Kerry McDonald is, quite simply, a powerhouse in the world of school choice, alternative schooling, innovation and entrepreneurship in education – a voice that bemoans the outcomes of government compulsory schooling.  This may sound harsh, but it’s a reality.  And without alternatives, educators, parents, and learners have to look to starting, building, and accessing their own learning opportunities.  Her diligent pursuit of such stories has provided us with a wellspring of examples of how entrepreneurial educators can innovate outside of our public school ecosystem, with the most recent explosion of microschools across the country, partly fueled from the pandemic.  In this episode she shares a ton of what she has learned and eloquently gives language to the need for the growth of these alternatives and points us to the stories of how these alternatives can take root.  And, once again, her commentary speaks to the need for a revolution in our public school ecosystem.

Besides her numerous personal efforts to identify and showcase how new learning environments can take root and how entrepreneurs can start and scale their efforts, Kerry is also a Senior Education Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom, author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom, several case studies of entrepreneurship in education,  and writes across several well-known publications including Forbes, and actively contributes to X (formerly Twitter) where she shares her insights and work. Her podcast LiberatED is available on various platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube and can be found on her website, LiberatED.

A Revolution in Education

The Canopy Project, stewarded by Transcend Education and the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), is a collaborative effort to identify and share information about innovative schools and learning environments that put student-centered, equitable practices at the center of their efforts.  Educators and organizations from across the country with a focus on creating far more progressive and learner-centered school designs nominate schools from across the country for practices they consider are making a difference in the lives of youth.  The Canopy team then surveys leaders from these communities and captures the plethora of practices from across these communities and makes them available to everyone through a dynamic, web-based database where anyone can look for schools implementing specific practices, such as effective ELL practices, career-focused practices, and social-emotional learning practices.  Chelsea Waite, a senior researcher at the Center on Reinventing Public Education who initially started the project at the Clayton Christensen Institute and continues to direct the project at CRPE, along with Janette Avelar, a Research Fellow at CRPE for the Project, discuss the project, including its intent and their hope that it can assist others in identifying innovations that could prove of value to others with a focus on student-centered and equitable learning opportunities for all.

A Revolution in Education

Transcend Education was founded by Jeff Wetzler and Aylon Samouha in 2015 to support school communities in creating and spreading extraordinary, equitable learning environments. Now partnering with over 200 schools in 50+ districts, serving nearly 500,000 students in 30 states, they are partnering with educators across the country in their efforts to transform themselves.  They do this through their community-based design process, utilizing resources and providing models that help school communities “get from industrial era learning to extraordinary and equitable learning.”  Jenee Henry, the Chief Learning Officer at Transcend, and Saya Reed, a Fellow on the Products & Capacity Building team, share the goals and efforts of Transcend to support learning communities transform themselves through a community-centered redesign process while accessing and tapping from a plethora of learner-centered, equity-focused practices from schools across the country that they have curated on their Models Exchange website.  They are doing extraordinary work with their partner schools, and the Models Exchange site can provide inspiration as well as designs that can help educators pursue new models of education that far better serve youth beyond the industrial-model of education that is now outdated for what our youth want and communities need.  Hear what they are up to ... and why on this episode.

A Revolution in Education

In 2018, Chris McNutt and Nick Covington, two teachers in Ohio, decided to join forces to bring to light the need to transform education in keeping with far more progressive and human-centered systems of learning, resulting in The Human Restoration Project.  Starting first with a blog and podcast series, since then Chris and Nick have expanded their efforts to include work with school systems across the country, host an annual summer conference, curate an amazing website with a plethora of resources including writings, podcasts, curriculum guides, webinars, cross-curricular lessons, and a database of over 800 research articles supporting progressive education.  Most important to know:  they want to support educators to pursue the kinds of progressive education they feel (and research and observation clearly evidences) can serve youth far better.  In this episode the share who they are, why they do what they do, their journey to getting where they are, and what they do ... and why.

