JFYNetWorks Podcast

JFYNetWorks

Podcasts from JFYNetWorks JFYNetWorks addresses today’s college readiness pursuit by providing focused blended learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training earning academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools. Listen to our podcasts to learn more.

  1. 11/20/2025

    AI That Amplifies the Teacher’s Voice - JFY AI Podcast

    NOVEMBER 2025 PODCAST -- Exciting information about JFY's upcoming professional development courses and AI tools are detailed in this podcast as we explore how artificial intelligence can support teachers and students, helping them become better prepared for post-secondary education, career opportunities, and civic life in an increasingly unpredictable future.  PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS [23:10 – 23:51] "Computers, people have called that kind of innovation and adopted technology, meaning that people had to decide they were going to use it. It was offered to them, the box was sitting out on the doorstep, but they had to make the decision to take that box inside, open it up, and then figure out how to use it. Artificial Intelligence is a whole different thing, it's been called an arrival technology, which means that it's just there. The computers are already there; all the infrastructure of technology has been installed in schools over the past 25 years so it's all there and the various functions of our of artificial intelligence are just present." – Gary [6:53 – 7:16] "We were able to build a system together where we could take a whole class worth of essays put it into the system and get feedback based on teacher input and based on the rubric so that teachers could help students improve their writing by giving them feedback quickly." – Eileen [18:17 – 18:33] "The course is focused on what's called the Creative Edge and it’s sort of a course for both vocational and regular classroom teachers but it's focused on the use of AI as a creative medium and as a tool to introduce students to jobs of the future." - Mike MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks Education Through AI Innovation As Artificial Intelligence rapidly reshapes industries and the future workforce, JFYNetWorks empowers educators and leaders to navigate this transformation by building essential AI literacy, fostering innovation, and ensuring equitable opportunities for all students. JFYNetWorks addresses the college/career readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools.  To learn more visit JFYNet.org Proven Results Connected Learning Solutions JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success. [Song Credit: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic. License Code: 93750002]

    28 min
  2. 09/12/2024

    Kevin McCaskill, NEW Brockton HS Principal, Podcast Highlights

    SEPTEMBER 2024 PODCAST -- This podcast features highlights from our April edition, featuring Brockton High School principal Kevin McCaskill, who began his tenure in Brockton at the start of 2024. Described at the time as, “…a new chapter for our entire community” by Mayor Robert Sullivan, McCaskill discussed how Brockton High School was once a beacon of educational excellence in Massachusetts and will be again. PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS [Timestamp 00:01:42] The lore of Brockton High School. [Timestamp 00:04:20} Gaining Trust. [Timestamp 00:05:23] Be visible. [Timestamp 00:06:45] Finding the successes already in place. [Timestamp 00:09:50] It’s about the passion. [Timestamp 00:10:22] Faith in the team. MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools. To learn more visit JFYNet.org Proven Results Connected Learning Solutions JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success. [Song Credit: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a creative commons license Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://breakingcopyright.com]

    12 min
  3. 07/25/2024

    Busing in the Boston Public Schools, Personal Insights on the 50th Anniversary

    JULY 2024 PODCAST -- This September will mark the 50th anniversary of Judge Arthur Garrity’s decision to implement busing in the Boston Public Schools as a strategy to desegregate the school system. This past year, JFYNetWorks has featured three individuals who have had direct knowledge and experience in the long struggle for equity in education then and now. This podcast highlights our conversations with JFY’s Deputy Director and Director of Development Paula Paris, community activist Lew Finfer, and civic legend Hubie Jones. PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS [Timestamp 12:01 – 12:30] Paula Paris: "It was a live experience and something you just remember that human beings are capable of this behavior. People did not want the schools to be integrated and the purpose of the integration to me, and I think going back and reading the case was inequality and I think it was equality of resources." [Timestamp 13:59 – 14:27] Lew Finfer: "Garrity set hiring goals for hiring teachers of color and principals of color and the exam schools, he ordered them to be 1/3 of students of color. So, there were a number of positive things that he ordered, and you know help change the system and some of that would have happened but not as dramatically without those court orders that were made you know between 1974 and 1980." [Timestamp 26:52 – 27:15] Hubie Jones: "You have to have things like the arts, music, plays, dance, which are joyous things that are part of the learning process because if there's no joy in the school, then there's no joy in learning. Who's going to invest in [that type of school] in any major way?" MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools. To learn more visit JFYNet.org Proven Results Connected Learning Solutions JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success. [Song Credit: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a creative commons license Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://breakingcopyright.com]

