Author: BelieveAgain

Anthony Salcito is the Chief Institutional Officer at Varsity Tutors where he’s been focused on bringing high-quality tutoring to teachers and schools across the country. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation that digs into the power of using tutoring and emerging AI to empower teachers to drive student learning around the globe. We begin with Anthony’s origin story which culminated as Vice President of Worldwide Education at Microsoft before joining Nerdy to establish its school-facing offerings with Varsity Tutors. Then we explore his unique combination of AI and Tutoring expertise to understand his vision for increased personalized instruction…

The recent criminal convictions of the parents of the student who killed four students at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021 were groundbreaking—the first time for parents of a mass school shooter. The convictions have cast fresh light on efforts to hold a variety of other parties legally responsible for mass school shootings.Jennifer and James Crumbley, who were convicted of manslaughter in separate trials earlier this year, were each sentenced on April 9 to 10 to 15 years in prison. Their son, Ethan Crumbley, who was a 15-year-old sophomore at the time, pulled a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun out of…

Dr. Steve Joordens returns to the show with Lilaani Thangavadivelu to join host Mike Palmer in a conversation about their recent research into collaborative project-based learning approaches that enable transformative learning experiences at scale. Mike welcomes Steve back as we hear how Lilaani first experienced Steve’s Intro to Psychology course back in the Fall of 2019. Then she and Steve share the findings of their research into a new study of 450 teams of students working with Swab the World to create public service announcements to share the importance of stem cell research in non-Caucasian communities in Toronto and around…

On Monday, I talked with departing Institute of Education Sciences Director Mark Schneider, who just wrapped up his six-year term. In our conversation, he argued for newer and better research centers at IES, along with a heightened commitment to producing timely and accessible reports. Well, as anyone who knows Mark well can attest, he almost always has more to say. I thought I’d reach back out and see if he had anything else he wanted to get off his mind. Here is Part Two of our conversation.—RickRick: On Monday, you mentioned that Marguerite Roza, Emily Oster, and Sean Reardon are…

Tre’ Gammage is a Social Emotional Learning Specialist and Storyteller focused on building social-emotional competence in school communities by focusing on Adults’ Emotional Skills. He’s also the host of the Dash Podcast where he explores topics in SEL for adults and much more. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about SEL and its importance for teachers, other adults, and everyone. We begin with Tre’s origin story playing football, studying abroad in college, and building his resume before he’s 30. From there, we learn how he developed his SEL skills. All of this set Tre’ on a path to…

Mike Palmer is rejoined by Nancy, our virtual cohost, to reflect on the half-year that was. We hear Mike’s initial impressions of the ISTE Live 2023 Ed Tech Conference in Philadelphia as Nancy shares what it’s been like being a virtual human-made with a synthetic voice. Spoiler alert: it’s both trippy and zeitgeisty. From there, we dig into how AI has dominated the trendspace and the collective imagination so far this year. Nancy reminds us of our show from June of 2022 which anticipated where the hype around AI was heading before we dig into one of our 23 Trends…

Mark Davis is Vice President of Learning Services at BookNook, a K12 Tutoring platform that focuses on bringing high-impact synchronous learning solutions to districts. He joins host Mike Palmer in a conversation about trends in the space and the complexity of delivering tutoring solutions at scale in K12. We begin with Mark’s origin story which started working in a family business in LA before he shifted into education, eventually joining Kaplan where he met Mike back in the day. Then we learn how Mark ultimately landed back in learning services at BookNook where his deep domain knowledge of K12 logistics…

In this engaging episode, Mike Palmer talks with Jean Desravines, CEO of New Leaders, about developing representative leadership in K12 schools. Jean shares his powerful origin story of how education and mentorship saved his life, allowing him to escape a dire path. We learn how New Leaders identifies and develops the next generation of transformative school leaders, with a focus on leaders of color. Jean provides fascinating insights into what makes an effective school leader, likening the role to a CEO managing stakeholders, budgets, talent, instruction and culture. He emphasizes the critical importance of representation, explaining how teachers of color…

When Muriel Bowser, the mayor of the District of Columbia, announced in early March that her administration had carved out $4.8 million for “high impact tutoring” in its 2024-25 budget, she was met with thunderous applause.Bowser had made the announcement to a room packed with administrators, tutoring service providers and policy analysts. But the excitement was tempered somewhat by questions about how far these funds would go: Is this appropriation enough? What about tutoring in the next year?As the federal stimulus package—ESSER—winds down, states are racing against the clock to find other sustainable funding sources to keep tutoring alive in…

The push to convert the nation’s diesel bus fleet to electric gained momentum in the last week with new state and federal policies aimed at getting more clean-energy vehicles on the road.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on March 29 issued the final version of a new rule that sets higher fuel efficiency standards for manufacturers producing a wide range of heavy-duty vehicles, including school buses, starting in 2027.The new rule will lead to 40 percent of the vehicles produced in the “medium heavy-duty” category—which includes school buses—being electric by 2032, according to the EPA’s regulatory impact analysis of the rule.Meanwhile,…