The Future of Education

Federal policy has immense power to influence incentives in higher ed. What can be done to better align them toward value and access? On the heels of my conversation with Phil Hill that posted last week, I sat down with Preston Cooper , Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (on Substack at FREOPP Highlights ), to talk through the effect of enacted—as well as the potenti...

What’s the impact of the current federal higher ed. regulation regime on online education?  That’s the question I addressed in my conversation with education technology consultant and industry analyst Phil Hill. We discussed the current administration’s effort to gut inter-state accreditation reciprocity agreements and its impacts on online universities serving students across state lines. We also...

As mentioned last week, Diane Tavenner, Stacey Childress, and I recorded two episodes reacting to the three-part podcast that a16z venture capitalists Marc Andreseen and Ben Horowitz recorded on higher education. In this second episode, we reacted to the venture capitalists’ proposed solutions for higher education. This was also a juicy conversation, and we look forward to your thoughts! The Futur...

At the beginning of the year, venture capitalists Marc Andreseen and Ben Horowitz of a16z published three episodes diagnosing the problems with higher education, offering solutions, and then answering questions. Six hours of audio on higher education is no small undertaking! Diane Tavenner and I were intrigued with the takes and wanted to react to them, deepen some of the analysis, and suggest som...

I’ll admit it. This was a pinch-me moment. Getting to interview Guy Raz—host of the top podcasts “How I Built This” and “Wow in the World” and one of the pioneers of podcasting? Count me in. This conversation went in a bunch of unexpected directions. And that’s what’s so fun about it. After all, podcasting is all about bringing audio back and turning learning into leisure. And the question Guy and...

There are new solutions for work and learning, but are we, as a society, open to shifting from the familiar to seize these opportunities?  I sat down with Ryan Stowers, Executive Director of the Charles Koch Foundation, to discuss openness in the sector. We lay down a definition for openness, look at shining examples of learning innovation, and consider the risk of holding to the status quo. The F...

So many teens are addicted to phones and social media. How can parents and educators help kids thrive in a digital world with unwritten rules, uncertain effects, and endless changes? Devorah Heitner wrote her latest book, Growing Up in Public , to help adults better play that role. I sat down with her to discuss strategies for maximizing the benefits and mitigating the risks. We also talked about...

On our latest episode of Class Disrupted, I interviewed Diane Tavenner about why America’s approach to math class isn’t adding up. We analyzed the outcomes produced under the status quo, considered the current system’s alignment with workforce needs, and proposed a personalized approach to teaching each student the math that is meaningful for their path—and doesn’t privilege Calculus over things l...

Tutoring has been a favorite intervention among school systems looking to get their students back on track after the pandemic. But not all programs are created equal. Results have been uneven at best. I sat down with the Alan Safran and AJ Gutierrez of Saga Education, a nonprofit that has been supporting schools to get tutoring right since long before the pandemic. We discussed the evolution of th...

Where did you turn for help in deciding what you wanted to do when you grew up? For more and more students, CareerVillage.org , an online platform that connects high schoolers to advice from real-world professionals, is serving as a trusted guide in navigating their career paths. I sat down with the nonprofit’s founder, Jared Chung, to discuss how they are sourcing and delivering career advice; de...

Ryan Craig joined me once again to talk about his new book Apprentice Nation —this time as a part of Class Disrupted with Diane Tavenner. As a school leader who for years led the charge for college-for-all but has changed her mind in recent years, Diane had lots of questions for Ryan about how K–12 educators should think about apprenticeships and alternative pathways for high school students. Give...

Diane Tavenner and I interviewed Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, a cognitive scientist, researcher, and author focused on intelligence, creativity, and human potential on our latest episode of Class Disrupted. This is the second time Scott’s appeared on one of my podcasts (see here with Ian Rowe ). But this time we got to delve much deeper into Scott’s various interests and lines of work. Together we dis...

