Join host Eric Neal as he learns about Student Powered Improvement with Kari Nelsestuen from Community Design Partners. Kari shares information about the program and powerful strategies to engage students and improve ownership and belonging in your school community.

Host Eric Neal interviews Dr. Thomas Guskey about his signature method for planning and evaluating effective professional development. They discuss the factors that trustworthy evidence show contribute to the effectiveness of professional learning experiences, explain the five levels of evidence that are essential in evaluating professional learning activities, and how to plan effective professional learning experiences that impact teaching practices that result in improved student performance. Dr. Guskey is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky where he served as Department Chair, Head of the Educational Psychology Area Committee, and President of the Faculty Council. He has been a Visiting Professor at ten other universities in the U.S. and a Visiting Scholar at universities in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. He began his career in education as a middle school teacher and earned his doctorate at the University of Chicago under the direction of Professor Benjamin S. Bloom. He served as an administrator in Chicago Public Schools before becoming the first director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, a national research center.

Host Eric Neal is joined by Inclusive Education Consultant and Speaker Aaron Lanou. They discuss Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Aaron's upcoming workshop for teachers to implement UDL in the classroom.

Collaboration is a cornerstone of educational improvement, but structured collaboration is the key to making a real impact. Host Eric Neal is joined by Barbara Shreve from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to discuss Networked Improvement Communities (NICs), their relationship to Improvement Science, and the components that distinguish them from other collaborative frameworks.

When burnout in the classroom continues to be a factor in teacher resignations, what do we do to change the course? Host Eric Neal discusses prevention strategies and examples with Mandy Froehlich, a seasoned educator turned author, consultant, and keynote speaker. Mandy shares her insights on tackling this topic through meaningful conversations and practical changes within multiple levels of a school district.

How do you find the root cause of an issue? Host Eric Neal sits down with the co-founders of Community Design Partners, Kari Nelsestuen and Julie Smith, to talk about understanding the perspectives of others and the design that is causing the problem in a system. Empathy interviews are 1-on-1 interviews grounded in asking for stories, and they are changing the approach towards the way we design "with" instead of "for". Learn more at CommunityDesignPartners.com.

What exactly do you know about the realm of neuro-diverse communication? We’re here today with Aaron Lanou and Colin Ozeki to talk about rethinking your mindset, sharing perspectives without judgment, and hearing from their own experiences. This duo connected during Ozeki’s 5th grade year when Lanou worked as a teacher in the school’s inclusion program for autistic students. Since then, they have presented together at large conferences such as OCALICON on the intersection of neuro-divergent and neuro-typical in education.