What would change if schools knew their students the way the best companies know their customers?
Host Mike Palmer welcomes back Trending in Ed all-star AJ Gutierrez, CEO of Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) and co-founder of Saga Education, for his first Bring a Friend episode. AJ’s friend is Dr. Susan Enfield, Executive Director of the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Washington. Susan began her career as a high school English, journalism, and multilingual learner teacher and served as a superintendent for nearly 13 years, including a decade leading Highline Public Schools just south of Seattle.
AJ and Susan have co-authored an upcoming op-ed arguing that K-12 education should be as intentional about understanding students as other industries are about understanding their customers. Their shared rallying cry is “no invisible students,” rooted in the Highline promise to know every student by name, strength, and need so they graduate prepared for the future they choose. They make the case that this isn’t just an equity play. It’s a fiscally smart way to get more from the people and programs schools already invest in.
The three dig into several threads:
- Customer obsession for K-12: Gathering the right information from students and getting it to the right adult at the right time to act on it.
- Hidden talent: A Mathematica study found EOS partner schools identified an average of 52 more students per school for advanced coursework.
- The power of a trusted adult: An analysis of 1.8 million students in the EOS database found that students who name a trusted adult are about 10 percentage points more likely to take advanced courses.
- Rethinking chronic absenteeism: Why chronic disengagement is the real problem, and why a family trip to Samoa, a traveling athlete, and an unexplained absence call for very different responses.
- Loving kids to failure: Susan on the cost of low expectations and pity, and the eighth grader who advocated his way into pre-calculus and went on to soar through every AP calculus course.
- Technology that deepens human connection: How EOS and the Learning Collider are exploring which insights can help any adult become a trusted adult.
Resources Mentioned:
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Palmer Media 2026-10-16 15:48:00
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