Archived Education Idea Lab Free Recordings
This unique virtual series brings together respected experts and thought leaders to discuss what matters most to them in education and share their ideas for changing what school looks like. With more than 160,000 views of this Education Idea Lab so far, we hope that this series represents just the start of a rich and deep conversation about all that is possible for education today and tomorrow. We hope you will join us for this series of conversations and then add your voice to all of those who are calling for education to be better.
We are committed to changing the landscape of education, and so we created and maintain these conversations as freely available resources.
A Conversation about Finding the Magic in Middle School
Chris Balme, Founding Principal, Hakuba International School; Founder & Director of Argonaut; Co-Founder and Former Head of School, Millennium School, in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School and Chief Innovator, Slate School
Chris Balme is an education leader, writer, and school founder, passionate about helping young people discover more of their human potential. Chris currently serves as Founding Principal at Hakuba International School. He is also the Founder & Director of Argonaut, an online advisory program for middle schoolers around the world. Prior to this, Chris co-founded and served as Head of School at Millennium School, a lab school in San Francisco, where he helped pioneer new learning methods based in developmental science. Chris has received the Ashoka Fellowship as a leading changemaker in education, and regularly speaks, trains, and writes for parents and teachers around the world. His book, Finding the Magic in Middle School, was published in 2022.
A Conversation about The Relationship Between Equity and Competency-Based Education
Shantel Goodman-Luckett, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School and Chief Innovator, Slate School
Shantel Goodman-Luckett is the Chief Experience Officer for the National Association of College Admission Counselors, which is an organization of more than 26,000 professionals from around the world dedicated to serving students as they make choices about pursuing postsecondary education. The professional membership of NACAC is committed to advocacy, ethics, and best practices in the field of college admission counseling. Shantel’s position as CXO brings creativity, innovation, and collaboration to all aspects of the NACAC member experience. She is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to ensure successful outcomes for service, outreach, and impact among college admission professionals, while ensuring a seamless approach that embodies excellence and operationalizes the organization’s values.
She has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Marymount University (VA). She earned her BS in mass communications/advertising from Virginia Commonwealth University and her MBA, with a concentration in marketing, from Johns Hopkins University.
A Conversation about Authentic Transcripts, Student Learning, and Higher Ed Admissions
Rick Bischoff, VP for Enrollment Management, Case Western Reserve University
Nicole Curvin, Dean of Admissions, Middlebury College
JT Duck, Dean of Admissions, Tufts University
Mike Flanagan, CEO, Mastery Transcript Consortium
In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School and Chief Innovator, Slate School
Rick Bischoff was appointed Vice President for Enrollment Management at Case Western Reserve University in 2009. Rick's areas of responsibility include enrollment operations, first-year experience and family programs, strategic marketing, undergraduate admission and university financial aid. Rick previously served as director of admissions at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He has also served as associate director of admissions at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minn., and as associate director of admissions/director of recruitment strategy at the University of Chicago. Rick is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences on current trends in higher education enrollment and the strategic use of data and technology. He speaks frequently on college search, selective college admissions and essay writing at high schools across the country. Rick holds a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Macalester College and an MBA in information systems from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
Nicole Curvin assumed the role of Dean of Admissions at Middlebury College in 2019. She develops and manages strategic and creative recruitment planning efforts that enable the Admissions team to identify, assess and enroll new Middlebury students. She arrived at Middlebury in 2014, working on enhancing multicultural recruitment initiatives. She gained valuable perspective working in academic advising, career counseling as well as continuing education. Her career has spanned more than two decades and includes work with a variety of student populations, from high school students and adults returning to school to artists and designers at the New School (Parsons and Eugene Lang College), Marlboro College, New York University, and the University of Vermont. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University and earned a master’s degree in higher education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
JT Duck is the Dean of Admissions at Tufts University. He holds a Masters of Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and previously was Director of Admissions at Swarthmore College. The first in his family to graduate from college, JT has worked in higher education admissions and college counseling since graduating from Haverford College in 1999. He was Associate Director of Admissions at Haverford and then moved to being Associate Director of Admissions at Brandeis University. He decided to be involved in the college admissions process from the other side and became Director of College Counseling a Boston University Academy, an independent high school based at BU. He next served as Associate Director of Admissions at MIT before leading admissions at Swarthmore. JT Duck holds a Master's Degree in Higher Education Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Mike Flanagan is the CEO of the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), a growing group of high schools creating a digital high school transcript that opens up opportunity for each and every student — from all backgrounds, locations, and types of schools — to have their unique strengths, abilities, interests, and histories fostered, understood, and celebrated. Mike oversaw the design and development of Mastery Transcript software products, connecting with members and advisors to manage the MTC product roadmap until 2021. He is an experienced education technology executive, most recently having served as CEO of the Services Division at the National Association of Independent Schools, where he led a complete redesign and relaunch of their School and Student Services financial aid platforms.
