Reimagining Teaching, Learning, and Talent with Sunanna Chand ED of the Reinvention Lab at TFA
Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer
Balancing rigor and relevance in classrooms
Sunanna rejects the rigor-vs-relevance dichotomy and highlights research on achieving deeper, rigorous, engaging learning.
In this episode of Trending in Education, host Mike Palmer sits down with Sunanna Chand, Executive Director of the Reinvention Lab at Teach For America (TFA). As the leader of TFA’s future-of-learning R&D engine, Chand is tasked with a formidable challenge: bridging the gap between a 19th-century education system and the demands of the 21st-century world.
The conversation explores the Lab’s "Radical Departures" framework, a mental model designed to shift the paradigm of how we define the why, what, where, and how of learning. Chand challenges the false dichotomy between academic rigor and student engagement, arguing for a "both/and" approach that prioritizes community achievement over individualized test scores. From exploring "credit flexibility" policies that allow students to learn outside school walls to reimagining the role of the educator in an AI-driven landscape, Chand offers a hopeful vision for a profession rooted in human connection and the "care economy".
Key Takeaways
Moving Beyond the "Banking Theory": Why the traditional model of a teacher delivering information to passive students is insufficient for a world where information is ubiquitous.
Reimagining Chronic Absenteeism: How "present to learning by being absent from school" models allow students to gain graduation credit for interests pursued in their communities.
The AI-Proof Profession: Why teaching remains a "smart bet" for the next generation, as neurobiological learning depends on human belonging and relational intelligence.
The Educator as Orchestrator: A vision for the future where educators manage ecosystems of human support and AI agents rather than just delivering a curriculum.
Why You Should Listen:
If you are concerned about the current state of teacher burnout and student disengagement, this episode provides more than just a critique; it offers a roadmap for structural change. Sunanna Chand explains how the Reinvention Lab uses research and development to find the "future educator" and why the most valuable skills in an automated world—judgment, ethics, and care—are precisely those honed in the classroom. It is a deep dive into how we can use technology to reinvent rather than merely optimize an outdated system.
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Time Stamps
00:00 - Intro and Sunanna’s background in Cleveland and Pittsburgh
05:45 - The Mission of the Reinvention Lab at Teach For America
07:55 - Radical Departures: Redefining the "Why" and "What" of learning
12:45 - Credit Flexibility: Learning outside the four walls of the classroom 15:35 - Breaking the false dichotomy of rigor vs. relevance
19:40 - The "With Whom": Reimagining the role of the educator in the age of AI
24:30 - Why teaching is a smart career bet for Gen Z
27:45 - Combatting burnout through human connection and "Ignite" tutoring
31:45 - Closing thoughts: Building an ecosystem of reinvention
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