About the Getting Smart Podcast

The Getting Smart Podcast covers trends, innovations and insights in K-12, higher ed, lifelong learning, leadership, investing and more. You can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. Every other Friday we publish an episode called “Catching Up” where Nate McClennen and Mason Pashia try to make sense of what’s going on in education, learning and human flourishing. Check it out. 

If you’re on Spotify, we have built some great playlists to help you jump into some conversations we’ve been having over the last few years. You can go long on the following topics: 

Interested in placing an advertisement in the podcast or sponsoring a series of conversations? Check out our sponsored content page to learn more. 

Know of someone who would make a great guest on the podcast? Email Mason to pitch your suggestion or learn more about being on the podcast.

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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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Future of Learning

Catching Up: Meta’s Billion-Dollar Payout, AI Search Bias, and Fixing Student Voice

Mason Pashia, Nate McClennen

In the latest episode of Catching Up, Nate McClennen and Mason Pashia move from Meta's billion dollar settlement to a sharper question: what if we funded real life instead of more apps? They also untangle the difference between AI as an efficiency tool and AI as an efficacy tool, walk through a clear framework for how school systems actually learn, and trace the growing shift from tokenistic student surveys to genuine intergenerational co-design, complete with a student-drafted AI policy bill and a constitutional lawsuit filed by Kentucky students. This one is built for leaders who want less noise and more signal on where education is actually heading.

Ed Policy

Chicago’s Former Schools CEO on Phones, Power, and the Future of Public Education | Janice K. Jackson

Guest Author

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice K. Jackson joined Mason Pashia on the Getting Smart Podcast for a conversation that refuses to stay comfortable. From why blanket tech bans risk leaving low-income students further behind, to what Chicago's governance shift reveals about accountability gaps in large urban systems, Dr. Jackson offers the kind of grounded, systemic thinking that education leaders are hungry for right now. If you are navigating enrollment decline, edtech fatigue, or community trust erosion, this episode is essential listening.
EdTech

Shaping an EdTech Company From the Inside | Kennedy Davis & Taylor Shead

Guest Author

What does it look like when students are not just testing an edtech product but actually building it? In this episode, Stimuli founder Taylor Shead and Student League member Kennedy Davis pull back the curtain on a co-design process that shaped two products from the ground up, and Kennedy estimates students influenced 60 to 70 percent of the outcome. For education leaders thinking about equity, engagement, and what it means to center real learners, this conversation is essential listening.
Ed Policy

How Can Public Schools Benefit from the Education Freedom Tax Credit? | Antonio Parés

Guest Author

A landmark federal tax credit is arriving in 2027, and public schools may be the sector best positioned to benefit from it. In our latest podcast episode, Nate McClennen speaks with strategist Antonio Parés about the Education Freedom Tax Credit, how scholarship-granting organizations work, and what district leaders, school board members, and foundations should be building right now. This is a rare window where early action translates directly into community benefit, and Antonio explains exactly why waiting is a risk public education cannot afford to take.
EdTech

The Attention Span Myth: Ronald Yaros on What’s Really Failing Students

Guest Author

What if the attention span crisis is not a student problem but a design problem? In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Mason Pashia speaks with Dr. Ronald Yaros of the University of Maryland's Digital Engagement Lab about why the way we structure content matters as much as the content itself. Dr. Yaros introduces the Smart Story Suite, an adaptive AI tool that restructures existing materials into selectable learning paths, and shares research showing that learners engaged more deeply and retained more when content was organized around their time, interests, and environment. For education leaders searching for evidence-based strategies to close the gap between how students naturally consume information and how schools deliver it, this conversation is a necessary listen.