A Conversation about Creators Supporting Creators
Frances Pollock, CEO, and Emily Roller, COO, Midnight Oil Collective, in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School and Chief Innovator, Slate School
Frances Pollock is a composer by trade and the CEO of Midnight Oil Collective—a venture studio that incubates, accelerates, and invests in art and entertainment. She writes primarily for the stage and currently has operas and musical theater performed all over the country. Recently her work could be seen at San Francisco Symphony, Opera Grand Rapids, Greenville Light Opera, Kaufman Center, Chicago Lyric, Seattle Opera, Chautauqua, Opera Omaha, Aspen Music Festival, PROTOTYPE, and others. When she is not writing theater, she is directing and producing it. Frances is a proud angel investor in early stage work and is always enthusiastic about finding ways to bring art and entertainment closer to the innovation space. Frances holds degrees from Furman University and Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins and is currently completing a doctorate at the Yale School of Music.
Emily Roller is a founder and COO of Midnight Oil Collective. She has a breadth of experience across the arts, education, nonprofit administration, and technology start-ups. Most recently, she curated an educational series that helped artists develop entrepreneurial mindsets and skills at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale and at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance. Her work for the stage has been performed at venues including Washington National Opera and Opera America. She holds a BA in English from Yale (‘07), an MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins (‘12), and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts (‘15).
A Conversation about Big Picture Learning
Carlos Moreno, Executive Director, Big Picture Learning, in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate school
Presented by Slate School and Sponsored by Quinnipiac University
Carlos Moreno has been a teacher, a principal, a director, and now a Chief Executive Officer. But through it all he has been and continues to be an observer and a learner. A proud native New Yorker, Carlos is a passionate educational trailblazer committed to supporting school and district leaders to create high-quality, non-traditional schools designed to tackle systemic issues related to equity in education. He currently serves as Executive Director for Big Picture Learning, a nonprofit organization that, since 1995, has developed over 150 such schools in the United States and throughout the world. He also co-founded and leads the Deeper Learning Equity Fellowship in partnership with the Internationals Network for Public Schools. Carlos holds undergraduate degrees in marketing and business from Johnson & Wales University along with a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership. Most recently Carlos was named a Pahara-Aspen Institute Fellow, which is a fellowship designed to sustain diverse, senior leaders who are reimagining public education.
A Conversation about The Power of Childhood
Bill Crain, Professor of Psychology, City College of New York; Author, Forever Young: How Six Great Individuals Have Drawn upon the Powers of Childhood and How We Can Follow Their Lead, in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
A Conversation about Cultivating Innovation
Peter Gamwell, Author, Presenter and Leader in Education in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Born in Liverpool, England, Peter Gamwell is an author, presenter and an award-winning leader in education who has worked in both central and eastern Canada and abroad. He is recently retired from the role of Superintendent, responsible for District Leadership Development with the 75,000-student Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), where he also served as the Board lead for Aboriginal education from 2006 until 2012. Peter's book, The Wonder Wall: Leading Creative Schools and Organizations in an Age of Complexity, explores creative schools and has a foreword written by Sir Ken Robinson.
A Conversation With Author-in-Residence Wendy Ostroff
Wendy Ostroff, Associate Professor of Cognitive & Developmental Science, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University, In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Wendy Ostroff is an applied developmental and cognitive psychologist and a professor in the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies at Sonoma State University, a seminar-based program that prepares prospective teachers and emphasizes critical reading, writing, and thinking. The author of the books Understanding How Young Children Learn: Bringing the Science of Child Development to the Classroom (2012, ASCD), and Cultivating Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms (2016, ASCD), she has been designing and teaching interdisciplinary courses on child development, learning, and education for more than 15 years.
