De Facto Leaders

Learners in K-12 settings have changed over the past 25 years, and what were considered best practices in the 1990s may no longer work for learners in the 2020s.Much of this is due to technology, the invention of the Iphone, and the skills young adults need when entering the workforce.There’s a large amount of debate on how to address these evolving needs effectively, and that’s why I wanted to invite Dr. John Burkey to the “De Facto Leaders” podcast to talk about his experiences on the forefront of technology initiatives in the schools.Dr. John Burkey is the executive director of the Large Unit District Association of Illinois. The organization represents and supports 55 of the largest unit school districts in Illinois. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Northern Illinois University where he teaches aspiring superintendents and school business managers. Burkey was previously the superintendent in Huntley Community School District in Illinois for 12 years. He also served as a middle school teacher and principal earlier in his career. He has three degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.In this episode, he discusses:✅How the invention of the Iphone has impacted students’ mental health and ability to be engaged in the learning process.✅How do we address concerns about attention span while allowing opportunities to build self-discipline and allowing access to phones for unexpected emergencies.✅Considering learner needs, age, and brain development when establishing classroom cell phone rules.✅What questions should we be asking to determine the impact and effectiveness of 1:1 device initiatives in schools? ✅Homework policies: Why asking “Is homework effective?” is the wrong question, and what we should be asking instead. You can learn more about how to connect with Dr. Burkey at the Large Unit District Association website here: https://www.ludaillinois.org/ You can listen to his podcast for school leaders, Forward to the Future here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forward-to-the-future/id1563555302 In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design services that support executive functioning in K-12 settings. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

If you’re providing therapy or tutoring services, contracting with schools, or offering professional development to K-12 professionals, you won’t want to miss this episode.As someone who has explored the possibility of school contracts, I’m always looking to learn more about how school leaders make decisions regarding budgets and staffing. I grew up in the Chicago area; which meant I lived in a community with an abundance of organizations, transportation systems, and districts with a variety of programming options. But when I relocated to a different part of the state, I found that the communities around me were way different than where I’d grown up. While there are several large districts near me, the surrounding communities were smaller, with fewer resources. Public transportation can be minimal, if it exists at all; which makes it difficult for certain families to access medical and therapy services. Some communities don’t have stop lights, let alone grocery stores or daycare centers. This makes it difficult for families to give kids a variety of experiences.School districts face similar challenges, because they’re less able to liaise with community organizations for field trips, after school programs, or educational placements for students needing special education. Serving high-needs populations becomes a challenge because many districts don’t have experts on-staff to conduct evaluations and provide specialized services. This means paying for outside consultants, service providers, and transportation fees for out-of-district placements. As a result, special education budgets for small districts can become unmanageable, putting school leaders in a very difficult situation. Cutting budgets can be devastating to all parties involved.Students may lose access to services, or at the very least need to switch providers.District staff have the burden of providing additional services or wearing multiple hats, adding additional responsibilities to their already full plates.What people don’t often realize is the emotional impact this has on the leaders who carry the burden of making these difficult decisions.  I often see negative comments about school leaders on various influencer accounts or in discussion groups. It can be very “us vs. them”. A lot of finger-pointing and assumptions about people in jobs that have an extremely high turnover rate (eg., directors, principals, superintendents). But I’ve yet to interact with a school leader who didn’t care about helping kids. That’s why I was so excited to talk with Chris Dodge, who’s had experience leading in both rural and urban districts. As lead learner in elementary school settings for ten years and currently the principal at the Thorndyke Road School is Worcester, MA, Chris works to create collaborative structures and systems that bring stakeholder voice into school level decision making, as well as strategies that promote student success and achievement. His schools utilize these systems to promote a vision of serving the whole child, ensuring that students' social-emotional and academic needs are being met. Most notably, in 2014, Christopher led the Dexter Park School in Orange, MA to become a MA Department of Education appointed Innovation School, awarded for its inclusionary practice work. Aside from the role as principal, Christopher has served on DESE's Principal/Teacher Advisory Cabinet, Commissioner Riley’s Return to School Teaching and Learning Working Group during COVID19, as well as on the MSAA (Massachusetts School Administrators Association) Executive Board. In this conversation, Chris shares common, but misunderstood barriers to school success that are prevalent in rural communities.He shares:✅Why transportation issues cause barriers to community engagement, educational placements, field trips, and instructional programming. ✅Challenges small districts face when hiring contractors and consultants, and professional development providers.