Over the next two weeks we'll be bringing you a special edition two-part episode from our time spent at SXSW EDU . Getting Smart was a media partner at the conference and while there, we got to meet and interview thought leaders, change makers, and even a few students. These episodes come just in time to help inspire and encourage you to submit your proposal to present at next year's conference. Check out SXSW's Panel Picker site and get your submission(s) in before July 20th! During the episode...
Jul 11, 2018•50 min•Ep. 156
Today, your host Jessica Slusser and Tom Vander Ark discuss the Pacific NW LX Summit at the Science and Math Institute (SAMi) that the Getting Smart team co-hosted a few weeks ago. There, they explored what powerful learning experiences for kids look like, how you create them, and why they’re so important. Throughout the day, with Puget Sound educators, they explored what good learning design looks like. In this episode, you’ll hear from a variety of veteran educators describing what powerful le...
Jun 27, 2018•23 min•Ep. 155
This week on the Getting Smart Podcast , Tom is talking to his colleague, Emily Liebtag. Emily is the Director of Advocacy at Getting Smart. Emily has been a teacher, and a learner, in a myriad of different classroom spaces — ranging from K-12 public schools to online institutes of higher education. In the last several weeks, The Getting Smart team has visited so many unique, innovative schools. They’ve been to cities across the country, visiting well over a dozen different schools — all of whic...
Jun 20, 2018•33 min•Ep. 154
Today, Tom has a conversation with Dr. Susan Bell, Superintendent of Windsor Locks Public School s , a Connecticut district moving to mastery-based learning where students show what they know and progress when they demonstrate mastery. Next month, after 17 years working with Windsor Locks, Dr. Bell will be joining the Mastery Transcript Consortium . There she will be helping schools and districts adopt new competency-based transcripts that help learners better communicate their capabilities and ...
Jun 13, 2018•33 min•Ep. 153
Today on the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom interviews Jeff Dieffenbach, Associate Director of the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative (MITili). Prior to joining MIT, Jeff worked in strategy, product management, business development, sales, and marketing roles for a variety of traditional and digital education companies. With Jeff’s current role at MIT, he works with his team to better understand learning and education — and using that knowledge to better enable students and learners around the world...
Jun 06, 2018•29 min•Ep. 152
Today, The Getting Smart team is super excited to bring you a conversation with Michael Fullan. As Tom would say, Michael is Canada’s gift to education. For half a century and with 45 books to his credit, Michael has been the world’s most persistent and persuasive advocate for powerful learning experiences. Michael is encouraged by the global momentum he sees with whole systems adopting deep learning strategies and policies. If you’ve been on Getting Smart’s blog recently, you know the team has ...
May 30, 2018•30 min•Ep. 151
Today, Tom speaks with Chris Minnich of the Northwest Evaluation Association — more commonly known as the NWEA. Chris was named the new CEO of NWEA in the fall of 2017. In his new role at NWEA, Chris will help invent the future of assessment. Currently, about 1 in 5 students in America already monitors their academic using the NWEA assessment tests. Previously to his new position at NWEA, Chris served as the Executive Director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. During his decade ther...
May 23, 2018•24 min•Ep. 150
This episode, Tom speaks with Maura Marino — CEO of Education Forward DC. Before helping launch Education Forward DC, Maura held a number of positions at NewSchools Venture Fund where she worked for 8 years. There, she learned a lot about the national picture and how the trends around entrepreneurship and scaling success looked in public education. She was able to see, up close, organizations that were making huge changes in education. For the last 20 years, NewSchools Venture Fund has really be...
May 16, 2018•28 min•Ep. 149
The Getting Smart team takes a digital trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take a look at their vibrant education community. In 1998, Oklahoma passed a law providing free access to pre-kindergarten. Since then, families in Tulsa have benefited from leading-edge programs, supported by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the Schusterman Family Foundation . Improvement and talent development efforts are coordinated by ImpactTulsa ; a regional non-profit. In this episode, Tom speaks with Kathy Seibold, E...
May 09, 2018•35 min•Ep. 148
Today, the Getting Smart team dives into a conversation about industry-defined student competencies at Del Lago Academy in Escondido, just north of San Diego — with Alec Barron and Brett Goldsmith. Alec Barron is a Science Coach in the Escondido Union High School District and has taught a variety of science subjects for grades 6-12. He is one of the founding teachers of Del Lago since it first opened in 2013 and was part of the team that helped set up the school. At Del Lago, he developed a prog...