She offers workshops on applying child development research for scientists and practitioners, and is passionate about innovative and emergent pedagogies and state of the art teacher education.
A Conversation With Author-in-Residence Peter Gamwell
Peter Gamwell, Author, Presenter and Leader in Education in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Born in Liverpool, England, Peter Gamwell is an author, presenter and an award-winning leader in education who has worked in both central and eastern Canada and abroad. He is recently retired from the role of Superintendent, responsible for District Leadership Development with the 75,000-student Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), where he also served as the Board lead for Aboriginal education from 2006 until 2012. Peter's book, The Wonder Wall: Leading Creative Schools and Organizations in an Age of Complexity, explores creative schools and has a foreword written by Sir Ken Robinson.
A Conversation about Defending the Early Years
Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Professor Emeritus, Lesley University. Co-Founder, Defending the Early Years. Author, Taking Back Childhood: A Proven Roadmap for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids, In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Nancy Carlsson-Paige is Professor Emeritus at Lesley University, where she taught educators for over 30 years, and was a founder of the university's Center for Peaceable Schools. She Co-Founded Defending the Early Years, which is a non-profit organization working for a just, equitable, and quality early childhood education for every young child. She is author of many articles and books, including Taking Back Childhood: A Proven Roadmap for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids. Her writing focuses on media and technology, early childhood, peaceable classrooms, and education reform. She has spoken at many conferences, including National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference, Project Renewal Ground Zero Conference, Center for Peaceable Schools, and National Association for the Education of Youth. She has received many awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Academy of Education Arts and Sciences, Peace Educator of the Year (Peace and Justice Studies Association), Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps Award, Outstanding Educator Award (Urban College of Boston), and the Outstanding Contribution to Women award (Cambridge YWCA).
A Conversation about Transforming Education
Richard Gerver, Innovator and Educator; Adviser to the UK Government; Author, Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today and Change: Learn to Love it, Learn to Lead it, In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Richard Gerver is an innovator and educator and adviser to the UK Government. He is profiled in Sir Ken Robinson's book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything as the exemplar of Sir Ken’s work on talent and human potential. Richard is a former school principal, and he charted this story in his first book -- now a second edition -- called Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today, which is an international bestseller, with a foreword by Sir Ken Robinson. His other international bestselling book is called Change: Learn to Love It, Learn to Lead It. He has been named UK Business Speaker of the Year twice and has spoken at both TED and RSA events. He works with organizations at the forefront of global innovation and excellence.
A Conversation about Deeper Learning
Jal Mehta, Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Co-author of In Search of Deeper Learning
Sarah Fine, Director, Teaching Apprenticeship Program at High Tech High Graduate School of Education; Co-author of In Search of Deeper Learning
In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine are co-authors of In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School. Jal is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and he has written extensively on what it takes to improve American education, with a particular focus on the professionalization of teaching. Sarah Fine is an educator and ethnographer, and she currently directs the High Tech High Graduate School of Education’s Teaching Apprenticeship Program and also serves as a Lecturer in Education Studies at the University of California San Diego.
Jal Mehta is also the author of The Allure of Order: High Hopes, Dashed Expectations and the Troubled Quest to Remake American Schooling, and the co-editor of The Futures of School Reform. He is co-editor of the Learning Deeply blog at Education Week, and in 2014 was the top-ranked junior faculty scholar in the Rick Hess Education Week rankings. He is also the winner of the Morningstar Teaching Award at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Sarah Fine holds a Doctor of Education in Culture, Communities, and Education from Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and an M.Ed. in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Imagine the World That Curious, Creative, Collaborative Learners Will Build
Eric Davis, Founder and Chief Learner, Ed(ucation) Strategists; Founder, GCE Lab School
Richard Gerver, Innovator and Educator; Adviser to the UK Government; Author, Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today and Change: Learn to Love it, Learn to Lead it
Wendy Ostroff, Associate Professor of Cognitive & Developmental Science, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University
Bobbi Macdonald, Doctoral Resident, Education Reimagined; Doctoral Candidate, ED.L.D. Program at Harvard University Graduate School of Education Message
Keith Sawyer, Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; Author, The Creative Classroom; Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration; Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity
In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
A Conversation about Bold, Creative Education
Ted Dintersmith, Author, Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era; Executive Producer, Most Likely to Succeed; Author, What Schools Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America; Partner Emeritus with Charles River Ventures.
