Disrupt Education Podcast
by Disrupt Education Podcast
Disrupt Education began in 2015 when Peter Hostrawser, inspired by an EF Tour to Europe, saw students reimagine education and heard Sir Ken Robinson challenge the status quo. This sparked Peter’s mission to rethink the stagnant system.The podcast shares diverse stories from learners, educators, and EdTech innovators, offering fresh perspectives and pushing boundaries to create an education system that truly empowers students.Join Peter Hostrawser and co-host Alli Dahl today!
Episodes
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459 What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?
What would you do differently if you weren't afraid? For educators, that question might be more important than ever. In this episode of Disrupt Education, Peter and Alli reflect on their conversation with superintendent PJ Caposey and explore what bold leadership really looks like when it moves...
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458 Public Education Isn't Broken. It's Dying. | PJ Caposey
Public education isn't broken. It's dying. That's not a statement you hear from many sitting superintendents. But PJ Caposey isn't your typical superintendent. In this episode of Disrupt Education, Peter and Alli welcome PJ back for a bold, unfiltered conversation about the future of public...
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457 Stop Talking About Change. Start Designing It. | Chris Brida (Part 2)
What if the future of education isn't about finding better content, but designing better experiences? Chris Brida returns to the Disrupt Education Podcast for Part 2, and we're taking everything we experienced in last week's Joy Labs game to another level. Peter, Alli, and Chris dig into what it...
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456 What If Professional Development Was Actually Fun? | Chris Brida (Part 1)
What happens when professional development stops explaining ideas and starts letting educators experience them? Chris Brida returns to the Disrupt Education Podcast for the first of a two-part series, and this time, we're doing something completely different. Chris introduces Peter and Alli to…
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455 Are We Transforming Education... or Just Creating Exceptions?
Are schools really transforming education—or simply creating innovative exceptions inside the same traditional system? Peter and Alli unpack their conversation with Scott Palmer of Ford Next Generation Learning and challenge some of education's biggest sacred cows, including the master schedule,...
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454 Your School Says It Has Career Pathways. But Does It Really? | Scott Palmer
Your school says it has career pathways. But what happens when you get behind the curtain? Scott Palmer of Ford Next Generation Learning joins Peter and Alli to unpack why real career-connected education requires much more than putting students into pathways. From leadership and work-based…
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453 What If the Environment Is the Problem? Rethinking School After Amy Zwiep
What if the environment students learn in matters just as much as what they’re being taught? In this recap episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Allie Dahl revisit their conversation with Amy Zwiep of Bethel Community Education and unpack the ideas that continued to...
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452 She Said “Forget What You Know About School”—Then Built a New One
What happens when an educator stops asking how to improve the existing school model—and starts asking whether the model itself needs to change? Amy Zwiep spent years wrestling with that question. She believed students were unique, learned differently, and deserved opportunities to grow their...
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451 Student Series Recap: They Didn’t Wait—What 5 Students Taught Us About the Future of Education
Five students. Five completely different paths. And one powerful pattern: none of them waited until someone told them they were ready. In this special Disrupt Education Podcast Student Series recap, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl bring back Jeremy Smith of pega6 to examine what Landon Breeden,...
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450 Student Series: Stop Waiting for Permission. You Can Just Do Things. with Jay Yang
What if you don't need permission to start building the life you want? In the final episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast 2026 Student Series, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl welcome Jay Yang, author of You Can Just Do Things, for a conversation about action, opportunity, failure, confidence,...
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449 Student Series: He Didn't Wait to Graduate. He Built the Solution.
What happens when a student stops waiting for someone else to solve a problem and decides to become the person who solves it? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast Student Series, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Kerry Ao, the student entrepreneur behind Intertwine, an AI...
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448 Student Series: One Career Exploration Class Changed Her Entire Future
What if students discovered their purpose before graduation instead of after? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast Student Series, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl welcome Samantha Rosinski, a film and television production student at Chapman University whose career journey began with…
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447 Student Series: She Came Back 2 Years Later. Her Perspective Changed Everything.
What happens when you reconnect with a student two years after graduation? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast Student Series, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl welcome back Samanta Kavaliauskaite, who first joined the podcast while she was still in high school. Now a college student,...
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446 Student Series: This 18 Year Old Didn't Wait for Opportunity. He Created It.
What if the best career advice isn't choosing a path, but discovering your strengths first? The 2026 Student Series begins with an inspiring conversation featuring recent high school graduate and entrepreneur Landon Breeden. At just 18 years old, Landon transformed a dream of becoming a pilot…
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445 Students are asked the WRONG Question | Hidden Genius, Aptitudes, and the Future of Education
Are we asking students the wrong question? What if the future of education is not about helping students decide what they want to become, but first helping them discover who they already are? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl reflect on their…
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444 Stop Asking Students What They Want to Be | Betsy Wills Reveals Their Hidden Genius
What if we've been asking students the wrong question all along? Instead of asking, "What do you want to be?" maybe we should first ask, "Who are you naturally wired to become?" In this episode of the Disrupt Education podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Betsy Wills, cofounder…
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443 (Memorial Replay): In Memory of Jen Sharp – Lessons That Continue to Lift Us
Some conversations deserve to be heard again. This week, we are re-releasing one of the most meaningful episodes in the history of the Disrupt Education Podcast in memory of our friend, educator, mentor, and extraordinary human being, Jen Sharp. Jen tragically lost her life on June 14, 2026…
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442 What If School Was Built Around Experiences Instead of Classes?
