Class Disrupted

Summit Learning—Summit Public Schools’ online platform created to help deliver and manage its blend of “personalized learning,” project-based learning, and mentorship—attracted a lot of attention in the mid-2010s. And then it faded—fast.What lessons should the field learn from the last time an established and successful school network took a new flashy technology and aimed to use it to both redesign itself and then offer that technology to other schools to help them transform as well? https://archive.org/download/cd-summit-live-part-one-final/CD%20Summit%20Live%20part%20one%20FINAL.mp3 Episode transcript: TranscriptDownload

In this episode, we discussed how existing school models, despite efforts to innovate, remain constrained by the foundational structures, policies, funding mechanisms, and data systems rooted in the industrial era. Our conversation explored how a future core could focus more on individualized learning pathways, competency-based progress, unbundled educator roles, and funding tied directly to learners. Throughout, we also talk about the need to build this new core with models of schooling that truly prioritize each student’s unique trajectory, leverage advances in technology, and respond to growing public demand for meaningful change in education. We invite your feedback and improvements to this new idea. https://archive.org/download/cd-s-8-ep-2/CD%20S8%20Ep%202.mp3 Episode transcript: TranscriptDownload

In the season opener of Class Disrupted, Diane Tavenner and Michael Horn reflected on their journey cohosting the podcast and take stock of the evolving challenges and opportunities in education. They then set the stage for a deep dive into the urgent need for high school transformation.Buckle up for a season of reimagining what high school can become in a world of AI. https://archive.org/download/cd-s-8-ep-1/CD%20S8%20Ep%201.mp3 Episode transcript: Stamping the Moment in TimeDownload

In our season seven finale of Class Disrupted, Diane Tavenner and I reflected on the conversations about AI that we’ve had over the second half of this season—from those focused on new schooling models to new tools. This felt like a no holds barred conversation—candor and lots of back and forth as we talked about how much of the education sector is still operating under the traditional model, the challenges of creating learning experiences outside of that model, and the tensions between innovation and entrenched systems. We discussed issues like policy backlash against technology in schools, the value of outcome-based contracts, and whether microschools or low-cost private schools can actually drive large-scale change. https://archive.org/download/cd-finale-final/CD%20Finale%20FINAL.mp3 Episode transcript: Takeaways from a Season of AI in EducationDownload

Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and longtime education reformer, reflects on decades in schooling and philanthropy. He discusses how AI could enable individualized tutoring and mastery-based learning. He revisits past edtech lessons, debates scaling tutoring to meet Bloom-level gains, and describes global pilots to expand access.

MagicSchool has emerged as the breakout AI tool in education, with millions of teachers rapidly adopting it. But what’s behind that growth? How exactly does it use AI? And what does its adoption mean for teaching and learning? Its founder, Adeel Khan, joined us to go beyond the hype. https://archive.org/download/adeel-final/Adeel%20final.mp3 Episode transcript: TranscriptDownload

Dacia Toll, Co-CEO of CourseMojo and co-founder of Achievement First, is an education entrepreneur focused on ELA and AI. She explains how CourseMojo supports middle school classrooms, the human-centered design process, classroom examples like poetry scaffolds, and how AI boosts engagement, teacher insight, and scalable professional development.

Matt Pasternak, founder and CEO of Once, builds AI-powered tools and coaching for one-on-one early reading instruction. He shares how a low-tech start grew into software that supports paraprofessionals, uses AI for fluency assessment and highlight reels, tackles kid speech recognition, and trains high school tutors to teach kindergartners.

Andrea Passanetti, co-founder and CEO of Kira Learning and former Teach for China leader, talks about building an AI operating system for education. He discusses consolidating district tools, creating dynamic tagged curricula that replace static textbooks, and enabling real-time curriculum adaptation and personalized learning paths. The conversation highlights scaling personalized instruction and simplifying teacher workflows.

Cady Ching, CEO of Summit Public Schools, and Dan Effland, Senior Director of Innovation, joined me and Diane on Class Disrupted to discuss Summit’s ongoing transformation from Summit 2.0 to a new, AI-native school model. This is the third and final episode in this mini-series exploring new school models powered by AI—check out our first two on Alpha and Flourish. This conversation explored how clarity around school outcomes and model design enables effective integration of AI. Cady and Dan shared insights into the evolution of Summit’s expeditions, the importance of holistic, purposeful education, and the need for a robust technology infrastructure to scale innovation. https://archive.org/download/summit-2.0-updated-final/Summit%202.0%20updated%20final.mp3 Episode transcript: Transcript_ Behind the Reinvention of Summit Public Schools with AIDownload