In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Ted Dintersmith co-authored Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era, and he also was executive producer of the acclaimed documentary Most Likely to Succeed. During the 2015-2016 school year, Ted traveled to 100 schools in all 50 states, and his book What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America, discusses all that he learned during his immersive experience. Ted says "I fight every day to do what I can to help give children the kind of education that will prepare them for their futures, and let them lead lives of purpose...I’m on a mission to help catalyze and accelerate progress in our schools. We need to equip our children with skillsets and mindsets that are essential in a world of innovation." Prior to his role in education, Ted was involved in innovation and venture capital. He is a Partner Emeritus with Charles River Ventures. He holds a PhD in Engineering from Stanford University, and an undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary, where he earned High Honors in Physics and English.
A Conversation about Creating Innovators and Learning by Heart
Tony Wagner, Senior Research Fellow, Learning Policy Institute; Expert-in-Residence, Harvard Innovation Lab, Founder/Co-Director, Change Leadership Group/Harvard Graduate School of Education, widely published author
In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
A globally recognized expert in education, Tony Wagner is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, founded by Linda Darling-Hammond in 2015. Prior to this appointment, Tony held a variety of positions at Harvard University for more than twenty years, including four years as an Expert in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab and the founder and co-director, for more than a decade, of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His previous work experience includes twelve years as a high school teacher, K-8 principal, university professor in teacher education, and founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility. Tony is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a widely published author. His work includes Most Likely To Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for The Innovation Era, which was co-authored by Ted Dintersmith. His other publications include Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World, The Global Achievement Gap, and Learning By Heart: An Unconventional Education.
Tony served as the Strategic Education Advisor for a major education documentary, “Most Likely to Succeed,” which had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. He also collaborated with noted filmmaker Robert Compton to create a 60-minute documentary, “The Finland Phenomenon: Inside The World’s Most Surprising School System” in 2010.
Tony earned an M.A.T. and an Ed.D. at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
A Conversation about Curiosity with Julie Mountcastle
“A Conversation with Julie Mountcastle,” In Conversation with Wendy Ostroff, Associate Professor of Cognitive & Developmental Science, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University
Julie Mountcastle is an experienced elementary educator who joined Slate School's team early during its founding. Throughout the course of a 20-year career as an educator, she has taught at nearly every elementary grade level, in both traditional and project-based classrooms in public schools and at Slate School. She developed and leads Slate School's curiosity-driven curriculum that is both developmentally appropriate and academically rigorous. She designed a school which trusts each child in their learning, and which responds to each child’s wonderings and creativity. She leads Slate School’s ability to dive deep into recognizing and maximizing opportunities for discovery toward realizing a student's potential, and she creates a framework that allows for authentic assessment in all aspects of the classroom. Julie believes that trusting the natural curiosity of the child to drive learning leads to the most joyful and meaningful discoveries for the student, the teacher and, ultimately, our beautiful world. At Slate School, in addition to being Founding Head of School, Julie has taught Grades K/1, 1/2, 2/3, and Grade 5. As interest in Slate School's unique model continues to grow, Julie works with other educators through workshops, expert panels, and other educational forums.
Julie frequently gives presentations at large conferences, including at TEDx, as well as at smaller events and in courses. She speaks about a variety of topics, including curiosity-driven education, being a founding Head of School of a unique K-12 school, the art of listening, the career journey, leadership, finding your passion and purpose, and collaboration. Before becoming a teacher, Julie was a professional actress and appeared in plays and musicals on Broadway, on London’s West End, and in regional theatre across the country. She has also produced and directed many original theatre works with student performers ranging from elementary school to high school. She continues to sing and perform locally, while also integrating the arts throughout every day at Slate School.
Julie received her BFA from Florida Atlantic University and a Teaching Certificate from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is also an alumna of Columbia Teacher’s College Summer Institute.
