Off the Assembly Line Rebecca Reed

I've had a hard time pulling this episode together. The last few weeks have presented the greatest disruption to formal education of our lifetimes, and quite possibly, modern history. It's hard to know what is needed right now, especially as more information, resources, tools, and strategies flood our feeds than ever before. The strongest urge I’ve felt in the last few weeks is the urge to be still, to observe, and to listen. And as I have, a few several things have risen to the surface as "m...

Things have changed a lot in the last week. Many are in the process of transitioning from work and school to home, and working hard to figure out what the next weeks and months will look like. As I thought about the best thing I could share this week, I kept coming back to mindfulness. Our collective anxiety is spiking right now and it does not take long to lose ourselves amid the sea of updates, tweets, and posts. We have to be intentional about being good to ourselves, good to our brains, a...

Five years ago, Daniel Bauer sat in a conference for school leaders and heard the seven words that would forever change his trajectory: "Everyone wins when a leader gets better". Those seven words launched Daniel on a journey of personal development that ultimately led him to create Better Leaders Better Schools, a trusted blog and category-defining podcast that helps thousands of school leaders level up every week. Creating change as a school leader is challenging to say the least, and even ...

Year over year, Gallup student polls have revealed a disturbing, but unsurprising trend: student engagement in school declines steadily with each grade, and sharply from elementary to middle to high school. One of the proven contributors to this decline over time is the inability of many schools to build the strengths of each student and make learning relevant. This is especially true for the nearly 50% of polled students who have entrepreneurial ambitions. So what can schools do? If you ask ...

[RECAST EP01] A little over 6 years ago, Sabari Raja heard a persistent and compelling question from educators, community leaders, and industry professionals in her city. They all wanted to know how to create meaningful and accessible industry connections in the classroom. The question led Sabari and co-founder Binu Thayamkery to create Nepris, which connects professionals of all kinds with K-12 classrooms (LIVE!) - no matter where they're located. Sabari shares insights on the industry-educa...

Have you ever read a paper, found a tool, or heard an idea that made you stop and think, "If we could do this, we'd see truly major changes"? That's how I felt after speaking with education journalist and author Natalie Wexler about her recent book, The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System - and How to Fix It. Despite the heavy emphasis on reading instruction through testing, "accountability" measures, and funding over the last two decades, reading scores have ...