✅Why districts cancel contracts with service providers and consultants, even when they have a strong working relationship.✅What school leaders look for when selecting a contractor or professional development provider for their staff.✅Why getting leadership training (e.g., degrees, certificates, experience) can be an asset to you, even if you don’t see yourself as a school administratorYou can connect with Chris on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/principaldodge1/, on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/PrincipalDodge1, and on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-dodge-a33343204/ In this episode, I mention my free training called, “How to be Evidence-Based and Neurodiversity-Affirming (by Supporting Executive Functioning)”. You can sign up for the training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Social skills groups have been widely criticized recently. They’re often labeled as ableist and not neurodiversity-affirming.I also take issue with the way social skills interventions are often delivered, but for a different reason. When social skills intervention is done, it’s often delivered via 1:1 therapy, in a “pull-out” model; where the child receives intervention in therapy or small class setting.I get regular emails from readers who tell me they see poor generalization, despite using these models.That’s because there’s a mismatch between the skills and the model. Back when I was in the schools, I did social skills groups. But I started to question my own practices when I had the opportunity to teach an autism course for teachers earning a masters degree with a specialization in autism. This was the first time I started to question my original assumptions about how to address things like social skills, pragmatic language, and executive functioning. My primary takeaway from that experience was that the SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL matters just as much as the intervention. There are many skills that can be adequately addressed in a “pull out” model. There are even some skills (even language skills) that can be MORE effectively addressed in a separate, more structured context in some situations. There are even times that SOME social skills intervention can happen in this setting. But ALL of the social skills intervention can’t happen in a pull-out model. A good portion has to happen outside of the therapy room with the right supports in place. This means we need to stop delivering siloed off services and instead work together as a team.I don’t believe ALL social skills interventions are ableist. I believe that INEFFECTIVE social skills interventions set kids up to experience social anxiety and miss out on opportunities to build skills and relationships. I recently released a training for speech-language pathologists, social workers, counselors, school psychologists and other related service providers who want to support executive functioning. In episode 137, I’m sharing a clip from that training. I start by talking about strategic planning, and why many kids can’t stay organized even though they’re using checklists and planners. Then I discuss why the “pull-out only” model doesn’t work for social skills.I wrap up by sharing what it really means to be neurodiversity-affirming.I share this information based on my many years of experience as a clinician, a mentor to therapists and teachers, and as a person who has experienced social anxiety.In this episode, I mention my free training called, “How to be Evidence-Based and Neurodiversity-Affirming (by Supporting Executive Functioning)”. You can sign up for the training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Most of us still don’t know what we want to be when we grow up, but at least we know more than we did when we wanted to be pro athletes or “movie stars” (the old people version of influencers). As we have conversations with kids and think about how to prepare them for adulthood, helping kids explore their passions and interests becomes challenging. Not all communities have access to the resources to be able to provide “real-life” career experiences to students. Transporting kids and prioritizing funding and resources becomes a logistical issue; which makes it hard to educate kids about their career options. On top of that, it’s difficult to help kids grasp what it might be like in a particular career; which means they might be missing out on opportunities to cultivate their skills and interests. But what if we had a way to bring career exploration TO students so they could explore their interests in an accessible, non-threatening way? With some of the new technology coming down the pipeline, it may be more possible that people think. That’s why I had Matt Chausee from Be More Colorful on “De Facto Leaders” for a special bonus episode to talk about innovative companies that are impacting K-12 education in a positive way. Matt Chaussee is the CEO of Be More Colorful, a midwest-based immersive media production studio whose platform, CareerViewXR, is rapidly gaining national attention. Matt, along with his wife (and company owner) Katie, lead an innovative team of creatives who are laser focused on making career exploration affordable, accessible, and fun! CareerViewXR provides students and adult career seekers across the country with an unprecedented opportunity to experience real-world careers through virtual reality technology. Recently selected from a field of over 2,000 applicants to be one of 33 Semifinalists for the prestigious Yass Prize, Matt will discuss the significance of the award, and how he sees tools like CareerViewXR transforming how we guide students on their educational journey.