Getting Smart

What if the most important career skill isn't knowing what you want to do, but instead learning to navigate not knowing? In the latest Getting Smart Podcast, Mason Pashia sits down with Joana Hernandez Ponce and Catherine Alves, featured road trippers in Roadtrip Nation's Explore Your Interests, for an honest conversation about nonlinear paths, the power of exposure, and why staying open may matter more than having a plan. One insight worth sitting with: students often don't realize pathways can look different from what they've seen modeled at home or in school until they see it themselves. That first moment of recognition changes everything. For educators, counselors, and anyone working with young people on career exploration, this episode is a powerful reminder of what's possible when we shift the question from "what do you want to be?" to "what problem do you want to solve?" Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gN2wTfXR #CareerExploration #NewPathways #LearnerCentered #GettingSmart #RoadtripNation

The math crisis is a design problem. In 2024, only 39% of fourth graders and 28% of eighth graders were proficient in math on the NAEP. Closing that gap requires more than new curriculum or aligned pacing guides. It requires shifting the mindset that some people simply "aren't math people." System leaders can build math identity intentionally by reframing struggle as a natural part of learning, giving teachers space for intellectual preparation, designing low floor, high ceiling tasks with multiple entry points, and using formative assessment to value reasoning as much as the right answer. When every student has the evidence they need to believe they are a math person, proficiency follows. How is your system designing for math identity? Learn more from Beth Davis-Dillard here: https://lnkd.in/eVpr3Bvn #MathEducation #STEM #InstructionalDesign #EducationLeadership #MathIdentity

When districts restrict devices, are they solving the real problem—or just the visible one? In a new piece for Getting Smart, Michael Ham and Dr. Beth Holland, EdD argue that today's debates over screen time and AI aren't really about technology. They're about the growing tension between emerging tools and longstanding assumptions about teaching, learning, and the purpose of school. They name four common system responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Each one offers temporary stability. None resolve the structural challenge underneath. The path forward isn't reaction. It's coherence: clear purpose, aligned implementation, and shared attention to well-being, instructional quality, and equity. Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/eDbUUs8c #K12Leadership #EdPolicy #FutureOfLearning #AIinEducation

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AI tools are flooding classrooms, but the workflow of school remains unchanged. That's why the promised gains haven't arrived. In his latest piece for Getting Smart, David Ross argues that schools are "paving the cow path," bolting AI onto a century-old industrial model of bells, fixed schedules, and teacher-as-transmitter. The real shift isn't technical. It's organizational. Time, staffing, assessment, and learning design all have to be rebuilt around adaptive, learner-centered systems before AI can deliver on its promise. Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/eWJnW-2s #AIinEducation #FutureOfLearning #LearnerCentered #SchoolRedesign #CompetencyBasedLearning

What does courageous transformation actually look like in a public school district? In the latest Getting Smart Podcast, Rebecca Midles sits down with Tim Hejnal and Meghan Utech of Lake City Area Schools to explore how a small Michigan district moved from standards-based toward competency-based learning by slowing down, building proficiency scales with educators, and grounding the work in their Portrait of a Learner. Their insight: real change happens in one-on-one conversations, not PD days. Listen now: https://lnkd.in/gEPFsGeC #CompetencyBasedLearning #PortraitOfALearner #LearnerCentered #EducationLeadership #SchoolTransformation

What separates a transformative work-based learning experience from a forgettable one? It's rarely the placement itself. On the latest Getting Smart Podcast, Tom Vander Ark talks with Stephanie Reisner (previously Borowski) and Stephanie (Short) Loeck of GPS Education Partners about their new book, Make School Work, and 25 years of lessons in building career-connected learning that actually changes lives. Their definition stuck with us: authentic learning that develops a student's aspiration, ability, and agency. The throughline? Preparing employers for students matters as much as preparing students for employers. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gSRUAzk5 #WorkBasedLearning #YouthApprenticeship #NewPathways #LearnerAgency #FutureOfLearning

Grateful to see the powerful story of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools convening captured so thoughtfully by Rebecca Midles and Tom Vander Ark. This piece from Getting Smart beautifully reflects what makes this network so special: leaders coming together not to chase the next tool but to wrestle with what truly matters, belonging, human connection, and designing systems in which every learner can thrive. 🤝✨ Another huge thank you to the teams at Kent School District and Issaquah School District for opening up your work and grounding these ideas in real practice. Your leadership shows what it looks like to move from vision to system-level change. 👏 As we navigate an era shaped by AI, this article is a powerful reminder: the future of learning isn’t just about what technology can do, it’s about what only humans can create together. Proud to support and learn alongside this community every day. Israel Vela Rebekah K. Julia Bamba Heather Tow-Yick Jean-Claude Brizard Kimberly Smith Chaula Gupta #DPLIS #InnovativeSchools #FutureOfLearning #CompetencyBasedEducation #DesignForBelonging #EducationLeadership

And this is what we mean when talk about how cool our friends are! Wow, such an amazing 2025 Britebound! We are so honored to be partners with you in this work. Here's to the rest of 2026 and beyond! 🎉 🎉 🎉

What if AI freed teachers to do more of the deeply human work that drew them to the profession in the first place? In a new Getting Smart Podcast episode, Nate McClennen sits down with Vriti Saraf, CEO of Ed3, to unpack findings from "The Emerging Role of Teachers in the Age of AI," a study drawing on responses from over 1,100 educators. The data points to a critical inflection point. A 2024 Pew Research report found that 80% of teachers say they don't have enough time to do their work, 70% report their schools are understaffed, and more than half would not advise a young person to enter the profession. AI could accelerate that crisis by automating broken systems, or it could catalyze a redesign of the role itself. Saraf argues the real equity question is shifting. In five to ten years, it may not be about who has access to AI, but who has access to humans. The path forward calls for differentiated educator personas like learning architect, life navigator, and community connector, supported by certification and policy changes that allow ecosystems of adults to serve students holistically. Listen to the full conversation: https://lnkd.in/gMXwFbsU #FutureOfTeaching #AIinEducation #EdLeadership #TeachingProfession