A Conversation about The Future of Learning with Monica Martinez
"A Conversation about the Future of Learning with Monica Martinez,” Director of Strategic Initiatives, Learning Policy Institute; in dialogue with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
As the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Learning Policy Institute, Monica Martinez provides strategic direction and support for multiple initiatives across LPI, most specifically focused on performance assessment. She oversees the Reimagine College Success initiative, where she addresses college access and success from both the higher education level and the k–12 level. Most recently, she was the Chief Program Officer for the XQ Institute, an operations foundation committed to helping transform high schools in the nation. She oversaw strategic, programmatic, and partnership development in support of XQ funded high schools. Prior to this, she was a Senior Fellow for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, an appointee to the White House Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics by President Obama, and an education strategist and the Vice President for Education at the KnowledgeWorks Foundation. She has also served as the President of the New Tech Network and the Vice President for Education Strategy at The KnowledgeWorks Foundation. In Washington, DC, she was a senior associate at the Institute for Educational Leadership where she founded the Washington, D.C.-based National High School Alliance, and The National Partnerships for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching. Her book, Deeper Learning: How Eight Innovative Public Schools Are Transforming Education in the Twenty-First Century reflects her cumulative experience and shows how we can transform public education for the 21st century. She is currently an appointee by Governor Brown as a Commissioner for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and on the Board of Trustees for Learning Forward (a national professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development) and on the Board of Trustees of Marin Humane (a local non profit organization focused on animals.) She has been named as a Distinguished Alumni of New York University.
A Conversation about Curiosity with Susan Engel
"A Keynote Conversation About Curiosity With Susan Engel," Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College; in dialogue with Wendy Ostroff, Associate Professor of Cognitive & Developmental Science, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University
Susan Engel is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. She currently serves as the Williams College Gaudino Scholar, a position that creates and promotes opportunities for students to stretch beyond what they are familiar with. She has taught all ages from three-year-olds through college. Her research interests include the development of curiosity, children’s narratives, play, and more generally, teaching and learning. Her current research looks at the development of children’s ideas. Her scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Cognitive Development, Harvard Educational Review, and the American Education Research Journal.
She is the author of seven previous books: The Stories Children Tell: Making Sense of the Narratives of Childhood, Context is Everything: The Nature of Memory, Real Kids: Making Sense in Everyday Life, Red Flags or Red Herrings: Predicting Who Your Child Will Become, The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood, The End of the Rainbow: How Educating for Happiness (Not Money) Would Transform Our Schools, and most recently, A School of Our Own: The Story of the First Student-Run High School, and a New Vision for American Education which she co-wrote with her son Sam. Her writing on education has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, Salon, The Huffington Post, and The Boston Globe.
Susan is one of the founders of an experimental school in New York State, where she served as educational advisor for 18 years. She lives in New Marlborough, MA with her husband Tom Levin. They have three sons, Jake, Will, and Sam.
A Conversation about Innovation with Larry Rosenstock
“A Keynote Conversation about Education Innovation with Larry Rosenstock,” CEO Emeritus and Founding Principal of High Tech High; in dialogue with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Larry Rosenstock is CEO Emeritus and founding Principal of High Tech High, a network of sixteen K-12 public charter schools in California. He is also Special Advisor to the President of the HTH Graduate School of Education. Larry is a carpentry teacher by vocation and a lawyer by training. A member of the Massachusetts and U.S. Supreme Court Bars, he served as an attorney at the Harvard Center for Law and Education, and was an instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and at the University Of California at Berkeley. He taught carpentry in high schools in Boston and later directed the federal New Urban High School Project. Larry and his work have been featured on Oprah, Lehrer, Newsweek, and Forbes. He is a winner of the Ford Foundation Innovations in State and Local Government Award, is an Ashoka Fellow, was awarded the McGraw Prize in Education and is the 2019 WISE Laureate.
A Conversation about Increasing Student Engagement and Building Collaborative Professionalism
“A Conversation About Increasing Student Engagement and Building Collaborative Professionalism with Andy Hargreaves, Research Professor, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College and Director of CHENINE (Change, Engagement and Innovation in Education) at the University of Ottawa; and Dennis Shirley,” Duganne Faculty Fellow and Professor, Department of Teaching, Curriculum, and Society, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College; in dialogue with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Andy Hargreaves is Director of CHENINE (Change, Engagement and Innovation in Education at the University of Ottawa), Research Professor in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College and holds Visiting or Honorary Professorships at Hong Kong University, Swansea University, and the University of Stavanger in Norway. He is Past President of the International Congress of School Effectiveness and Improvement, Commissioning Editor for the Journal of Professional Capital and Community, recent Adviser in Education to the Premier of Ontario and currently to the First Minister of Scotland. He is co-founder and President of the ARC Education Project: a group of nations committed to broadly defined excellence, equity, wellbeing, inclusion, democracy and human rights in education.
