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#48 George Philhower When Jonathan Vander Els connects you with someone you just know it’s going to be an incredible conversation. I really enjoyed hearing George Philhower, Superintendent of Eastern Hancock Schools speak about the ways his district is “re-professionalizing teaching”. This is conversation number #48 of our #100DistrictConversations initiative – we are almost halfway…

#45 Erick Pruitt In conversation #45, Dr. Erick Pruitt, Superintendent of Ankeny Community School District in Iowa shares how principal empowerment and accountability drives all professional learning decisions in his district. When superintendents hold a clear vision, commitment to operationalizing that vision, and a track record of implementation experience, great things can happen! “I believe…

#44 Steven Morrone Conversation #44 with Steven Morrone, Assistant Superintendent of Westerly Public Schools has some great examples of a district braiding its professional learning funding to increase coaching capacity. It was also a chance to reminisce and remember legendary Rhode Island Superintendent, Barry Ricci, who passed way too early, but whose sage advice still…

#43 Michael Barnes Wow! You know how some conversations tend to stick with you for days? Well, conversation #43 with Michael Barnes, Superintendent of Mayfield City School District was just that. If you’re curious to hear more from Michael he has several published books. His new book, Winning: Lessons on Life, Learning, and Leadership will…

#42 Dr. Tom Kenworthy & Dr. Elizabeth Viveiros It’s incredibly fitting that conversation #42 with Dr. Dr. Tom Kenworthy and Dr. Dr. Liz Viveiros is going live the day after the announcement of our Fuse AI network and offerings. They lead the Portsmouth School Department in Rhode Island and you’ll see how our original Fuse…

#41 Anna Sell I am late to the game, but clearly there’s a ton happening in North Dakota with personalized and competency-based learning! Thank you Cory Steiner for the connection to Anna Sell, Superintendent of Oakes School District 41 for conversation #41. I was particularly impressed by Anna’s faith in teacher expertise and agency when…

#40 Donna Lucy-Lender Conversation #40 with Donna Lucy-Lender, Chief of Secondary Schools in Rochester City School District in New York really drove home the power of consistent messaging from leadership regarding professional learning objectives as a key driver of school improvement. When that alignment is not there from district to classroom, or when leadership transitions…

#35 Michael Sollitto Coming in at conversation #35, Michael Sollitto, is the Superintendent of the Burrillville School District in Rhode Island. It was great to catch up and learn how Mike is making professional learning work through strategic fundraising and regional collaboration. “We want to provide every student the best possible education, preparing them for…

#36 Piper Bognar Conversation #36 with Piper Bognar, the Superintendent of Van Dyke Schools in Michigan covered a lot of ground. Superintendent Bognar is all about engaging partners and networking to build team and district capacity. When I asked about the educator role, she pointed to all of the additional highly-trained adults that her teachers…

#38 Candace Morell Conversation #38 digs into the power of teacher leaders as a scaling mechanism for strong professional learning. I really enjoyed hearing Candace Morell, Director of Teaching and Learning for Mansfield Public Schools in Connecticut talk about the nuance of marrying high-quality instructional materials with student-centered learning opportunities. She believes that students must…