What if the biggest disruption in education isn't AI... but how we design the school day? In this follow up episode, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack one of the most talked about conversations in Disrupt Education Podcast history with Jason Walke and his groundbreaking Mission Mondays model....
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441 Students Were Actually Excited for Monday. Here's Why.
What if school felt less like a schedule and more like a mission? Jason Walke returns to the Disrupt Education Podcast to unpack the first full year of Mission Mondays at Oldenburg Academy. Instead of treating field trips, guest speakers, service, internships, and life skills as interruptions,...
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440 The Biggest Lie in Education? College vs. Career
What if the biggest problem in education isn't students, teachers, or even curriculum? What if the system was intentionally designed to separate opportunity? In this follow-up episode, Peter and Alli unpack their thought-provoking conversation with Superintendent Chris Nesmith and explore some of...
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439 The College vs. Career Myth Is Hurting Students
What if the biggest problem in education isn't students but the system we've built around them? In this thought provoking episode, superintendent and education innovator Chris NeSmith challenges the outdated "college vs. career" mindset that continues to limit student opportunities. Chris shares...
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438 5 Truths High School Doesn't Teach You
What are the truths students desperately need to hear before they graduate high school? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl have one of their most honest and challenging conversations yet about the things traditional education systems often avoid…
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437 The Real Reason Students Are Disengaged in School Right Now
What happens when education becomes more focused on compliance than conversation? In this follow-up episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack the powerful conversation they had with Dr. Mark Covelle and dive even deeper into what is really happening inside...
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436 CTE Works. Now Can Schools Keep Up? | Mark Covelle on the Future of Career Education
What happens when Career and Technical Education stops fighting for respect and starts facing a much bigger problem: capacity? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl welcome back Dr. Mark Covelle, Administrative Director of Middle Bucks Institute of...
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435 This Is What AI Is Doing to Schools Right Now…
What do thunderstorms and artificial intelligence have in common? Uncertainty, unpredictability, and the reality that you can’t ignore what’s already here. In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl reflect on their conversation with futurist Rachael Mann…
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434 Education Can’t Keep Up With AI… Now What?
What happens when the world changes faster than education can keep up? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with futurist, author, and EdFuture founder Rachael Mann M.Ed to explore one of the most urgent questions in education today. From AI...
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433 What Makes a School ‘Good’? (And Why Nobody Can Explain It)
What actually makes a school “good”? It is a phrase we hear all the time, from real estate agents to school rankings, but when you stop and ask what it really means, the answers start to fall apart. In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl bring together a...
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432 From ‘I Don’t Know’ to a Clear Plan: How Schools Can Unlock Student Direction
Why do so many students reach senior year and still say, “I don’t know”? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Jason Van Nus and Dani Natter to unpack a hard truth: the problem isn’t student motivation—it’s system design. From the critical...
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431 Two students. Same grades. Same skills. Only one succeeds. Why?
What if students are leaving school with the same skills—but completely different futures? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Kristy Volesky from Volesky Consulting and Brian Hansen from YouScience to unpack the real gap in education...
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430 The 3 Lessons You Actually Remember From School
What are the 3 things you actually remember learning in school? Not the notes, not the tests, not the lectures. In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl break down one of the most powerful takeaways from their conversation with Dr. Sandra Adams and turn it...
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429 Rethinking CTE, Literacy, and Student Engagement
What if the best learning in school is the part that never gets graded? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Dr. Sandra Adams to unpack one of the biggest shifts happening in education right now: why curiosity, literacy, and student...
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428 The College Board Move Most Educators Never Saw Coming
What happens when College Board steps into CTE in a serious way?In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl break down why College Board’s move with Teamship and Career Kickstart could become a major turning point in education.This conversation digs into the...
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427 College Board Just Made a Massive Move Into CTE
College Board is making a major move into career-connected learning, and most educators have no idea how big this could become. In this episode of Disrupt Education, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Alyssa Chudnofsky of College Board and Dan Gonzalez of Teamship to unpack why the old...
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426 The Secret Partnership Design Schools Need
If your idea of “partnerships” is guest speakers and career fairs… you’re playing small. In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack the uncomfortable truth: partnerships don’t scale by hope — they scale by design. And if districts want real work-based...
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425 Why Most School Partnerships Fail (And What To Do Instead)
What happens to a school system when boundary spanning doesn’t exist? In Part 2 of this Disrupt Education Podcast conversation, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl go deeper with Chris Brida (CTE Director, Portland Public Schools) to unpack what’s at risk when education stays siloed—by departments, by...