*If you have a vested interest in what’s happening in K-12 Education, take a look at some of the amazing work that’s being done by the Yass prize finalists. You can vote for 2 different organizations per day from now until November 25 to help select a winner of the parent choice awards. The winner of the prize will get $100,000, which they’ll devote to funding projects that support innovations in K-12 education. You can vote at: https://yassprize.org/voteIn this conversation we discuss some of the important work being done by Yass finalists, and how CareerViewXR is helping to educate kids on their career options, as well as align K-12 curriculum to foundational skills that impact future job skills. Learn more about the Yass Prize here: https://yassprize.org/You can vote for Yass Prize Parent Choice Award Winners at: https://yassprize.org/voteListen to other episodes about Yass Prize organizations on the BE Podcast Network. The principles of the Yass Prize are: Sustainable, Transformative, Outstanding, PermissionlessThis bonus episode was done to share how CareerViewXR aligns with the “Outstanding” principle. Learn how they’re aligning with other principles through accessibility and project-based learning on:Sustainable-The Principle PLN with Ross Romano. Link here: http://www.principalpln.com/Transformational-The Transformative Principal with Jethro Jones. Link here: https://transformativeprincipal.org/Permissionless-Rebel Educator with Tanya Sheckley. Link here: https://www.rebeleducator.com/ We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

When kids have a poor sense of time, the common response is to give them a planner or some kind of a timer.While these tools may be a part of your strategy, they don't address time-blindness.That's why in episode 136 of De Facto Leaders, I’m answering the question: "Why don't timers improve my students' time-management skills?Time-blindness is a hallmark characteristic of executive functioning issues, and most timers don't facilitate these skills.In this episode, I explain why that’s the case.In this episode, I mention my free training called, “How to be Evidence-Based and Neurodiversity-Affirming (by Supporting Executive Functioning)”. You can sign up for the training here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

If you want to learn how to present information to school boards, administration, or other leadership or land more speaking engagements, you won’t want to miss this episode! Reading the room is an essential life skill, whether we’re talking about a child navigating recess, or an adult trying to navigate the workplace.For kids, this skill will impact their ability to succeed academically and make friends.For an adult, it not only impacts their relationships, but their ability to get a job, keep the job, and be successful in that job.That’s why I invited communication and public speaking expert Roberta Ndlela to the “De Facto Leaders” podcast to talk about how to navigate different cultures, work settings, and be a more effective speaker, presenter, leader and team member. Roberta hails from the Zulu tribe in South Africa, whose foundation is ‘Ubuntu’, which means HUMANITY - ‘I am because you are’.Throughout her corporate career spanning over 15 years as a Transportation Economist and Manager, she realized that technical skills can only take you so far. She spent a decade teaching English in South Korea, where she discovered the major role played by culture in the workplace. She came to the US in early 2020 intending to visit a friend, and ended up staying due to the pandemic. That led to her starting the “Speaking and Communicating” Podcast in order to share her professional and cultural experiences with professionals.Currently, Roberta offers support for professionals who want to communicate more effectively with their teams and be more compelling public speakers. If you’re doing speaking engagements or looking for ways to network and grow your business, I highly recommend reaching out to her. She’s offering a free consultation for “De Facto Leaders” listeners, and you can learn how to take advantage of this special bonus at the end of the episode.In this conversation, she shares:✅How she transitioned from working in South Africa to South Korea, including how she grew to understand the culture and attain career success as an English teacher.✅Some examples of cultural differences in the countries she’s worked; including the social hierarchy and how it impacts communication.✅How subject-matter experts can communicate with leadership, sell their ideas, and present technical information in a more compelling way. Roberta is offering a free one-hour 1:1 consult, which is a no-brainer for you if you want to improve your networking skills, learn how to present information to your leadership in a compelling way, or get better at public speaking.To take advantage of this exclusive bonus for De Facto Leaders listeners, connect with Roberta on Instagram @coachandspeaker and send her a message that says “De Facto Leaders”.You can also listen to the Speaking and Communicating podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_GzEL5dlnfWw6MTdjYsE7QYou can connect with Roberta on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberta-ndlela-93774121/In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program for related service providers who want to take a leadership role in implementing executive functioning support. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Teen’s brains are wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and conserve energy. On top of that their prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed yet, which means they don’t always make decisions that are in their best interest. They’re learning so much about how to navigate relationships and manage their day-to-day lives. Things like:👉Handling setbacks, like not making the sports team or getting the job👉Learning to be comfortable with how they look/sound/act👉Figuring out how to make and keep friends👉Discovering how to delay gratification and work towards long-term goals👉Understanding dating and romantic relationshipsSo many of these things are impacted by neurological development, and I love a good metaphor for explaining complex processes like this. Joey Mascio, my guest for episode 134 of the De Facto Leaders podcast is full of great metaphors to help kids understand how their brains work. Joey is a Teen Life Coach, former teacher, and creator of the SideKick To Hero mindset coaching app for teens. He’s also the host of the Secrets to An Awesome Life podcast. In this episode we talk about helping teens embrace discomfort, navigate the nuances of dating and friendships, and create a personal narrative that helps them reach their goals.In this episode, we discuss: ✅Does self-help focused on relaxation and taking a break help teens find happiness? ✅How he uses Victor Frankl’s 3 ways to find meaning to coach teens, including: meaningful work, connection with others, and having a productive attitude toward unavoidable suffering. ✅Tips for helping teens and tweens handle rejection. ✅How to help teens navigate the nuances of friendships and dating✅Ways to help teens delay gratification and get comfortable being uncomfortable. In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program for related service providers who want to take a leadership role in implementing executive functioning support. I also give you strategies that support self-directed talk and working memory. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

The whole point of school is to prepare kids for adult life, but many people worry we aren’t giving kids what they need.Whether kids go right into the workforce after high school or plan to attend college or trade school, they need certain skills to succeed at work. That’s why I wanted to have a discussion about the ins and outs of employee training and onboarding with experts in the learning and development field. In episode 133, I invited Scott Schuette, Zeta Gardner, and Daniel Coonrod from the Fabulous Learning Nerds podcast for a panel discussion on adult learning and employee training. Zeta Gardner is an illustrator and instructional designer. With over a decade of experience bringing client's ideas to life, her focus on design gives her an ability to create engaging and visually pleasing learning experiences.  She believes learning is a lifelong journey and aspires to be part of creating those journeys for others. Daniel Coonrod is a training strategist and instructional design manager who focuses on building great teams and creating effective training materials that drive business success. Daniel excels at using technology to solve traditionally difficult problems, and has a track record of great results.Scott Schuette is a learning and development executive with years of experience creating education programs for major corporate enterprise companies. He’s focused on building and empowering diverse cross-functional teams, creating comprehensive training strategies, and improving operations to increase revenue growth, productivity, and employee success.In this conversation, we discuss:✅What is adult learning theory? Is it different from the way we approach learning in K-12 education?✅How do good employee training programs look, and how do companies teach their employees on-the-job skills?✅What skill gaps may be present in new employees, and what are some skills K-12 staff can teach kids to prepare them for their first job?✅Defining terms like “competency” vs “mastery” and why this distinction is important to continuous adult learning.You can listen to the Fabulous Learning Nerds Podcast here: https://www.thelearningnerds.com/ where you can learn more about where to connect with Zeta, Daniel, and Scott. You can connect with them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/LearningNerds/You can listen to my guest appearance on the Fabulous Learning Nerds podcast, where we talk about professional development in K-12 education here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-75-professional-development-in-k12-featuring/id1555562692?i=1000619621947Be sure to check out the BE podcast network for educators and aspiring leaders. If you’re looking for shows to inspire you to level up in your career or more effectively serve students, we’ve got you covered. Learn more about the BE podcast network at http://bepodcastnetwork.com/In this episode, I mentioned the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps pediatric therapists and educators learn strategies for supporting executive functioning and deliver them in a model that supports generalization. Learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership  We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