Andy has consulted with the OECD, the World Bank, governments, universities and teacher unions worldwide. Andy’s more than 30 books have attracted multiple Outstanding Writing Awards – including the prestigious 2015 Grawemeyer Award in Education for Professional Capital (with Michael Fullan). He has been honoured with the 2016 Horace Mann Award in the US and the Robert Owen Award in Scotland for services to public education. Andy is ranked by Education Week in the top 20 scholars with most influence on US education policy debate. In 2015, Boston College gave him its Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the Education University of Hong Kong and the University of Uppsala in Sweden. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Dennis Shirley is Duganne Faculty Fellow and Professor of Teaching, Curriculum, and Society at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Dennis dedicates his life to the improvement of teaching and learning for students so that they may flourish wherever they may be. A peripatetic presenter, Dennis has conducted research and led professional development workshops for school leaders in six continents and his work has been translated into many languages. Most recently, he has led a research team in studying educational innovations in Seoul, South Korea, along with his Lynch School colleagues Professor Deoksoon Kim and Dean Stanton Wortham. With co-author Andy Hargreaves, Dennis has completed a new book entitled Five Paths of Student Engagement: Blazing New Trails to Learning and Success. The book illustrates the ways in which educators are helping students to engage with demanding curricula and are doing so with joy and panache. In addition, Dennis is currently making the final edits on another book co-authored with Andy Hargreaves, on Well-being and Socio-emotional Learning: How to Build Everyone Back Better. Both books show educators how they can translate ill-defined problem sets into winnable goals that can be attained with persistence, creativity, and dignity.
A Conversation with Ana McCullough about Exceptional Education for Low-Income Students
“A Conversation About Exceptional Education for Low-Income Students with Ana Rowena McCullough,” CEO, Co-Founder, and Board Chair, QuestBridge; Co-Founder, Global Leadership Incubator; in dialogue with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Ana Rowena McCullough is Co-Founder and CEO of QuestBridge, a social venture connecting America's brightest low-income students to the nation's best universities and life opportunities. QuestBridge works to revolutionize the way leading colleges and universities recruit talented low-income students and the way these students approach their educations and futures. The QuestBridge partnership includes 45 of the nation's best colleges and universities, including Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Amherst, and Pomona. Ana has previously held positions as Co-Founder and former VP of Content at Shmoop.com, management consultant at McKinsey & Co., and consulting scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund. Ana speaks nationally to university, corporate, non-profit, and general audiences on topics such as access to higher education, the abundance of untapped talent in America, diversity and inclusion, high-impact social innovation, and making the most of college and early career. She serves on the Board of iSing Silicon Valley, and as an Advisor to D&I In Practice, Service2School for veterans, and numerous other companies and nonprofits. Ana holds a BA in Human Biology from Stanford and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Why It’s Essential to Put The Learner at the Center of Education
Panelists:
Alin Bennett, Vice President of Practice and Field Advancement, Education Reimagined
Bill Crain, Professor of Psychology, City College of New York, NY
Rebecca Hardin, Associate Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
Rorisang Mhlaba, Instructional Math Coach, Ubuntu Elementary School, South Africa
In dialogue with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
The Learning Journey to Passion and Purpose
Panelists:
Sanjiv Chopra, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Richard Gerver, Innovator and Educator; Adviser to the UK Government; Author, Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today and Change: Learn to Love it, Learn to Lead it
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor, School of Education and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Delaware; Author of Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells us About Raising Successful Children
Brian Heuser, Associate Professor of the Practice of International Education Policy, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University; Affiliated Faculty, Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health
Lisa Russell, Emmy-Winning Filmmaker and Founder, Create2030
In dialogue with Mark Roithmayr, CEO, Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation
Focus on the Whole Child
Panelists:
Christopher P. Brown, Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, The University of Texas at Austin College of Education
Sherry Cleary, Executive Director, New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, The City University of New York, NY
Bill Crain, Professor of Psychology, City College of New York, NY
Wendy Ostroff, Associate Professor of Cognitive & Developmental Science, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University
