High Tech High Unboxed

Episode Notes Bell Middle School reduced its D/F rate from from 51% in 2022 to 28% in 2024. That's a 23 percentage point reduction. Even more impressive, for low income students, the D/F rate was 67% in 2022, and Bell cut it by more than half, down to 29% in 2024. In this episode, Alec Patton talks to science teacher Teddy Meckstroth about how they did it. Mentioned in this episode: Grading for EquityarticlevideoThe CARE Network Learn more about the High Tech High Graduate School of Education

Episode Notes Alec Patton talks to Derek Mitchell, CEO of Partners in School Innovation, about his daily reading rituals. Mentioned in the episode: Making the Second GhettoChurchill and the JewsThe Change MonsterLeading EquityThe Powder Mage Trilogy Derek’s recommendations to get started: Morning reading: Dreams from my Father Lunch reading: Only Connect Evening reading: Stranger in a Strange Land

Episode Notes In this episode, Alec Patton talks to Maria Curtis, director of the Early Childhood Center at La Jolla Country Day School, in California, and Junior Kindergarten teacher Kristin Owen, about how they turned the discovery of a mud nest being built outside a classroom into a year-long project. You can see photos from the project, including photos of the book, here (as soon as the link is live). This episode is part of an occasional series on Regenerative Education. Here are the other episodes in the series (so far): Derek Mitchell and Scott Sampson on Regenerative EducationGreen School: Regenerative Education in the Balinese JungleGreen School Student Louis LacourA Story of Butterflies, Regeneration, and HopeSolar for All Schools [guest episode from the Climify podcast] Learn more about the High Tech High Graduate School of Education

Episode Notes Sofía Tannenhaus talks to Jarrod Bolte, CEO of both Improving Education and Bedtime in a Box, a nonprofit that provides families with boxes containing everything you need for a positive bedtime routine. Each Box contains four age-appropriate books; bath wash, a towel, and bath toys; a toothbrush and toothpaste; pajamas; a stuffed animal; an alarm clock; a Teach My Learning Kit; and a kid-friendly routine log. Bedtime in a Box has delivered more than 50,000 Boxes so far, with 80% going to families experiencing poverty. Resources mentioned in the episode: The Checklist ManifestoBedtime in a Box websiteWhat Do You Do with an Idea?

Episode Notes This episode comes from the Climify podcast, which is hosted by Eric Benson, and produced by the Climate Designers Network. Benson interviews Tish Tablan, senior program director at Generation 180, about how going solar can benefit schools' budgets and provide opportunities for PBL, as well as helping us all thrive as we face an unprecedented climate crisis. Links: This EpisodeClimify websiteClimify Design Class Resources Cradle to Cradle Designthe book that started it all Other episodes in the High Tech High Unboxed Regenerative Education Series: Derek Mitchell and Scott Sampson on Regenerative EducationGreen School: Regenerative Education in the Balinese JungleGreen School Student Louis LacourA Story of Butterflies, Regeneration, and Hope

Episode Notes Alec Patton talks to Juliette Price, the senior Improvement Science coach at the National Association of Higher Education Systems, about how their Network Improvement Community has achieved its remarkable results on transfer enrollments from two-year to four-year colleges. You know you want to try it: David Williams’s Mr. Potato Head Game Check out Juliette’s Substack Newsletter, This Is Your Brain On Improvement Read more about NASH

Episode Notes Ben Krueger talks to cellist, composer, and teacher Okorie Johnson, who performs as OkCello, about music, teaching, and community. And, appropriately, they talk about how all three of those are, themselves, a form of conversation. OkCello Website Learn more about the PBL Leadership Academy