More and more parents are taking charge of their children’s education through homeschooling.  Manisha Snoyer’s podcast and online homeschooling community, Teach Your Kids, is seeking to empower parents with the guidance, tools, and network they need to thrive as educators for their children. She joined the Future of Education to discuss her work, dispel misconceptions about homeschooling, and cons...

Diane and I looked back on the past three episodes of Class Disrupted’s fifth season through the lens of disruption. We discussed the future of AI education tools; considered the opportunities and challenges as the Carnegie Foundation embarks on creating innovative new assessments with ETS; and highlighted how Americans’ ideas of a success are changing and what that means for schools. As always, s...

Who are the “customers” of higher education—students or employers? Scott Pulsipher, President of Western Governors University, joined the Future of Education to give his take on this age-old question and discuss how colleges can achieve mutual benefit for both parties. Scott analyzed how the needs of students and employers overlap; the measures that matter to drive outcomes for both, and how to id...

Curt Ellis and Rob Harvey, Co-CEOs of FoodCorps, an AmeriCorps program that partners with schools and policymakers to build access to healthy school meals and food education, joined me discuss why good food is in fact central to the work of schools, how food education and meal choice build agency in students, and the debate on universal school meal assistance programs. As always, subscribers can l...

Timothy Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, joins Diane and Michael to discuss how this historic foundation looks to drive the future of American education. On K–12, they discuss why Carnegie has partnered with ETS and why they are seeking to assess a broader array of skills—not just focus on the standards that are already assessed. They also dive into Ca...

AI expert and Minerva University senior Irhum Shafkat joins me and Diane Tavenner to discuss where AI has been, where it’s going, and the rate at which it’s moving. We also discuss the many forms the technology takes, its implications for humanity, and, of course, its applications in education—as told by a student. As always, subscribers can listen to the conversation, watch it, or read it below....

Ryan Craig joined me to talk about his third book, Apprentice Nation: How the “Earn and Learn” Alternative to Higher Education Will Create a Stronger and Fairer America . In our conversation, Craig walked me through what it would take to move apprenticeship beyond the trades and into the broader American workforce. We compared the American apprenticeship system to those of other countries—with a d...

Todd Rose rejoined me and Diane Tavenner to talk about compelling new research findings on what Americans do and don't want from their schools, institutions and lives. Spoiler alert: They are rejecting fame, fortune and higher education as markers of success. Their focus instead is on community and financial security. Along with Diane, I enjoyed diving in to this conversation with Todd to explore...

Back for Season 5, Michael and Diane catch up on their summers and book reading, Diane’s new entrepreneurial venture, PointB, the season ahead—and then offer some hot takes on the reading wars and Lucy Caulkins, four-year college-for-all, and education jargon. As always, subscribers can listen to the conversation, watch it at YouTube, or read the transcript below. The Future of Education is a read...

Why don't career services work at colleges? For those in higher ed, the answers are often well known, but for those who don't work in higher ed—particularly students and families—they just assume a college's career services should… help them get a job. Yet these offices aren't all that good at doing so for the most part. My guests, Mike Goldstein and Geordie Brackin, explain why—and add a few reas...

For over 30 years, Cara Collective has worked directly with individuals experiencing a number of barriers to employment work through their challenges, invest in their development, and get great jobs. They've also worked with employers to help them rethink their hiring procedures so that they don't miss hidden gems in their communities for any number of reasons. In this conversation, Kathleen St. L...

Two innovators in education, Laurence Holt and Jacob Klein, have teamed together to create a market map for charting the path and impact of AI in K–12 education. The map not only charts places that new AI companies and products are entering, but also highlights where AI could make a positive impact in a not-so-subtle nudge to innovators. In this conversation, we walk through some of the big trends...

On the latest Future of Education, Louise Baigelman, the founder of startup Story Shares , joined me to discuss the reading crisis that affects not only elementary-school students, but also adolescents. For adolescent students, although they need to learn the same skill sets as elementary-school students to become strong readers, how they build those skills needs to be different. Baigelman shared...