Aysha Upchurch, Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
In dialogue with Ned Breslin
Better Together, and Collaborative Leadership
Panelists:
Betsy Bradley, President, Vassar College
Santa Ono, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of British Columbia
Tom Sheppard, Head of School, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Mississippi
Grant Lichtman, Author, THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution
In dialogue with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Beyond The Box: Tools for Implementing Student-Centered Education
Panelists:
Jesse Robert Coffino, Director of Translation and Interpretation, Anji Childhood Education Research Center
Miguel Gonzalez, School Director, Embark Education
Gillian Judson, Executive Director, CIRCE: Centre For Imagination In Research, Culture & Education, Simon Fraser University
Katy Kessler-Rinck, Curator, Slate School
In dialogue with Eric Davis, Founder and Chief Learner, Ed(ucation) Strategists; Founder, GCE Lab School
The Power of Imagination and Curiosity
Panelists:
Saeed Arida, Founder and Chief Excitement Officer, NuVu Studio
Jane Aronson, Clinical Assistant Professor Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medicine; Founder and Former CEO, Worldwide Orphans Foundation; Director, International Pediatric Health Services, PLLC; Director, Global Behavioral Health Network for Children and Young People
Deepa Avashia, School Leader, Riverside School, India
Nomawethu Siswana, Grade R Teacher, Ubuntu Pathways, South Africa
Elliot Washor, Co-founder, Big Picture Learning
In dialogue with Wendy Ostroff, Associate Professor of Cognitive & Developmental Science, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University
Taking Risks and Embracing Failure
Panelists:
Eric Davis, Founder and Chief Learner, Ed(ucation) Strategists; Founder, GCE Lab School
Mike Flanagan, CEO, Mastery Transcript Consortium
Bobbi Macdonald, Doctoral Resident, Education Reimagined; Doctoral Candidate, ED.L.D. Program at Harvard University Graduate School of Education
Cameron Smith, Co-Founder and CEO, Bennett Day School
In dialogue with Marie Martin, Associate Director, Education and Training, Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health; Assistant Professor, Health Policy, Vanderbilt School of Medicine
The Art of Collaboration
Panelists:
Sujata Bhatt, Senior Innovation Consultant and Senior Fellow, Trascend
Ned Breslin, Winner, Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship
Sam Chaltain, Partner, 180 Studio
Rebecca Skinner, Interim Head of School, Blue School; Former Founding Head of the International School of Brooklyn; Former Associate Head of School, Dwight School Dubai
Natacha Poggio, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, University of Houston Downtown; Founder and Director, Design Global Change
In dialogue with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
A Conversation About Education with Deb Meier
Deborah Meier, Senior Scholar, NYU Steinhardt School of Education, in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Deborah Meier has been working in public education as a teacher, principal, writer, advocate since the early 1960s, and ranks among the most acclaimed leaders of the school reform movement in the U.S. She started her work as an early childhood teacher in Chicago after graduating from the U of Chicago. Her family moved to NYC in the late 1960s where she worked as a kindergarten teacher in Central Harlem. For the next 20 years, Meier helped revitalize public schools in New York City’s East Harlem District 4. In 1974, she founded Central Park East Elementary School (CPE I), a highly successful public school of choice that served predominantly local African American and Hispanic families. During the next dozen years, Meier opened two other Central Park East elementary schools in District 4 as well as an acclaimed secondary school (CPESS), while also supporting and directing the development of similar schools throughout NYC. She helped found the Coalition of Essential Schools, in the 1980s, under the leadership of Ted Sizer. In 1987, she received a MacArthur “genius” Award for her work in public education. During the 1990s, she also served as an Urban Fellow at the Annenberg Institute. In 1995 she moved to Boston to start Mission Hill, a K-8 school in Roxbury. These schools were part of a network Meier created that helped initiate new small schools, both elementary and secondary, both in NYC and Boston. At Coalition schools, Meier helped foster democratic communities, giving teachers greater autonomy in the running of a school, giving parents a voice in what happens to their children in schools, and promoting intergenerational connections. She has always been a proponent of active, project-based learning, and of graduation through a series of exhibitions of high quality work. She is the author of many books and articles, including The Power of Their Ideas, Lessons to America from a Small School in Harlem, and In Schools we Trust. She is an outspoken critic of state-mandated curriculum and high stakes standardized testing and has written extensively on their unreliability and class/race biases. She is on the board of FairTest, Save Our Schools, Center for Collaborative Education and the Association for Union Democracy. She is also on the editorial board of The Nation, The Harvard Education Letter, and Dissent magazines.
