

Getting Smart Podcast
Getting Smart
This podcast has over 500 episodes highlighting developing trends in K-12 education, postsecondary and lifelong learning. Each week, Getting Smart team members interview students, leading authors, experts and practitioners in research, tech, entrepreneurship and leadership to bring listeners innovative and actionable strategies in education leadership.
Be sure to also check out GettingSmart.com to stay on the cutting edge of innovations in learning.
Be sure to also check out GettingSmart.com to stay on the cutting edge of innovations in learning.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 5, 2023 • 38min
Jim Bailey on Rock Tree Sky and Experiential Education
This episode of the Getting Smart Podcast is a part of our New Pathways campaign. In partnership with American Student Assistance® (ASA), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Stand Together and the Walton Foundation, the New Pathways campaign will question education’s status quo and propose new methods of giving students a chance to experience success in what’s next. On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, New Pathways Senior Fellow Trace Pickering is joined by Jim Bailey, Director and Co-founder of Rock Tree Sky, a self-directed learning center in Ojai, California. Rock Tree Sky provides learner-centered, experiential education space where learners and mentors are supported to follow their unique learning journey. Rock Tree Sky cultivates an inclusive learning community with a goal of developing the whole self through learning in relationship with others. Links: Rock Tree Sky Education Reimagined Free to Learn - Peter Gray John Holt John Dewey Iowa Big Karen Pittman and Gary Briggs Getting Smart Podcast Piaget

Jun 28, 2023 • 37min
Students from Notre Dame de Sion on Global Impact and Being Solutionaries (Part 2)
This episode of the Getting Smart Podcast is a part of our New Pathways campaign. In partnership with American Student Assistance® (ASA), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Stand Together and the Walton Foundation, the New Pathways campaign will question education’s status quo and propose new methods of giving students a chance to experience success in what’s next. On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, we have some returning guests from Notre Dame de Sion. We spoke to these students last year before they went on a transformational trip to Kenya. It was so nice to have Mary, Suzanne, Claire and Ginger back on the podcast. Links: Previous podcast with Sion Students Notre Dame de Sion Global Impacts EduCatered: Emilie Lai EduCatered: Gabby Dedrick Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

Jun 21, 2023 • 42min
Karema Akilah on Decentralized Human-Centered Learning Environments
This episode is supported by our recent Artificial Intelligence publication which focuses on the ways in which AI is shaping teaching, leading and learning. On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Nate McClennen is joined by Karema Akilah, founder of the Genius School, Genii DAO and Geniiverse. We met Karema at ASU+GSV and were struck by her creative “genius” in pulling together homeschools, Web3, metaverse worlds and all around commitment to learner agency, purpose and difference making. Links: LinkedIn Personal Site Genii DAO Site Genii DAO Twitter Genius School - Decentralized, Democratic, Self-Directed Robert Kiyosaki, Cash Flow 101 What Can Decentralized Organizations Accomplish in Education? Raising Free People - Akilah Richards Raising Free People Book John Holt - Unschooling

Jun 16, 2023 • 29min
Landon Mascareñaz and Doannie Tran on The Open System
On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Rebecca Midles is joined by Landon Mascareñaz an educator, writer, and vice president of community partnership at the Colorado Education Initiative. We’re also joined by Doannie Tran, a partner at the Center for Innovation in Education. Their new book, The Open System: Redesigning Education and Reigniting Democracy makes the case that education is our greatest democracy-building endeavor, and through opening it up to the communities it serves and redesigning public systems, we can reimagine and reinvigorating our democracy and countless other shared pursuits of our society. Links: The Open System Institute The Open System Book Landon Mascareñaz Doannie Tran Colorado Education Initiative

