The Authority Podcast — Expert Insights and Fresh Ideas for Education Leaders

Dr. Chris Jones has been an educator in Massachusetts for 22 years. He is author of the book SEEing to Lead and also hosts the SEEing to Lead podcast , right here on the Be Podcast Network. In this episode, we discuss his book, published by Code Breaker, Inc.   Chris and Ross discuss:   ●      The problem with education traditions: “One of the biggest problems in education is tradition. One of the...

Today, we welcome the three co-authors of Teaching for Racial Equity: Becoming Interrupters , published by Stenhouse. The book was named as one of three winners in the Best Book for Educators category of the inaugural Excellence in Equity Awards , presented by the American Consortium for Equity in Education.   The discussion includes: What it means to be an “interrupter” Critical love, critical hu...

Welcome to a can’t-miss conversation with Principal Baruti Kafele, author of seven best-selling books, including the topic of today’s episode: The Equity & Social Justice Education 50 .   The discussion includes:  Equity vs. Equality — the strategy vs. the goal and why it matters  Does my presence positively alter the trajectory of my students?  The personal nature of this work and this book....

We’re thrilled to welcome international best-selling author and business leader Mark Miller as our guest for this episode of The Authority.  Mark is Vice President of High Performance Leadership for Chick-Fil-A. He first started at the company as an hourly team member in 1977 and has served in numerous roles along the way.  Culture Rules: The Leader's Guide to Creating the Ultimate Competitive Adv...

In today’s special episode, we welcome all four co-authors of the book Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership , published by ASCD. The book was named as one of three winners in the Best Book for Educators category of the inaugural Excellence in Equity Awards , presented by the American Consortium for Equity in Education. The discussion includes: How this team of authors connected to w...

 Kate Eberle Walker, CEO of teletherapy solution provider Presence, is today’s guests. Kate is an education industry leader with 20+ years of experience in leading, managing, advising, acquiring and investing in education companies. Her book is The Good Boss: Nine Ways Every Manager Can Support Women at Work , published by BenBella Books.   In the interview, Kate and Ross discuss:    Stories about...

Patrick Harris II, a middle school humanities teacher outside of Detroit, is the guest on this episode of The Authority. His book, published by Heinemann, is  The First Five: A Love Letter to Teachers .   The First Five is a memoir with a call-to-action. Patrick writes about his early life and what brought him to the education profession, and outlines the lessons learned in his first five years –...

Matthew Taylor joins the show today to discuss his book, The Noble School Leader: The Five-Square Approach to Leading Schools with Emotional Intelligence , published by Jossey-Bass.   Matthew and Ross discuss:   Whether emotional intelligence is the most important competency of a school leader The components of the five-square approach: values, self-awareness, social awareness, self management, an...

Veteran school administrator, educational consultant, and executive coach Pete Hall joins The Authority for a discussion about his latest book, Always Strive to Be a Better You .   Pete and Ross discuss: Why Pete took on this ambitious project How to understand the potential as an asymptote The benefit of building his lessons around normal people The range of goals people pursue to live a better l...

Dr. Byron McClure and Dr. Kelsie Reed, a pair of Nationally Certified School Psychologists, join us to discuss their new book, Hacking Deficit Thinking: 8 Reframes That Will Change The Way You Think About Strength-Based Practices And Equity In Schools .   The discussion includes: “At-risk.” “Low.” “Title I Kids.” What are some harmful terms and why do we need to do away with them? How educators ca...

Dr. Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow and founder of the Speak Up Research Project, is our guest for this episode of The Authority. Julie and Ross talk about her new book, Free Agent Learning: Leveraging Students' Self-Directed Learning to Transform K-12 Education , published by Jossey-Bass.   The conversation covers:   Leveraging self-directed learning to improve classroom reach and engagement...

Mike Ficara, an entrepreneur and former school administrator, joins The Authority to discuss his book Like Socks on a Rooster: A Guide to Busting the Entrepreneurial Cliches that Are Holding You Back .   Mike and Ross discuss:   Mike’s experience as an educator, where he thought his career was going, and how he ended up in entrepreneurship. Mike’s journey of learning by doing. “Like socks on a roo...