May 02, 2018•37 min•Ep. 147
Today, the Getting Smart team is discussing the future of transcripts with Matt Pittinsky, CEO of Parchment . In high school, Matt considered himself to be a lousy student — but the experience made him think that education could be different and better. So, after College, he co-founded Blackboard, which became the leading learning management system. Fourteen years later it was acquired for $1.6 billion. Matt then went back to school and earned a Ph.D. in Sociology at Columbia, then later moved d...
Apr 25, 2018•33 min•Ep. 146
Four years ago Satya Nadella took the helm at Microsoft. Under his leadership, the value of the company has tripled, and some think it could be the first company worth a trillion dollars. The story of the culture and strategy refresh are told in Satya’s new book, Hit Refresh , co-authored by Greg Shaw and Jill Tracie Nichols. In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom interviews Greg and Jill, who have both have impressive careers beyond co-authoring. Greg and Jill both worked with the la...
Apr 18, 2018•51 min•Ep. 145
This episode, the Getting Smart team continues on their road trip, heading towards Tulsa, Oklahoma to chat with Dr. Deborah Gist. Dr. Gist grew up in Tulsa, earning her bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Oklahoma. After teaching in Texas and Florida — earning a couple of east coast masters degrees and a Ph.D. from Penn — she ran Serve DC ; an extension of the D.C. mayor’s office. She went on to lead the Office of the State Superintendent of Education in DC. Three...
Apr 04, 2018•20 min•Ep. 143
Recently, Tom and Adam spent 3 days in Boise, Idaho touring One Stone — an innovative school rooted in Design Thinking. Tom and Adam were joined by the school’s National Advisory team, including; Eduardo Briceño, Julia Freeland, Sasha Barab, Tony Lewis, and Alex Hernandez. While celebrating and reflecting upon this innovative high school’s growth and development, the team was able to sit down and unpack the ‘why,’ ‘how,’ and ‘what’ of measuring what matters. Listen in as the advisory team shares...
Mar 28, 2018•33 min•Ep. 142
Today Tom Vander Ark is talking with Dr. Carmen Coleman and Dr. John Marshall. Carmen serves as Chief Academic Officer and John as Chief Equity Officer, of Jefferson County Public Schools . The two have worked together to shape powerful, equitable, high-quality learning experiences for the over 100,000 students in Louisville, Kentucky and are united in their thoughts and beliefs on how to address urban school district needs. Even though they’ve only known each other for seven months, Carmen and ...
Mar 21, 2018•30 min•Ep. 141
In today’s episode, Mary Ryerse sits down with Eric Schneider, Assistant Superintendent of Minnetonka Public Schools , which serves over 10,000 students and is located in the greater Minneapolis area. Eric and his team have taken a unique approach to gathering input for strategic planning that drives innovation, including the use of a platform to crowdsource ideas. This process has been used by districts in several states now under the umbrella of the nonprofit, InnovateK 12 . If you’d like to l...
Mar 14, 2018•33 min•Ep. 140
Adam Kulaas and Emily Liebtag from The Getting Smart team sit down to chat about school coaching. As more and more schools work to shift their models of teaching and learning, coaching is becoming the key component to driving that change. When coaching is done right it can be really transformative for educators alike. Listen in to hear Emily and Adam unpack school coaching and discuss what Adam has learned in both the past and present in the school coaching space — and what he hopes will come in...
Mar 07, 2018•30 min•Ep. 139
On today’s episode, Tom is talking with Tess Posner, Executive Director at Al 4 ALL — a new Oakland nonprofit that is introducing artificial intelligence to high school students — and, more specifically — girls. The goal is to help high school students learn to use AI for good and to increase diversity and inclusion in computer science. AI4ALL is really aligned to one of the recommendations from Getting Smart’s December report, “ Ask About AI ,” which focused on the future of work and learning. ...
Feb 28, 2018•31 min•Ep. 138
You may remember back in 2015, SXSWedu had a special screening of Most Likely to Succeed , a film produced by Ted Dintersmith. Well, he’s also the author of Most Likely to Succeed : Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era , along with Tony Wagner. And his new book, What School Could Be : Insights and Inspiration from Teachers across America , comes out on April 17th, outlining everything he has learned from the 50-state tour following the release of Most Likely to Succeed . In this episode, To...
Feb 21, 2018•52 min•Ep. 137