Jun 14, 2023 • 40min
Ryan Craig on AI Apprenticeships and the Experience Gap
This episode is supported by our recent Artificial Intelligence publication which focuses on the ways in which AI is shaping teaching, leading and learning. On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Tom Vander Ark is joined by Ryan Craig, Managing Director of Achieve Partners. Ryan is leading the development of the Hire/Train/Deploy sector, a new category of intermediary organizations that take the friction out of hiring--for companies as well as job seekers. In his 2018 book , A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College Craig made the case that unless you get a free ride to a top school, you should find a free or affordable sprint to a good first job. Ryan’s upcoming book, Apprentice Nation: How the "Earn and Learn" Alternative to Higher Education Will Create a Stronger and Fairer America, will focus on economic mobility and a more durable American job market. Links: Ryan Craig on Last-Mile Training as an Alternative to Higher Ed How Faster + Cheaper Alternatives Will Replace Much of Higher Ed Apprenticeships for America Apprentice Nation: How the "Earn and Learn" Alternative to Higher Education Will Create a Stronger and Fairer America Skillstorm Optimum Healthcare IT Riipen CreatorUp A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College Ryan Craig Achieve Partners

Jun 7, 2023 • 27min
Cyane Dandridge and Karen Madden on School for Environmental Leadership
Are you interested in attending one of the field’s largest gatherings of K-12 education innovators? The Aurora Institute Symposium 2023 promises community, lessons about education innovation from the field, and the latest research and policy to support education transformation. Find out more here. On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom Vander Ark is joined by Cyane Dandridge, founder of Strategic Energy Initiatives (SEI), an environmental nonprofit that builds leaders to drive sustainability solutions. One of those solutions is a high school model, School for Environmental Leadership (SEL). The flagship is MarinSEL, a “school within a school” located within Terra Linda High School in the San Rafael City Schools district and we’re excited to be also joined Karen Madden, a teacher leader from MarinSEL. Links: 2021 Impact Report SEI School for Environmental Leadership (SEL) High School Sustainability Curriculum Page Cyane Dandridge Karen Madden

Jun 2, 2023 • 50min
Town Hall: Educating All Learners
On this Getting Smart Town Hall, we are joined by Erin Mote from Educating All Learners Alliance and Karla Phillips-Krivickas from Think Inclusion to discuss some of the core challenges facing learners with disabilities, some of the most pressing topics circling the learning disability field and to highlight exemplars who are responding well to these pressures and challenges. Links: Slides from the Town Hall Video of the Town Hall Links from the Town Hall Link to Recap Next Town Hall

May 31, 2023 • 35min
Karen Pittman and Gary Briggs on the Elephant in the Classroom
Karen Pittman, Partner at Knowledge to Power Catalysts, and Gary Briggs, Director of Systems Impact at New Teacher Center, discuss the importance of co-designing systems for equity in education, emphasizing the role of personal relationships in learning and the significance of community involvement. They highlight the need for collaboration among stakeholders, including students, to create inclusive learning environments.

May 26, 2023 • 34min
Scott Muri on Decades of Education Leadership Service and EdTech
We’ve recently released a new publication that synthesizes years of research on AI and its impact on teaching and learning. You can find it at GettingSmart.com/artificial-intelligence/ On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Tom Vander Ark is joined by Dr Scott Muri, Superintendent of Ector County School District in Odessa, Texas. Previously, he has served in numerous district leadership roles and is a leader in funding schools, educator prep and much more. Links: Twitter Link Scott Muri LinkedIn Sal Khan about AI tutoring Ector County School District

May 17, 2023 • 38min
Orly Friedman on Red Bridge School and Educating for Agency
Are you interested in attending one of the field’s largest gatherings of K-12 education innovators? The Aurora Institute Symposium 2023 promises community, lessons about education innovation from the field, and the latest research and policy to support education transformation. Find out more here. On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Nate McClennen is joined by Orly Friedman Head of School at Red Bridge in San Francisco, a unique learning environment that builds agency in young people. Orly has worked in the DC public schools, Khan Lab School and with Transcend - among many other experiences. We had the chance to catch up with her at ASU-GSV and she was excited to share the story of the school. Links: Red Bridge Orly Friedman Bogota, Columbia: Colegio Fontán