The Education Conversation with Ryan Knight

Carrie Conaway is the Chief Strategy and Research Officer at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, where she helps the Commonwealth of MA set its priorities in education by commissioning and evaluating research and leading strategic planning for K-12 education. I think you are really going to enjoy this episode. It's about the details of translating research into policy. We talk about how immigration and health care affect education, and Carrie shares her secret to success: No Meeting Fridays. If you enjoyed this conversation, please rate us on Apple Podcasts, and send this podcast to your friends. As always, send along your guest suggestions to [email protected] -- I want to hear from you. Carrie is @clconaway on Twitter and I am @rgknight. Please rate us on Apple Podcasts and tell your friends about The Education Conversation! Carrie Recommends - Association for Education Finance and Policy http://aefpweb.org/ - Chiefs for Change http://chiefsforchange.org/

Eileen Rudden is the Co-Founder of LearnLaunch, an Ed Tech catalyst organization in Boston. Eileen had a distinguished career in the private sector before education. One of the things I learned in recording this podcast is that Eileen was one of the drivers behind the adoption of email through her work as a Senior VP for Lotus Notes. So you can send your complaints to [email protected]. Eileen has been a pioneer throughout her career, and she tells a bit of her story here. Eileen organized for equal admissions for women as a college student at Brown, rose to the top in male-dominated industries, co-founded the most diverse startup accelerator in the country, and is now driving the adoption of personalized learning in Massachusetts. Eileen is also a prolific board member, having served on boards like Brown University, Lesley University, KnowledgeWorks, the Achievement Network, Education Pioneers, and a lot more. This conversation is about blazing trails, measuring impact, and fostering innovation. I know you will enjoy it. After you enjoy it, please rate us on iTunes, and share the podcast with all your friends. I want your feedback and guest suggestions. You can find me at [email protected]. Thank you to Eileen for joining the conversation. You can learn more about LearnLaunch at LearnLaunch.org and also learnlaunch.com. Eileen is @eileenrudden on Twitter, and I am @rgknight. Eileen Recommends - LEAP Innovation in Chicago http://www.leapinnovations.org/ - Digital Promise http://digitalpromise.org/ Our theme song is Quittin Time by Patrick Lee.

Our guest is Neerav Kingsland. Neerav is the CEO of the Hastings Fund, a $100 million dollar philanthropy seeded by Reed Hastings, the Netflix CEO. Neerav also writes a blog called Relinquishment that is one of the most consistently thought provoking places I read. Neerav is a Senior Fellow at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, and previously served as the CEO of New Schools for New Orleans. One of the things I love about podcasts is that they can help you come to see thought leaders as people, and I think we do that with this conversation. We get into Neerav's personal story, then discuss whether a school's responsibility extends to supporting its graduates, and we speculate on the long path that education technology may take to impact students at scale. As always, I want your feedback and guest suggestions. Email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed the podcast, tell someone about it! And rate us on iTunes -- it helps. Thank you to Neerav for this conversation. One point that I wasn't able to make in the show, because we were disconnected: If you believe in the story we spun, that the path for ed tech to create impact at scale is by helping schools that are 7 out to 10 get to 10 out of 10, and then those 10 out of 10 schools grow through governance changes -- that changes the way you should think about ed tech as a user, a purchaser, a seller and a developer. If this is true, the essential problem that ed tech is trying to solve is that there are 7 out of 10 schools that could be 10 out of 10 with better software. I'm on Twitter @rgknight and Neerav is @neeravkingsland. Rate us on iTunes, tell a friend, and send your guest suggestions to [email protected]. Our theme song is Quittin Time by Patrick Lee.