In some of the work we do with students, we may have to help them interpret the actions of others or help them understand how they’re coming across. Within the context of executive functioning, this is known as perspective-taking.This is an essential life skill in both our professional and personal lives; which is why we need to keep developing this skill through adulthood. With the life coaching industry growing, this has triggered discussions about “mindset”. It can include the way we attach meaning to things that happen around us; as well as the way we interpret the intention behind the actions of others. This conversation is about how we can improve our own ability to use perspective-taking skills in the work we do. As I support members of IEP teams, I’ve seen scenarios come up that involve potential disagreements or misunderstandings; and my first instinct is to get to the bottom of what’s going on so I can understand how they can best approach the others involved.That’s why I invited Lynn Hardin, retired principal and life coach to episode 132 of the De Facto Leaders podcast. She shares how to be proactive as a member of your school team and how to approach conversations intentionally, improve relationships, and decrease burnout. Lynn was an elementary school principal for 25 years, and became a life coach because of her deep love for educators. As a principal she struggled to clear a desk of work, to take care of her mental and physical health, manage time, and balance work with life. She wanted a different life of purpose to support educators and students, so she became a Life and Leadership Coach.In this conversation, we discuss ways that people working in schools can create more balance in their work and have better relationships with their team.We discuss questions like:✅What’s driving the decisions building administrators make regarding building-wide policies about service-delivery?✅What should members of the IEP team do if they have concerns about policies and procedures being implemented in their buildings?✅What should team members do if the IEP isn’t being fully implemented by members of the team?✅How to mitigate the primary causes of burnout among educators: Trying to control things, perfectionism, and not asking for help.You can connect with Lynn on her website here: https://www.lynnhardin.com/ and learn more about the Principal Purpose Podcast here: https://www.lynnhardin.com/podcastYou can sign up for her free “Healthy Work-Life Balance” guide here: https://www.lynnhardin.com/guideIn this episode, I mentioned the Time Tracking Journal, a strategy for improving time-management, future planning, and executive functioning during daily tasks like academic assignments or daily routines. You can learn more about the Time Tracking Journal here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/timejournal We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

In K-12 education, there’s been a recent push to go digital, and many educators are wondering if people creating the products have the kids’ best interest in mind; especially in the for-profit space.That’s why I invited Meg Hearn to episode 131 of the De Facto Leaders podcast to get a behind-the-scenes perspective of curriculum and tech products for kids. Meg is an educator with over 20 years of experience. She currently leads a highly collaborative and growing team of curriculum specialists that enhance the Imagine Learning Illustrative Mathematics core curriculums. In her previous role as Director of Mathematics Curriculum at Age of Learning, she worked with teams that created digital curriculum content for educational games, serving learners ages 2-10. Before that, she oversaw the development of a K–5 digital curriculum at LearnZillion. Her work in public schools preceded her foray into the Edtech world. As a mathematics coach in the Howard County Public School System in Maryland, she facilitated school-based professional development with elementary school teachers focusing on developing conceptual understanding through problem-based teaching. She’s been published in School Library Journal and by ISTE and has spent a decade as an adjunct professor at Notre Dame of Maryland University, where she teaches gaming in education and mathematics methods courses at the graduate level. She holds a Mathematics Instructional Leadership Graduate Certificate from Notre Dame of Maryland University, a post-master's certificate in administration and supervision from Johns Hopkins University, a master's degree in education from McDaniel College, and a bachelor's degree from University of Maryland. Her bachelor's degree was in design, not education. She is still applying what she learned from her design training to this day, which we talk about in the interview.In this conversation, we discuss:✅How EdTech product teams work; and how they test their products to make sure they’re helping kids learn.✅The balancing acts K-12 EdTech companies face; including content, design, application features, usability, and other factors that impact accessibility and equity. ✅Designing a learning experience: Prioritizing accountability, alignment, and evidence-based practices while still making learning a creative, engaging experience. ✅Why math can be a prime opportunity to work on executive functioning, why it’s embedded in to many math curriculums; plus early math skills kids need to thrive. You can connect with Meg on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-hearn-m-ed-nbct-47a67071/In this episode, I mentioned the Time Tracking Journal, a strategy for improving time-management, future planning, and executive functioning during daily tasks like academic assignments or daily routines. You can learn more about the Time Tracking Journal here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/timejournal We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.