Learning Over Grading: Reframing Systems Transformation with Antonia Rudenstine

In this episode, host Jordan Lewis sits down with Antonia Rudenstine, the founder and executive director of reDesign, to tackle the monumental mountain of educational systems transformation. Antonia leverages her extensive background as a primary architect for state and district change to explain why leaders must reframe the shift toward competency-based education as a conversation about teaching and learning first, rather than rushing into new grading and tracking systems.Episode HighlightsThe Bike-Riding Analogy: Why building an apparatus to measure and penalize students before intentionally helping them develop core competencies is fundamentally backward.Three High-Leverage Teaching Practices: How traditional classroom habits shift when shifting focus entirely to specific competency skills through explicit strategy instruction, conferring with students, and expanding peer talk opportunities.Real-World Policy Feedback Loops: Insights from a five-year partnership with the South Carolina State Department of Education, where state leaders modeled an adult learner mindset directly inside classrooms.Bridging the School-Industry Divide: How simple, free AI tools can create a shared language between educators and workforce mentors to seamlessly capture student demonstrations of competency.Selecting the Right Framework: Key questions districts must ask regarding audience, purpose, and learning science, featuring an overview of reDesign’s open-source, customizable "Future Nine" framework.