    28 min
  4. 05/23/2024

    Audrey Schindler from EBHS, joins JFY at MassCUE Spring Conference 2024

    Dramatic Academic Progress at East Boston High School MAY 2024 PODCAST -- This month’s podcast features a preview of a collaborative presentation to take place at the MassCue Convention on May 31st and June 1st at Polar Park in Worcester. Audrey Schindler, East Boston High School’s Director of ELA and Humanities and Dean of Students, will partner with JFYNetWorks for a presentation on East Boston High’s dramatic academic progress over the past decade. In this podcast she will provide a tantalizing sample of the upcoming presentation. PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS So when I was a teacher, I didn't see other teachers' data. At the time I was only seeing my own data. I could go in and I could look at individual students, obviously, and see how they were doing and make a plan with them on an individual, like on a one-to-one basis. And then as an administrator, I can see the individual students, but I can also see the teachers and I can say to the teachers, Hey, what's going on with these particular students? [Timestamp 00:05:25] One of the other things that we did was we, as an admin team, developed slide decks that all teachers across the school had to use. We developed this whole school slide deck system. We had a common grading policy. And the reason behind it was that students would be able to focus on the content that they were learning and not on figuring out how to manipulate and get through unfamiliar technology. [Timestamp 00:14:30] Our teachers can become buried with grading, especially English teachers, with the amount of writing that students are expected to produce. And it's not simply about grading, but it's about also providing feedback. That feedback needs to be relevant, it needs to be specific, and it really needs to be timely. It really doesn't do much good if a student receives a piece of writing that they've done from three weeks ago and they get some feedback on it, they're not invested in it anymore. They're not involved in it. And so the purpose behind getting AI programming involved, and this is where you guys have really stepped up and come in and said, you know, I think we can help you with this. [Timestamp 00:19:24] Our teachers can become buried with grading, especially English teachers, with the amount of writing that students are expected to produce. And it's not simply about grading, but it's about also providing feedback. That feedback needs to be relevant, it needs to be specific, and it really needs to be timely. It really doesn't do much good if a student receives a piece of writing that they've done from three weeks ago and they get some feedback on it, they're not invested in it anymore. They're not involved in it. And so the purpose behind getting AI programming involved, and this is where you guys have really stepped up and come in and said, you know, I think we can help you with this. [Timestamp 00:20:39] MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools. To learn more visit JFYNet.org Proven Results Connected Learning Solutions JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success. [Song Credit: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a creative commons license Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://breakingcopyright.com]

    28 min
  5. 04/11/2024

    ‘A New Chapter’ Brockton High School Principal Has Faith, Podcast

    ‘A New Chapter’ Brockton High School Principal Has Faith Kevin McCaskill, ‘I know that we can achieve at high levels’ APRIL 2024 PODCAST -- This podcast features newly appointed Brockton High School principal Kevin McCaskill, who began his tenure in Brockton at the start of 2024. Described as “…a new chapter for our entire community” by Mayor Robert Sullivan, McCaskill discusses how Brockton High School was once a beacon of educational excellence in Massachusetts and will beam even brighter in the years ahead. PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS Case in point, in the morning I see the vast majority of our students getting off the buses every day. 39 buses. And we’re being very consistent with morning greetings And so they get that recognition that someone's [Timestamp 00:09:00] I know that we can achieve at high levels. But it's going to take some time and again, it won't be something that happens overnight or by magic. But if we have some folks who are really interested in moving the needle forward-- which I know we have here at the high school, I know it will be done. [Timestamp 00:13:06] You have to have faith in everything you can do, faith in the individuals that you’re working with and faith in the belief that all things are possible. [Timestamp 00:16:34] MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools. To learn more visit JFYNet.org Proven Results Connected Learning Solutions JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success. [Song Credit: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a creative commons license Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://breakingcopyright.com]

    18 min
  6. 02/29/2024

    JFY Deputy Director, ‘Education Equity, Still a Struggle’

    JFY Deputy Director, ‘Education Equity, Still a Struggle’ FEBRUARY 2024 PODCAST -- This month’s podcast features JFY’s Deputy Director Paula Paris, who has been with JFY since 1995. She has contributed to the growth and diversification of the organization first as Director of Development and then as Deputy Director. Paula shares her personal history beginning as a bus safety monitor during the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools, and her informed insights on the continuing struggle to achieve equity in American education. PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS [Boston] Busing got so much national publicity. "...so, the buses took us to Day Boulevard. Yeah. And then they consolidated the buses and went the rest of the way with a police escort." [Timestamp 00:20:02] Thinking about the learning loss question. "But it is about learning loss and how not being in school affected different populations differently. [Timestamp 00:36:08] We’ve solved problems, but … "We've got a long way to go. And progress has been made for sure. But more progress needs to be made. Let's not lose sight of what we still need to do." [Timestamp 00:43:39] MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools. To learn more visit JFYNet.org Proven Results Connected Learning Solutions JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success. Music Credit: Song: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a Creative Commons license Music promoted by Breaking. Copyright: https://breakingcopyright.com

    45 min

About

Podcasts from JFYNetWorks JFYNetWorks addresses today’s college readiness pursuit by providing focused blended learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training earning academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools. Listen to our podcasts to learn more.