What Students Want

Our guest today is Dr. Brenton White. Dr. White is the Superintendent/ CEO of A+ Charter Schools, INC. He has more than 23 years of experience in education, serving the last five years as a superintendent. In this episode, Dr. White discusses the challenges of being a leader, the importance of education for underserved communities, how competition improves school performance and gives insight into teacher shortages. Quotes: “When people say, “Oh, you can't color trees purple.” the ones that persist continue to be artists. The others acclimate to the norm.” “I think any leader must jump in and do what's needed to make things happen.” “We have a lot of students who graduate and become teachers. And in fact, we have five teachers right now who were students.” “Retention has a lot to do with culture and so we're trying to create the best culture possible.” Where to learn more about Dr. White: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenton-white-ed-d-148b953b/https://www.apluscharterschools.org/301143_2 Where to learn more about Enrollhand: Our website: www.enrollhand.com

Our guest today is Amit Patel. Amit is is a Managing Partner at Owl Ventures, a venture capital fund that invests in the world's leading education technology companies such as Byju, dreambox, Newsela, Quizzlet, and more: https://owlvc.com/portfolio.html In this episode, we talk about how the education technology infrastructure investments years ago create the conditions for the EdTech boom today, we talk about a new cohort of learning-science-based startups and much more. Listen and take note of how one of the leading EdTech investors today thinks about education. https://view.genial.ly/615f5ecf4ec4620d9a6b863chttps://www.amiralearning.comhttps://quizlet.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/amitashwinpatelhttps://twitter.com/amitashwinpatelhttps://owlvc.comwww.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Our guest today is Deborah Quazzo, the cofounder and managing partner of GSV Ventures, one of the earliest and more prestigious venture funds investing in the entire spectrum of education from PreK to Gray including companies that we all use daily such as Coursera, Classdojo, Clever, Quizziz and many more. Deborah is also the cofounder of the annual annual ASU+GSV Summit which attracts over 5000 visitors each year, now 13 years in, and is where the major education trends are revealed each year. In this episode, we look at EdTech trends post-pandemic, glean a couple of key takeaways from the latest ASU+GSV summit, speculate on the race to the first $100B EdTech company, and, most importantly, talk about Return on Education and what a ROE school would look like. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: https://gsv.ventures/portfolio/https://www.asugsvsummit.com/https://blog.enrollhand.com/consumerization-k12-education/Here are the key takeaways from the GSU+ASV summit: https://www.asugsvsummit.com/video/stage-x-fireside-chat-with-eddie-glaude-and-josh-andersonhttps://www.asugsvsummit.com/video/isabel-wilkerson-pulitzer-prize-winner-and-author-of-new-york-times-bestsellers-the-warmth-of-other-suns-and-caste-the-origins-of-our-discontent-discusses-truth-reconciliationWhere to learn more about Deborah: https://twitter.com/deborahquazzohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_H._Quazzohttps://gsv.ventures/team/deborah-quazzo/Where to learn more about Enrollhand: Website: www.enrollhand.com Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Our guest today is Daniel Pianko. Daniel is a Managing Director at Achieve and University Ventures. He has a long experience adviser and innovator in student finance, medical education, and postsecondary education. In this episode, we talk about how people's focus is shifting from the inputs to the output of education, how personalization is a misplaced idea, and how to successfully invest in job-training for young people. In our discussion, we cover: Where to learn more about Daniel: https://twitter.com/danielpiankohttps://www.achievepartners.com/team/daniel-pianko.htmlWhere to learn more about Enrollhand: Website: www.enrollhand.com Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our guest today is Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mercedes is focused on education and consumer early stage investing. Previously she was working in VR and a General Manager at General Assembly. In this episode, we explore how EdTech is shifting and giving more power to parents and students. We look at social learning and gaming, which together offer a lot of promise for the future of education. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: (links) https://mercedesbent.co/2021/02/24/lightspeeds-edtech-portfolio/https://mercedesbent.co/2021/08/03/edtech-post-pandemic-3-trends-here-to-stay/https://fiveable.me,https://www.studystream.livehttps://soundcloud.com/venturestories/the-state-and-future-of-edtechWhere to learn more about Mercedes: https://twitter.com/mercebenthttps://mercedesbent.co/https://lsvp.comWhere to learn more about Enrollhand: www.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Our guest today is Rebecca Kaden. Rebecca is a Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures. She has a particular interest in education and an extremely deep understanding of the evolving EdTech landscape. Rebecca began her career as a journalist and prior to USV was a General Partner at Maveron, a consumer focused early stage fund. In this episode, we talk about how new technology can decentralize many aspects of what school is today, so that the learning experience can really feel individual for each student. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: https://blog.enrollhand.com/have-you-heard-of-sora-schools/https://blog.enrollhand.com/roadmap-club/https://soundcloud.com/venturestories/redesigning-school-forhttps://blog.enrollhand.com/420-learning-guides/https://blog.enrollhand.com/consumerization-k12-education/https://twitter.com/jwdanner/status/1442539746358530056Where to learn more about Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-kaden/https://twitter.com/rebeccakadenhttps://www.usv.com/Where to learn more about Enrollhand: www.