A Revolution in Education

Wow!  In this episode, I invited my good friend Jeff Petty, former Principal of the Highline Big Picture School and catalyst for several Big Picture Schools throughout the Northwest, to invite someone he respected for his own work in starting learner-centered schools.  That person was Javier Guzman, who started his own Big Picture School in NYC and subsequently the New Village Girls Academy in Los Angeles, and has since been helping schools and districts pursue better learning environments for all youth.  The conversation touched on many points:  Where does an interest and pursuit of school transformation happen?  Who can lead and inspire others to pursue this transformation?  Finally, what will it take to SCALE transformative practices?  And is that even possible?  In all of this, both Jeff and Javier share several stories from their experience working with others in the need to transform school and then how such transformations got underway.  A great episode rich with stories – good and bad – with a leaning toward what is possible in education once a fire is lit and the “abundance” of data clearly shows we need to do school differently.

A Revolution in Education

On this episode I am joined by Bobbie Macdonald, Senior Partner for Ecosystem Growth & Advancement at Education Reimagined, Scott Bess, founding Head of School of Purdue Polytechnic High School, and Keeanna Warren, CEO and founding Principal of Purdue Polytechnic High School North Campus to discuss what it will take for us to move the revolution forward in our public school ecosystem.  Education Reimagined is partnering with several communities across the country in support of their reimagining how their local ecosystems could better support their children to thrive, involving all stakeholders.  And Purdue Polytechnic High School is asking that question and pursuing possibilities not only within their own local ecosystem but assisting others to take steps in this direction as well.  Beyond this, Scott and Keeanna talk about how they are doing this in their community starting microschools in direct response to what their families have said they want for their kids.  And beyond this, Scott, now on the Indiana State Board of Education, talks about how a state can lead the way in dismantling how a century-old system of education has historically operated and how it could lead the way to new ways to create educational opportunities for youth.  I am particularly excited about this conversation because it directly speaks to what we need across the country!  Changes in policy, a reconsideration of the purpose of school, an honest appraisal of how we are in fact now not serving youth, the need for new models of education, and the assisted proliferation of new possibilities.  This is so on target!

A Revolution in Education

VLACS, the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School, is the only fully state-funded online charter school in New Hampshire, serving over 13,000+ students.  It offers online courses, project-based courses, career-focused learning programs, internships, and a myriad of other learning options.  But unlike a typical “course” as you might know them in typical school, students engaging in these courses are taking them individually with the personal assistance and support of a teacher working with them one-on-one, sometimes even co-designing the activities of the course connected to students’ specific interests.  In my words, it is “amazing,” because unlike most other charter schools, which are typically funded by a district, VLACS is fully funded by the state and any student throughout the state can attend for free, at no cost to the student, family, or the district.  The array of options is amazing.  FULLY competency-based – students progress at their own pace completely dependent on their achievement of the standards – and hence are able to fit it around THEIR schedule.  My two cents:  EVERY STATE SHOULD HAVE A VLACS AFFORDING THEIR YOUTH THE SAME OPTIONS!  The question is … why are they not?  On this episode you will hear from Steve Kossakoski, the founder, Julie Reece, the Director of Partnerships and Adult Education, Christie Dunlavey and Bette Bramante, both long time educators at VLACS, and three students on this episode, each offering their perspective on what VLACS is, how it operates, and its value for the students of New Hampshire.

A Revolution in Education

Both Devin Vodicka and Katie Martin already have a storied history in doing what they can to reimagine what teaching, learning, and schooling can look like, in a variety of positions and contexts.  Devin is former Superintendent of the Vista Unified Schools and author of Learner-Centered Leadership.  Katie is a former classroom educator who has since taken on a number of leadership positions and subsequently written two incredibly valuable books distilling what she has learned, Learner-Centered Innovation and Evolving Education.  Now they run the Learner-Centered Collaborative assisting and supporting districts, schools, and state education systems in the pursuit of learner-centered ecosystems building on what they have learned through their own experience and building on what they are learning through their work with others.  In this podcast, Devin and Katie share who they are, why they do the work they do, and the insights they have gained in how to mobilize and support communities in pursuing their own transformation.  Ben Owens, my good friend who also does this work leading Open Way Learning, offers his thoughts and and questions to the conversation as well.  Rich and powerful.  What is needed?  Solutions from others?  Or the opportunity to pursue one’s own visions of possibility?

A Revolution in Education