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424 CTE’s Secret Superpower: Boundary Spanners
Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Chris Brida, CTE Director in Portland Public Schools, to unpack a concept most education leaders do the work of… but rarely have language for: boundary spanning. Chris breaks down how CTE leaders sit between K–12, higher ed, workforce, nonprofit, and...
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423 College Is Broken? Why Internships Beat GPA Every Time
What happens after you hit stop on a conversation that challenges everything you thought you knew about grades, college, and internships? In this recap episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack their recent conversation with Brandon Busteed and go even deeper...
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422 Harvard’s GPA Problem: Why Internships Matter More Than Grades
What if the “A” isn’t proof of learning anymore? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Brandon Busteed to challenge one of education’s biggest sacred cows: grades. Brandon drops a stat that should stop every educator and parent in their...
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421 Traditional Field Trips Are Failing High School Students
A spicy LinkedIn post about field trips lit up the internet—and this episode is the why behind the fire. Here is the post that started it all -...
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420 Disrupting Education in 2026: What CTE Leaders Told Us
What happens when you ask 500+ CTE leaders one simple question: “How are you disrupting education in 2026?” At ACTE CareerTech VISION in Nashville, Alli Dahl and Peter Hostrawser put that question on the screen, dropped a QR code, and let the field speak. This episode is the result — real…
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419 Education's Zero-to-One Moment - pega6 Series Episode 4
Episode 4 is the pause-and-process moment after a truly disruptive series. Peter and Alli step back to unpack the emotional, mental, and professional reactions sparked by the pega6 conversation. This episode isn’t about selling a model — it’s about acknowledging the discomfort that comes when a...
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418 The pega6 Blueprint Universities Can’t Copy - pega6 Series Episode 3
In Episode 3, Peter and Alli stop talking about what’s broken and start building the alternative in real time — the pega6 model. Jeremy Smith takes everyone into the “why now” moment: he’s been sitting on this idea for 15 years, watching college get more expensive and less useful, until the…
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417 Workforce Engineering for the AI Age - pega6 Series Episode 2
After lighting up the college model in Episode 1, Peter and Alli come back with the real question: if higher ed is broken… what replaces it? Jeremy Smith (PEGA6 co-founder/CEO) answers with one phrase that frames the entire episode: workforce engineering. Jeremy argues that education shouldn’t be...
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416 University Slayer: Higher Ed's Tipping Point - pega6 Series Episode 1
Welcome to 2026 — and the Disrupt Education Podcast’s 10th year — with one word leading the charge: Bold. Peter and Alli kick off a brand-new 4-part series with Jeremy Smith, founder and CEO of PEGA6, and he doesn’t tiptoe into the conversation… he kicks the door in. Jeremy shares his path from...
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415 Student Voice, CTE, Aptitudes & Impact: Our Biggest Shifts in 2025
What a year. 🎙 In this special New Year’s episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl look back on 2025 – the year disrupting education stopped being “spicy” and started becoming the norm. They unpack: How the podcast crossed 400+ episodes and over half a million...
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414 Teachers, AI, and the End of Business-as-Usual School
What if the real disruption in education isn’t a new program… but how we use time, teachers, and tech? In this Disrupt Education recap episode, Alli Dahl and Peter Hostrawser unpack the big ideas from their conversation with Kristy Volesky and Jeff Frost, authors of CTE Reimagined: The Blueprint...
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413 CTE Reimagined: From Workforce Pipelines to Future Leaders
What if CTE stopped just filling jobs and started building future leaders and communities? In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, hosts Alli Dahl and Peter Hostrawser sit down with Kristy Volesky and Jeff Frost to dig into their new book, CTE Reimagined: The Blueprint for Education’s...
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412 When Education Finally Matches Who Students Really Are - YouScience Series Ep 6
This is it — the wrap-up to a series that’s genuinely changed how we think about readiness, purpose, and the future of learning. In this powerful finale, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl pull together everything uncovered across six episodes: the exposure gap, the purpose gap, the human connection...
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411 - Aptitude in Action – A Live Look Inside YouScience - YouScience Series Ep 5
What happens when you see your future unfold — live, in real time? In this immersive episode of the Disrupt Education x YouScience series, hosts Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl pull back the curtain for the first-ever live aptitude and career discovery walkthrough with Jason Van Nus and returning...
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410 Beyond the Platform – The Future of Use with Edson Barton, - YouScience Series Ep 4
Innovation in education doesn’t stop with a platform — it evolves through integration, purpose, and human connection. In this forward-looking episode of the Disrupt Education x YouScience series, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Edson Barton, CEO and Founder of YouScience, to explore...
About this show
Disrupt Education began in 2015 when Peter Hostrawser, inspired by an EF Tour to Europe, saw students reimagine education and heard Sir Ken Robinson challenge the status quo. This sparked Peter’s mission to rethink the stagnant system.The podcast shares diverse stories from learners, educators, and EdTech innovators, offering fresh perspectives and pushing boundaries to create an education system that truly empowers students.Join Peter Hostrawser and co-host Alli Dahl today!
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