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Our guest today is Benoit Wirz, a partner at Brighteye Ventures, the leading European EdTech venture firm. In this episode, we talk about the evolving EdTech landscape in Europe as well as the unique attributes of rising European education companies. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: https://www.citifirst.com.hk/home/upload/citi_research/eduAXO97.pdfhttp://youschool.frhttps://klassroom.frhttps://www.brighteyevc.com/open-rolesWhere to learn more about Benoit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benoitwirz/https://www.brighteyevc.com/Where to learn more about Enrollhand: Website: www.enrollhand.com Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Our guest today is Jinal Jhaveri. Jinal is the co-founder and Chairman of Schoolmint, a venture partner at Runa Capital and also co-founder and CEO at enable.us. In this episode, we talk about Jinal's lessons growing Schoolmint, how he channeled the tailwinds of the school choice movements, and what his experience can offer for schools today. Listen and take note of Jinal's obsessive focus on the Customer, continuously trying to delight and really understand who you are serving. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: (links) https://www.fundraisingradio.com/acquired-by-bv-investment-partners-founder-of-schoolmint-jinal-jhaveri-shares-his-experience-of-getting-acquired/ https://portraitofagraduate.org https://twitter.com/jinal/status/1350180072511082496https://review.firstround.com/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhaveri/https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/request-pre-k12-ed-tech-startups-helping-distance-learning-jhaveri/www.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Summary Our guest today is Jennifer Carolan. Jennifer started her career as a classroom teacher in a Chicago district. She then moved to California to attend Stanford, and there got inspired to use her teaching experience in support od tech founders. So she joined NewSchools Venture Fund where she learned the craft of VC, while also co-creating and teaching a course at Stanford. After that, Jennifer co-founded Reach Capital, with a first fund in 2000, a second fund in 2018 and a third fund more recently. In this episode, Jennifer and I talk about how student engagement is an outcome of strong pedagogy. We then describe a new generation of global education companies that are partnering with school districts and we caution policy makers that need to rise to the occasion in order to keep innovation from escaping the public school system. Finally we talk about different promising edtech categories and end up with the conclusion that parents are the stakeholders that still lack a lot of support in the ecosystem. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: https://twitter.com/jencarolan/status/1402677758820438018https://blog.enrollhand.com/learning-is-more-than-a-consumer-experience-with-amir-nathoo/https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-08-23-teachers-drive-innovation-this-time-will-they-do-so-within-or-outside-the-systemhttps://twitter.com/jencarolan/status/1422648800192122886https://twitter.com/Mark_J_Perry/status/1350826322642296835https://www.reachcapital.com/companies/https://www.ynharari.com/book/21-lessons-book/https://www.aboutgc.comWhere to learn more about Jennifer: https://twitter.com/jencarolanhttps://www.reachcapital.comWhere to learn more about Enrollhand: www.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our guest today is John Danner. John is an investor in Edtech and the Future of Work. During the last 3 years he has participated in investments that have impacted many learner lives, like Lambda School or Outschool. Before being an investor, John started Netgravity, an internet advertising firm that went public and was sold to Doubleclick now Google. Then he did a U-turn and became a teacher in a school district. After that, he built a school and started Rocketship Education, a charter school network that now has 13K students in 23 schools across. Finally he went on to start Zeal, an online real-time support math tutoring company which he later sold and became an investor. In this episode, John and I think about trends in K-12 innovation, discuss the benefits of cohort-based courses in a K-12 environment versus adult education, dig into what really is core learning and what is not, dream about different learning experiences that could and should exist, distill what first principles you need to build a school today. Listen and take note of how one of edtech's more respected investors today thinks about the future of education. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: https://lambdaschool.comhttps://outschool.comhttps://www.rocketshipschools.orghttps://maven.comhttps://www.prenda.comhttps://galileoxp.comhttps://www.synthesis.ishttps://joinender.comhttps://www.songbirdeducation.comhttps://www.buildingasecondbrain.comhttps://perell.com/write-of-passage/https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/village-globals-venture-storie-591423/episodes/the-past-present-and-future-of-59632693https://anchor.fm/flw/episodes/1-John-Danner---EdTech-Investing--Trends--Opportunities-ep6k91Where to learn more about John: https://twitter.com/jwdannerhttps://dunce.substack.com/people/3039585-john-dannerhttps://johnwdanner.medium.comWhere to learn more about Enrollhand: www.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our guest today is Andrew Barry. Andrew started off at KPMG where he built out their training, then he created Curious Lion where he and his team help the likes of Pinterest and many other companies to create corporate training programs. I first met Andrew when we were both taking an online writing course called Write of Passage, and I have been eager to talk about learning online ever since. In this episode, we learn how everyone can design online learning experiences to repeatably effect transformations in their students' lives. Then we try to sketch out a future of what happens when more and more teachers can generate these transformations, what a world that will be! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Anders_Ericssonhttps://curiouslionlearning.com/why-group-learning/https://perell.com/write-of-passage/https://www.globalteacherprize.orghttps://www.globalteacherprize.org/winners/ranjitsinh-disale-2020/https://www.globalteacherprize.org/winners/peter-tabichi-2019/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1803469https://twitter.com/Bazzarutohttps://lu.ma/bazzarutohttps://curiouslionlearning.comhttps://www.coursecreatorscollective.comwww.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Our guest today is Indra Sofian, the cofounder fo Sora School, an online project-based-learning high school. In this episode, we catch up after our first chat 2 years ago. Then the school was just starting, now there is an innovative yet mature high school operating entirely online. It is the first digital-native high school I have studied closely, so I wanted to dig into their entire operating system. We discussed how they motive learners, how they structure their academic standards, how students select the skills they need to master, the projects they design and complete. How the Sora team designs incentive mechanisms so that students navigate through a sea of skills and standards at an accelerating pace, a bit like a video game. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: https://soraschools.com/virtual-school-is-the-future/https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/village-globals/redesigning-school-for-ij6_CO4w1z-/https://mastery.orgWhere to learn more about [Name]: https://twitter.com/indysofianhttps://soraschools.com/Where to learn more about Enrollhand: www.enrollhand.comhttp://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our guest today is Cam Stottler. He is the Executive Director of North Lakes Academy Charter School, a K-12 tuition free school located in Forest Lake, MN. The school has been in operation for over 20 years, implementing an educational program that is challenging, developmentally appropriate, and catering to the needs and passions of their students. Given the small class sizes, each student receives personalized attention from teachers and the school feels like a big family. In this episode, we talk about how you can increase your expectations from students and keep standards high, while increasing their motivation at the same time. Quotes: 05:11 - If a school leader sees potential in administrative colleagues or teacher leaders, then it's their number one job to invest in that potential, in those people. That is the greatest impact a leader can have on the school, is those people. And then in turn, those people will turn around and invest in the teachers, and the teachers in the students and so on. So if a school leader feels that the potential's there, then they have to, they have to take the time to invest in it. 15:43 - We tell them we keep standards way up here because you deserve that from us. And if we did anything less than that, then we're failing you. And often students, the students that schools are labeled behavior problems or disruptors, they need to hear that .They need to hear that, no matter what, our expectations are not going to change because you're worth it. And often that last part doesn't get added to it. It's just our expectations of this high, because that's who we are, but it's not about us. The expectations are high because that's what you need. 26:47 - We have such a negative connotation with failure that anyone who can work through that and can recognize that failure is part of the process. If you're not failing, you're not doing it right. Which is ironic but if you're not seeking failure, you're not growing, you're not receiving feedback, you're not understanding criticism. And those are such key facets as we all look around in our current jobs, right? The people who can't fail well are the ones you don't want to work with, the ones that ultimately aren't going to make a good partner or aren't going to grow the company or have the impact that you want them to have. And so I think it's, again, keeping the students in front of the idea that "yes, you can AND you're expected to, AND you're going to fail as a part of that and that's all okay and that's all going to be part of who you are. Where to learn more about Cam Stottler and North Lakes Academy Charter School: Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

In this episode, we catch up on the last 2 years since our first podcast interview in August 2019. We talk about how Prenda uses a unique learning model with a mix of blended learning, PBL and inquiry-based learning to increase confidence and curiosity. We see how they enhance grit and perseverance, helping learners to stick with their problems longer, as Albert Einstein would say. Some interesting highlights from our discussion: The focus is on helping the child choose to be a learner. Nurturing their curiosity, setting goals, not quitting despite the tears, as per Albert Einstein, staying with their problems longer. The learning model takes all the progressive learning research and packs into a simple, 3-part daily schedule. We compared it to how the Homebrew Computer Club tinkerers ended up with the Apple II - decades of trial and error packaged into a simple, beautiful box. The learning guide does not teach or instruct. The role is flipped. They coach. With the simple, beautiful learning mode, kids are always on their learning frontier. They progress FAST, wizzing through grade levels. Prenda is a growing, remote team, and is gradually making it's way from the South West to any state that welcomes them. Working with public and charter schools, the microschools are free. Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: https://blog.enrollhand.com/launching-80-schools-in-8-months-with-kelly-smith/Albert Einsteinhttps://youtu.be/cHrOWvEKSvQ?t=46https://blog.mrmeyer.com/category/3acts/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_Computer_Clubhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C2UUB9QWhere to learn more about Prenda: https://twitter.com/prendalearnhttps://www.prenda.comhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn6GcJFx_Yh1CpKzUUuzzQghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kellysmith35/Where to learn more about Enrollhand: Website: www.enrollhand.com Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our guest today is Felix Ohswald. He is the CEO of GoStudent, an online tutoring company that just raised 70 million euros and is growing like a rocketship in Europe. In this episode, we talk about the origin story of GoStudent, Felix's views on what makes a learning experience successful, his tips on operating a growing educational institutions, and his regional and global plans to consolidate the fragmented tutoring market. https://www.linkedin.com/company/gostudent-gmbhhttps://www.gostudent.org/enhttps://medium.com/emerge-edtech-insights/idea-to-series-a-gostudent-65068968b68dwww.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Summary Our guest today is Victoria Ransom, the CEO at Prisma. Victoria is a serial entrepreneur from New Zealand, having sold her last company to Google and is currently living in the U S with her partner and co-founder Alain Chuard. We are going to talk about their newest venture Prisma, a full-time virtual program (with a physical component) for middle school learners. Prisma is a full-stack connected learning network that is rethinking school from first principles. Listen and take note of what happens when you combine a stellar team, great technology and a state-of-the-art, progressive learning framework. In our discussion, we cover: Many education leaders integrate peer learning, but at Prisma they have thought deeply about how learning from & teaching another child is so beneficial. Victoria seems an inflection point before middle school, where kids start racing after grades and tests. Prisma catches them before middle school starts to keep and kindle their sense of wonder. A coach appears as the governor of Wisconsin, a task force is put on a major water problem. Is it a classroom or a Hollywood set? Kids get clues and reports. Curiosity and motivation kick in. They launch a PR campaign, a budget...oh, and hit all their learning goals as well. Teachers still do so much grunt work, so much waste, so much multitasking that takes their focus off the learners. Prisma is using technology and learning science to strip away the noise and let their coaches focus on delivering a pure, seamless learning experience. Zoom doesn't cut it for the kiddos. Victoria is bursting with ideas, both for sync & async learning that enrich and gamify the learning experience. One example: Expressing support in a virtual setting Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: http://www.papert.org/articles/HardFun.htmlhttps://www.joinprisma.com/frameworkhttps://www.joinprisma.com/prisma-liveWhere to learn more about the guest: https://twitter.com/joinprismahttps://twitter.com/victoria_ransomhttps://twitter.com/AlainChuardhttps://www.joinprisma.comWhere to learn more about Enrollhand: Website: www.enrollhand.com Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Summary Where to learn more about Primer: https://twitter.com/withprimerhttps://withprimer.comhttps://withprimer.com/teamWhere to learn more about Enrollhand: Website: www.enrollhand.com Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our guest today is Kelly from Galileo XP. Kelly and her co-founder Vlad redesigned school from scratch. Galileo a global online school soon to have access to physical spaces as well. Listen and take note of how Kelly and the Galileo team transitions students into self-directed learning, inject learning experiences with passion and provide a 10-star experience for everyone that joins. Quotes: https://galileoxp.com/check-inhttps://galileoxp.com/parentshttps://player.fm/series/inside-the-kernel-by-galileohttps://app.galileoxp.com/signuphttps://twitter.com/kelly_edtech?lang=enhttps://galileoxp.com/www.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

Summary: Listen and take note of how to find this magical fit in any learning experience you create. In our discussion, we cover: Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion: Can a School Have Product-Market Fit? by Brian TobalWhat is the Orton-Gillingham Approach?Bloom's 2 sigma problemLive Q&A with SchoolHouse CEO Brian TobalWhere to learn more about Brian: https://twitter.com/briantobalhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-tobal-a4946911https://www.getschoolhouse.com/Where to learn more about Enrollhand: www.enrollhand.comhttps://webinar-replay.enrollhand.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/

It has become popular to sneer at our education system’s factory model. We call for the death of schools in favor of Airbnb-like learning communities. Our SAT/ACT testing culture, our boring direct-instruction content-dumping, our mental health issues - these are easy targets. But schools can thrive, and many are doing so. Only the job of the school, and the teacher, needs to change. To accompany our recent interview, I wanted to write a short book review of Thrive: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution by Grant Lichtman. Grant is a thought leader and author. He speaks, writes, and works with fellow educators to help them innovate. Educational leaders, as well as a wider array of pundits on education, need to internalize the ideas Grant lays out in his most recent book. For example: At Enrollhand, we often meet school leaders who feel out of touch, whose schools are stagnating. We share with them many of the concepts below, but Grant has a silver tongue and does a way better job of telling it like it is!