Today, The Authority Podcast gets weird.   We welcome CJ Casciotta to the show. CJ is a creative strategist, media producer, and author of Get Weird: Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference .   Ross and CJ discuss:   How CJ learned to “get weird” Weird suggests the supernatural — something we don’t understand. The story of a girl who “dodged the gavel of who she can and can’t be.” “T...

Sarah Strong, a teacher at San Diego’s High Tech High, and Gigi Butterfield, her former student, co-authored the book Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math And What Teachers Can Do About It . They are today’s guests on The Authority.  In the interview, Ross, Sarah and Gigi discuss: Sarah and Gigi’s four-year student-teacher relationship and how they came to collaborate on the book What the “Dear Math” let...

Chris Hall, an 8th grade language arts teacher at Oyster River Middle School in Durham, NH is the guest on this episode of The Authority. His book, published by Heinemann, is The Writer’s Mindset: Six Stances That Promote Authentic Revision .   In the interview, Chris and Ross discuss:  Why Chris chose to focus his book on the topic of revision The 6 Stances students can adopt toward their writing...

Tanya Sheckley, Founder and President of UP Academy and author of the book Rebel Educator is our guest.   Tanya and Ross discuss:   The definition of a “Rebel Educator” and the type of school culture that encourages high-impact rebels Why it’s important to keep teachers connected to the reasons they became educators in the first place. What Tanya and her teachers have learned from each other How t...

Andrew Campanella is the guest today to discuss his book, The School Choice Roadmap: 7 Steps to Finding the Right School for Your Child . The book has won the Foreword Indies Gold Award, a Silver IPPY, a Mom’s Choice Award, and a National Parenting Product Award.   While the book is written to help parents navigate schooling options for their children, we look at it from a different angle in this...

On this episode, we discuss an ever-timely topic: teacher burnout. And today we get to evaluate solutions from the teacher’s point of view. Amber Harper, a kindergarten teacher, podcaster, and Teacher Burnout Coach is our guest. She joins to talk about her book Hacking Teacher Burnout . Ross and Amber discuss: Amber’s “burnout story” and how she came to this work What makes teacher burnout differe...

Jeffrey Benson, author of the ASCD best-seller Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL , is the guest for this episode.   Jeffrey and Ross discuss: Jeffrey’s extensive work with students who suffered the trauma of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) “Are you willing to bet that your lesson plan will work – and work for every student?” How “home-field advantage” can inform perspectives on the classroom...

Award-winning writer, teacher, and sought-after speaker Elizabeth Jorgensen is this episode’s guest. She joins the show to discuss Hacking Student Learning Habits , her book on process-based assessment published by Times 10 Publications.    Ross and Elizabeth discuss:   How to introduce small, measurable, progress-driven goals while de-emphasizing grades as the outcome A relevant story from James...

Veteran educator and consultant Mike Anderson joins the podcast this week to discuss his ninth book, Tackling the Motivation Crisis: How to Activate Student Learning Without Behavior Charts, Pizza Parties, and Other Hard-to-Quit Incentive Systems .   Mike and Ross discuss:   Evidence of the motivation crisis in schools — but why it also may not be as bad as it seems What’s wrong with incentives? W...

In this episode, we talk with Michael Horn, Author of the book, “ From Reopen to Reinvent ”. In this episode we talk about the following: - Thinking a lot about why people make changes in their daily lives. - 4 core sets of reasons that cause people to make a switch. - Help them make better switches. - Systematically said all these things are of lower priority. - What motivates people to make chan...

In this episode, school librarian Ryan Bani Tahmaseb discusses his book The 21st Century School Library: A model for innovative teaching & learning. Some areas of conversation include: How administrators and teachers can lean on the library to support teaching, learning, and innovation The modern role of a school librarian – and what is still misunderstood How librarians can be a valuable reso...

On today’s episode we’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Peter DeWitt to discuss his latest book, De-Implementation: Creating the Space to Focus on What Works . Peter and Ross discuss:  - The concept of de-implementation and how Peter began to study it  - How to understand what’s working and what’s not  - The benefits of focusing on “fewer things, greater depth”  - What surveys show educators are interest...

Dr. Carey Borkoski, Associate Professor and Research Fellow in the School of Education at Loyola University - Maryland, is our guest on this episode. We chat about her book Dancing with Discomfort: A framework for noticing, naming, and navigating our in-between moments . Carey and Ross discuss: What inspired Carey to write the book The importance of transitions in creating an interesting, fulfilli...