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This podcast highlights developing trends in K-12 education, postsecondary and lifelong learning. Each week, Getting Smart team members interview students, leading authors, experts and practitioners in research, tech, entrepreneurship and leadership to bring listeners innovative and actionable strategies in education leadership.
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Steward Stories: Spotlight on Providence After School Alliance
What does it look like when a city becomes a learning campus? The Providence After School Alliance spent two decades answering that question, aligning schools, city agencies, and community organizations so young people could access high-quality learning far beyond the school day. This Steward Story traces PASA's evolution from a bold response to a local crisis into a nationally recognized model for ecosystem building, credit-bearing out-of-school learning, and the kind of coordination that outlasts leadership transitions. For education leaders navigating fragmented systems, PASA's journey is both a blueprint and a call to action.
When AI Chases Test Scores, What Gets Left Behind?
What happens when a school system delegates student achievement to an AI system with a single directive: raise test scores? In this provocative new piece, David Ross draws on AI alignment theory, Goodhart's Law, and a decade of stagnant NAEP data to map the subordinate goals an optimization engine might quietly pursue, from narrowing the curriculum to managing teachers as variables. It is essential reading for any leader navigating the intersection of political pressure and emerging technology.
We’ve Been Judging Symphony Rehearsals by the Last Note: Why Multimodal AI Can Finally Measure Mathematical Practice
For decades, math assessments have measured the residue of thinking rather than thinking itself. In this sharp, research-grounded piece, Eric Tucker argues that multimodal AI can finally make the Standards for Mathematical Practice visible, capturing spoken arguments, strategic shifts, and productive struggle in real time. For district leaders and curriculum directors rethinking assessment infrastructure, this is essential reading on what it means to measure what actually matters.
Steward Stories: How Heart of Oregon Corps Turns Service into Careers
What does it look like when three community believers spend 25 years refusing to give up on young people? Heart of Oregon Corps has built a tri-county workforce and learning ecosystem that connects youth facing the greatest barriers to paid work, credentials, and real careers. This Steward Stories spotlight examines the trust, time, and relentless community-braiding that make HOC a model for ecosystem intermediaries everywhere. Education leaders will find transferable lessons in partnership design, sustainable funding, and what it means to build pathways that dignify rather than sort.