Disrupt Education Podcast

Disrupt Education Podcast

Disrupt Education began in 2015 when Peter Hostrawser, inspired by an EF Tour to Europe, saw students reimagine education and heard Sir Ken Robinson challenge the status quo. This sparked Peter’s mission to rethink the stagnant system. The podcast shares diverse stories from learners, educators, and EdTech innovators, offering fresh perspectives and pushing boundaries to create an education system that truly empowers students. Join Peter Hostrawser and co-host Alli Dahl today!

  1. 429 Rethinking CTE, Literacy, and Student Engagement

    1D AGO

    429 Rethinking CTE, Literacy, and Student Engagement

    What if the best learning in school is the part that never gets graded? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Dr. Sandra Adams to unpack one of the biggest shifts happening in education right now: why curiosity, literacy, and student engagement matter more than compliance, lecture, and traditional grading. Dr. Adams shares the thinking behind her book Fluent Work and explains why schools must move beyond memorization and start building classrooms where students construct meaning, ask better questions, collaborate, and connect learning to the real world. This conversation dives into Career and Technical Education, future ready learning, ungraded learning, classroom rigor, instructional design, collective efficacy, AI in education, and the future of student success. If you care about CTE, workforce readiness, literacy across content areas, durable skills, or creating more engaging learning experiences for students, this episode is packed with ideas you can use right away. Dr. Adams breaks down why direct lecture loses the attention battle, why students stop reading when they find the answer, and how teachers can create organized chaos that leads to deeper learning. You’ll also hear powerful ideas about student curiosity, descriptive feedback, classroom culture, and why technical reading, speaking, listening, writing, and thinking all belong in modern education. This is a must watch for educators, school leaders, CTE teachers, instructional coaches, and anyone rethinking what real readiness should look like in 2026 and beyond.Check our Dr. Sandra Adams new book : Fluent Work: Bringing CTE Literacy to Life for the Age of Acceleration - https://www.amazon.com/Fluent-Work-Bringing-Literacy-Acceleration/dp/B0FF36K9FD Subscribe to Disrupt Education for more conversations on CTE, career readiness, experiential learning, AI in education, and the future of school. Powered by YouScience Brightpath. YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here. #DisruptEducation #CTE #StudentEngagement

    1h 1m
  2. 428 The College Board Move Most Educators Never Saw Coming

    APR 1

    428 The College Board Move Most Educators Never Saw Coming

    What happens when College Board steps into CTE in a serious way?In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl break down why College Board’s move with Teamship and Career Kickstart could become a major turning point in education.This conversation digs into the shift from traditional school metrics like GPA, AP scores, and test performance toward what really matters in today’s world: durable skills, contribution, collaboration, relevance, and real human value in an AI-driven future.Peter and Alli unpack: • why College Board entering the CTE space is such a huge signal • how Teamship connects academics with real world problem solving • why students need more than tests to show what they can do • how AI is raising the value of communication, judgment, teamwork, and meaning making• why business education, career readiness, and applied learning belong in more schools right now • what this means for AP teachers, CTE educators, school leaders, and community partners Powered by YouScience Brightpath. YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here. If you care about the future of career connected learning, work based learning, AP Career Kickstart, CTE, business education, and student readiness, this is an episode you need to hear.This is bigger than one program.It is a signal that education is shifting.Listen, then share this episode with an AP teacher, a CTE teacher, a school leader, or a community partner. #DisruptEducation #CTE #CollegeBoard #Teamship #CareerReadiness #WorkBasedLearning #EducationPodcastPowered by YouScience.

    1h 2m
  3. 427 College Board Just Made a Massive Move Into CTE

    MAR 25

    427 College Board Just Made a Massive Move Into CTE

    College Board is making a major move into career-connected learning, and most educators have no idea how big this could become. In this episode of Disrupt Education, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Alyssa Chudnofsky of College Board and Dan Gonzalez of Teamship to unpack why the old divide between college prep, career prep, and high school learning is breaking down fast. They explore why students are demanding more relevant education, how durable skills and work-based learning fit the AI era, and why this partnership could reshape AP, CTE, and student readiness in a whole new way. If you care about the future of education, workforce pathways, and what students actually need next, this conversation is a must-watch. Powered by YouScience Brightpath. YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

    1 hr
  4. 426 The Secret Partnership Design Schools Need

    MAR 18

    426 The Secret Partnership Design Schools Need

    If your idea of “partnerships” is guest speakers and career fairs… you’re playing small. In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack the uncomfortable truth: partnerships don’t scale by hope — they scale by design. And if districts want real work-based learning, internships, and community-connected pathways, they can’t keep treating partnerships like a PR checkbox. This conversation ties together the “boundary spanning” framework from Chris Brida’s work and turns it into a practical leadership lens: how do we fund, staff, protect, and scale programs so they outlive one superhero leader? How do we rebuild trust when education has broken promises to industry? And what does it actually take to shift from event-based partnerships to real outcome-based systems? You’ll hear why naming your program matters (because what’s named can be funded), how trust is built through consistent design, and why schools that refuse to staff partnership work don’t really want partnerships — they want optics. And yes… Alli brings a chicken into the episode to prove the point: you don’t get “cuddly chickens” unless you’re willing to get in the coop and do the work. In this episode: Why most school partnerships fail (and how to fix it)Partnership design vs. partnership “events”Funding + staffing + scaling programs through clear namingRebuilding trust with industry and community partnersBoundary spanning as the missing leadership frameworkThe chicken coop metaphor you won’t forget Powered by YouScience Brightpath. YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

    56 min
  5. 425 Why Most School Partnerships Fail (And What To Do Instead)

