dr. Cynthia Colón, who spent 25 years inside elite college admissions as a dean and school administrator and now runs Dream College Academy to help public school families access the insider knowledge private school families take for granted. Dr. Joe and Dr. Cynthia open up the "black box" of admis...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe sits down with Evelyn Jerome Alexander—Certified Educational Planner, UC Berkeley instructor, and founder of Magellan College Counseling —whose whole philosophy treats college admissions as a family wellness challenge, not just a strategy problem. Dr. Joe and Evelyn discuss how to navigate admissions without fracturing th...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe sits down with Dr. Jill Alexa Perry—executive director of the Carnegie Project on the Educational Doctorate and the first full Professor of Practice at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education —for a conversation that's personal: Dr. Joe earned his own educational leadership doctorate at Pitt, where Dr. Jill...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe sits down with Mark Stucker, founder of School Match 4 U, co-host of the Your College-Bound Kid podcast, and author of College Admission: 171 Answers , to unpack why so many families approach college the wrong way—chasing prestige instead of fit. Dr. Joe and Mark discuss what students and parents need to understand about...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe sits down with Christopher Hunt, a former Wall Street Journal and Economist journalist and founder of College Essay Mentor , to break down how students can write a personal statement that actually stands out—and sounds like them, not a robot. Dr. Joe and Chris discuss what students and parents need to understand about the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe sits down with Elise Pham, a first-generation Harvard student on the premed track and founder of The Ultimate Ivy League Guide , to break down what top colleges actually want—and why most families get it completely wrong. Dr. Joe and Elise discuss what students and parents need to understand about college admissions , incl...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe sits down with Nelson Dellis, a six-time USA Memory Champion and founder of the nonprofit Climb for Memory, to reveal why memory is a trainable skill—not a gift you're either born with or not. Dr. Joe and Nelson discuss what students and parents need to understand about memory and studying, including how Nelson went f...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe sits down with Anthony Metivier, a world-renowned memory expert, founder of the Magnetic Memory Method, and a former university professor who rebuilt his own memory after a health crisis, to explain why most studying is broken—and what actually works instead. Dr. Joe and Anthony discuss what students and parents need to un...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Esther Wojcicki—legendary educator, founder of the Palo Alto High School Media Arts Program, author of How to Raise Successful People, and the woman known as the "Godmother of Silicon Valley" —to unpack the parenting philosophy behind three of the most successful daughters in tech and sci...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Greg Mat, founder and lead instructor of GregMat and a specialist in the GRE and TOEFL, to break down how one former classroom teacher disrupted a multibillion-dollar test prep industry—and what that means for families trying to prep without wasting thousands of dollars. Dr. Joe and Greg discuss wh...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with James Sousa, a 30-year mathematics professor, creator of Math Is Power 4 U, and a pioneer of the Open Education Resource movement with over 9,500 free instructional videos , to dismantle one of the most damaging myths in education: that some people just aren't "math people." Dr. Joe...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with J on Corippo, a 22-year education veteran, co-author of EDU Protocols, and the man who's been inside over 1,000 classrooms and trained 70,000 teachers, to break down why teachers are burned out—and why blaming devices misses the point entirely. Dr. Joe and Jon discuss what educators need to u...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Christopher Hull, co-founder and president of Otus—a K-12 platform supporting over 2.5 million students —and a former middle school teacher, to break down why schools collect more data on kids than ever yet still miss the ones who need help. Dr. Joe and Chris discuss what parents and educators need...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Dr. Sheldon Eakins, a 15-year educator, former principal and special education director, and author of Leading Equity: Meaningful Classroom Management, to unpack the difference between equality and equity—and why treating every kid the same can quietly fail them. Dr. Joe and Dr. Sheldon discuss wh...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Susanna Heinze, a 20-year science educator and creator of the Science with Susanna YouTube channel (148K+ subscribers, 10 million+ views), to break down why kids struggle in biology—and why it has nothing to do with how smart they are. Dr. Joe and Susanna discuss what students and families need to...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Jeff Utecht, a 30-year educator, Bill & Melinda Gates grant recipient, and author of Humans Still Required who helped co-create Washington State's official AI guidance, to break down why the education system your kid is in was built for a world that no longer exists. Dr. Joe and Jeff disc...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Kim Hopkins, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and CPS trainer who has worked alongside Dr. Ross Greene at Lives in the Balance, to break down why the way we handle kids' behavior is backwards—and what actually works instead. Dr. Joe and Kim discuss what parents and educators need to understan...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Gretchen Wegner, founder of the Anti-Boring Learning Lab and a former Fulbright Fellow, to break down why students say they study but bomb their tests—and what actually works instead. Dr. Joe and Gretchen discuss what students and families need to understand about how the brain actually learns , i...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Dave Burgess, bestselling author of Teach Like a Pirate and founder of Dave Burgess Consulting , to explain how a former street magician turned classroom teacher built a framework now used by hundreds of thousands of educators worldwide. Dr. Joe Sebestyen and Dave Burgess discuss what actually make...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Dr. Soulmaz Boroumand, a Mayo Clinic scientist with a PhD in biomedical sciences from Durham University , to break down what a career in medicine actually looks like beyond just becoming a doctor. Dr. Joe Sebestyen and Dr. Boroumand discuss what students and families need to understand about medic...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Sol Lee, University of Chicago graduate, founder of Increments, and a 14-year SAT and LSAT reading strategist , to explain why most students plateau on the SAT verbal section and how to break through. Dr. Joe Sebestyen and Sol Lee discuss what actually moves the needle on SAT and LSAT reading score...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Amanda DoAmaral, founder and CEO of Fiveable and a former AP teacher , to explain how a burned-out classroom teacher making less than her student loan payments built the largest AP prep platform in the country.  Amanda shares how she left the classroom, moved back in with her mom, and started buil...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Steve Schwartz, Columbia grad, founder of LSAT Unplugged, and host of one of the top-ranked LSAT podcasts in the country , to explain what it actually takes to go from a below-average LSAT score to the top 1%.  Steve shares his own story of raising his score from 152 to 175 in a single year, how t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast , Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Dr. Katie Novak, bestselling author of UDL Now! , former assistant superintendent, and one of the most widely followed voices in Universal Design for Learning, to explain why most schools are quietly built for a student who doesn't exist.  Dr. Joe Sebestyen and Dr. Katie Novak discuss what sc...