Episode Notes Alec talks to Nika Dubrovsky about Anthropology for Kids, a project she started with her husband, anthropologist David Graeber. Referenced in this Episode: Anthopology for KidsCities Made DifferentlyThe Dawn of EverythingDavid Graeber on the Charlie Rose ShowDebt: The First 5000 YearsDavid Graeber and Nika Dubrovsky, “Another Art World, Part 1: Art Communism and Artificial Scarcity”David Graeber and Nika Dubrovsky, “Another Art World Part 2: Utopia of Freedom as a Market Value”

Episode Notes Alec talks to Linzi Golding, Erin Asselin, and Melanie Gonzalez about keeping things simple, celebrating small changes, smart ways to share data with schools, and how to recognize and celebrate effort, even when it doesn’t lead to the outcomes we were hoping for. hereImprovement Science: A PrimerRISE Grade 9 SymposiumData hub

Episode Notes Alec talks to Cary Sabados (national director of teacher leadership development at Teach Plus) and Morgan Hython (fourth grade math and science teacher at Piccolo School of Excellence, a public preK-to-8 school in Chicago) about their work in the Teach Plus Network for School Improvement. Learn more about Teach Plus Learn more about the National Coalition for Improvement in Education

Episode Notes Stacey Caillier talks to Michelle Pledger and David Montes de Oca about the ways that school districts are using Michelle's book, "Liberate: Pocket-Sized Paradigms for Liberatory Learning" You can find Michelle's book, and Montes's study guide, here You can find Michelle's podcast, Unapologetic and Uninterrupted, here

Episode Notes If you want to try a body scan, try this 11-minute guided body scan by meditation teacher Tara Brach. You can find journal prompts and affirmations on the Teachers of Color Matter website, here. Learn more about the Deeper Learning Conference.

Episode Notes Learn more about Molodi Learn more about the Deeper Learning Conference

Episode Notes In this special live episode from the 2025 Deeper Learning Conference, educator Ron Berger talks to two Japanese educators and their two brilliant children, who have experienced education across cultures in Japan, the United States, and Europe.

Episode Notes The RISE Network Website The RISE Data Hub Nichelle’s other appearance on the High Tech High Unboxed podcast is here Nichelle and Eileen’s favorite data protocols: KidStat Data ProtocolAttendance 3Rs Data Dive ProtocolStudent-Centered Data

Episode Notes Read Jeff Govoni's article for Unboxed, about this (and other) projects, "Deconstructing Construction Projects" For more ideas about assessing projects, check out our episode with physics teacher Ted Cuevas, "How to Assess Students like Scouts" Read Ron Berger's thoughts on Models of Excellence

Episode Notes Check out the Institute For Learning’s Vision of Collaborative Work! Here’s what Sara DeMartino says about it: “While the driver diagram was helpful in thinking through the theory of change, we found teachers and leaders, more than anything, wanted to know the role that they played in that theory and the role other members of the system were playing as well. We reviewed this document at the beginning of each year to make sure it still held, but also as a way to remind all of us that we had a stake in making change and were responsible for supporting the vision of teaching and learning that we collectively set.”

Episode Notes Check out this video about the sIlvery blue/Xerces blue surrogacy project! The Silvery Blue/Xerces surrogacy project began with the ideas of Robert Michael Pyle, and have since included many partners. These include Robert Michael Pyle's Xerces Society, Creekside Science, and Revive and Restore. Durrell Kapan wanted to take the opportunity of these notes to say a bit more about his biology teacher Neal Maine (who threw the book out the window). Here's a note from Durrell: "It’s relevant to note that Neal's impact has been far-reaching—not only on the students he taught but also on the conservation programs he helped begin. These include the Haystack Rock Awareness program, which started with a “failed” non-game grant application I made under his tutelage that led to the city starting the program (I worked on it for two years, first as an interpreter and later as the coordinator), and the North Coast Land Conservancy, which has conserved thousands of acres of the Oregon Coast, started by Neal Maine after he retired."

Episode Notes Community Design Partners’ library of Student-Powered Improvement resources Brandi Hinnant-Crawford, “What Improvers Can Learn from Civil Rights Organizers”