    MAR 11

    425 Why Most School Partnerships Fail (And What To Do Instead)

    What happens to a school system when boundary spanning doesn’t exist? In Part 2 of this Disrupt Education Podcast conversation, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl go deeper with Chris Brida (CTE Director, Portland Public Schools) to unpack what’s at risk when education stays siloed—by departments, by bell schedules, by “that’s not my lane.” Chris shares what his dissertation research is revealing about partner ecosystems, including what actually changes partner perception (hint: it’s not tenure) and why engagement intensity matters if we want real alignment between classrooms and industry. He also breaks down how to teach boundary spanning without a textbook—by designing experiences where leaders “trip over the truth” through role-based practice (and he previews how he’s doing this at SXSW EDU). This episode zooms out to the bigger disruption: moving beyond “partnership management” toward partnership design—and ultimately building CTE as a civic engagement engine where students work on real problems, with real partners, producing real impact. If you’re a district leader, CTE leader, principal, teacher-leader, or anyone trying to build work-based learning, internships, industry partnerships, and deeper learning, this one will give you language, structure, and a direction to move. Key topics in this episode:The risks of NOT doing boundary spanning in educationWhat partner survey data says about alignment + student experienceWhy “time barriers” aren’t the whole storyHow to teach boundary spanning through experience-based learningBreaking silos: interdisciplinary learning and “erasing the edges” of class periodsScaling CTE partnerships into real community impact projects ✅ Subscribe for more episodes on CTE, internships, work-based learning, and building education that actually connects to the world students are walking into. A quick thank you to our sponsor, YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

    54 min
  6. 424 CTE’s Secret Superpower: Boundary Spanners

    MAR 4

    424 CTE’s Secret Superpower: Boundary Spanners

    Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Chris Brida, CTE Director in Portland Public Schools, to unpack a concept most education leaders do the work of… but rarely have language for: boundary spanning. Chris breaks down how CTE leaders sit between K–12, higher ed, workforce, nonprofit, and government systems, and why “partnerships” can’t just be guest speakers and career fairs if we’re serious about student opportunity. Chris walks through six boundary spanning skill-sets that show up in high-impact CTE leadership: broker, translator, trust builder, convenor, buffer, and integrator—explaining how each one helps reduce friction between systems, protect educators from chaos, align stakeholder expectations, and build partnerships that actually produce shared value. The conversation goes deep on a big shift: moving from partnership management to partnership design—starting with real problems, using data, and bringing the right mix of partners together to solve them. The episode lands with a powerful example: a multi-partner design lab initiative that puts Black engineering students at the center of a real civic redevelopment project—showing exactly how intentional systems-level collaboration can expand access, build relational capital, and create authentic learning that matters. Connect with Chris Brida on LinkedIn A quick thank you to our sponsor, YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

    1h 2m
  7. 423 College Is Broken? Why Internships Beat GPA Every Time

    FEB 25

    423 College Is Broken? Why Internships Beat GPA Every Time

    What happens after you hit stop on a conversation that challenges everything you thought you knew about grades, college, and internships? In this recap episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack their recent conversation with Brandon Busteed and go even deeper into what it all means. Peter shares the full circle moment of first hearing Brandon speak a decade ago and how that research on experiential learning helped shape the Disrupt Education movement. Alli connects the dots between her own early work experiences and the idea that we need to value the learning from all work, not just what happens in a classroom. They wrestle with big questions. If grades are inflated, what are they really measuring?Why are internships still not scaled in higher education?Are students going into debt for something employers are not prioritizing? What would happen if we treated work as learning from day one? This episode is about mindset shifts, internships, work based learning, and redefining what signals real readiness. If last week’s conversation made you think, this one will push you further. The data is there. The opportunity is there. The question is whether education and industry are ready to align. A quick thank you to our sponsor, YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.Check out more at DisruptEducationPodcast.com

    44 min
  8. 422 Harvard’s GPA Problem: Why Internships Matter More Than Grades

    FEB 18

    422 Harvard’s GPA Problem: Why Internships Matter More Than Grades

    What if the “A” isn’t proof of learning anymore? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Brandon Busteed to challenge one of education’s biggest sacred cows: grades. Brandon drops a stat that should stop every educator and parent in their tracks: 60% of grades at Harvard are A’s (up from about 25% two decades ago). So… what does an A even mean now? From there, the conversation goes exactly where schools need to go next: Why grades and GPA often don’t predict real job performance Why students need internships and work-integrated learning more than “perfect transcripts” The internship gap: millions of students want internships, but far fewer actually get them Brandon’s bold solution: the 5% Internship Pledge—and how it could scale opportunity fast How we shift the culture to value learning from all work (yes—even retail and “starter” jobs) Brandon also shares what he’s building through Edconic: immersive industry learning experiences that are co-designed and co-taught by educators and industry experts—giving students real exposure, real feedback, and real skill-building that actually transfers.If your school is still living and dying by grades… this episode is your wake-up call. Connect with Brandon Busteed at https://www.linkedin.com/in/busteed/A quick thank you to our sponsor, YouScience Brightpath — the next-generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you’re serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

    53 min
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4.5
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

Disrupt Education began in 2015 when Peter Hostrawser, inspired by an EF Tour to Europe, saw students reimagine education and heard Sir Ken Robinson challenge the status quo. This sparked Peter’s mission to rethink the stagnant system. The podcast shares diverse stories from learners, educators, and EdTech innovators, offering fresh perspectives and pushing boundaries to create an education system that truly empowers students. Join Peter Hostrawser and co-host Alli Dahl today!

Information

  • Creator
    Disrupt Education Podcast
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    424
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Disrupt Education Podcast
  • Show Website
    Disrupt Education Podcast

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