A Conversation About Leadership and Happiness with Sanjiv Chopra
Sanjiv Chopra, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, In Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Sanjiv Chopra is professor of medicine and former faculty dean for Continuing Medical Education at Harvard Medical School. He’s also the James Tullis Firm Chief, Department of Medicine, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. For 12 years, he led the most robust academic Continuing Medical Education enterprise in the world, reaching out to 80,000 clinicians in 150 countries each year. In 2012, he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for “Exemplifying outstanding qualities in both one’s personal and professional lives while continuing to preserve the richness of one’s particular heritage.” He is the author of five books, including Leadership by Example: The Ten Key Principles of All Great Leaders as well as his joint memoir with his brother Deepak Chopra called Brotherhood.
A Conversation About Healthy Buildings with Jason McLennan
Jason F. McLennan, CEO, McLennan Design, Chairman, International Living Future Institute, creator, Living Building Challenge, recipient, Buckminster Fuller Prize, in Conversation with Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Considered one of the world’s most influential individuals in the field of architecture and the green building movement today, Jason is a highly sought out architect, designer, consultant and thought leader around the planet. He is the recipient of the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Prize (the planet’s top prize for socially responsible design). He has been called the ‘Steve Jobs’ of the green building industry, a “World Changer” by GreenBiz magazine and he is an Award of Excellence winner for Engineering News Record - one of the only individuals in the architecture profession to have won the award in its 50+ year history.
He is the creator of the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and progressive green building program in existence, as well as a primary author of the WELL Building Standard, which is sweeping the globe. He is the author of six books on Sustainability and Design – used by thousands of practitioners each year, including the Philosophy of Sustainable Design, which is considered the ‘bible’ for green building’ – and is both an Ashoka Fellow and Senior Fellow of the Design Future’s Council. He has been selected by Yes! Magazine as one of ‘15 people shaping the world’ and works closely with world leaders, Fortune 500 companies, leading NGO’s, major universities, celebrities and influential development companies – all in the pursuit of a world that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. He is the Founder of the International Living Future Institute and is the CEO of McLennan Design – his own architectural and planning practice designing some of the world’s most advanced green buildings. McLennan’s work has been published in dozens of journals, magazines and newspapers around the world.
Imagining the Future of Education
Panelists:
Sherry Cleary, Executive Director, New York Early Childhood Professional Development INstitute, The City University of New York, NY
Kiran Sethi, Designer, Teacher, Principal, Education Reformer, and Social Entrepreneur. Founder, Design for Change and aProCh
Nomawethu Siswana, Grade R Teacher, Ubuntu Pathways
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Let’s Imagine the Future of Education
Eric Davis, Founder and Chief Learner, Ed(ucation) Strategists; Founder, GCE Lab School
Gillian Judson, Executive Director, CIRCE: Centre For Imagination In Research, Culture & Education, Simon Fraser University
Grant Lichtman, Author, THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution
Wendy Ostroff, Associate Professor of Cognitive & Developmental Science, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
A Deep Dive Into Curiosity and Creativity
Panelists:
Miguel Gonzalez, School Director, Embark Education
Ulcca Joshi Hansen, Chief Strategy Officer, Boundless
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Stanley and Deborah Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology, Temple University
Wendy Ostroff, Associate Professor of Cognitive & Developmental Science, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University
Yong Zhao, Foundation Distinguished Professor, School of Education, University of Kansas
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
A Deep Dive Into Learner-Centered Education
Mike Anderson, Education Consultant; Author, Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn: The Key to Student Motivation and Achievement
Sherry Cleary, Executive Director, New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, The City University of New York, NY
Bill Crain, Professor of Psychology, City College of New York, NY
Maria Droujkova, Founding Director, Natural Math
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Leading Responsible Innovation in Education
Panelists:
Noah Bloom, Executive Director, Neighborhood Music School
Eric Davis, Founder and Chief Learner, Ed(ucation) Strategists; Founder, GCE Lab School
Marie Martin, Associate Director, Education and Training, Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health; Assistant Professor, Health Policy, Vanderbilt School of Medicine
Cameron Smith, Co-Founder and CEO, Bennett Day School
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
We Are All Teachers and Learners: Humility and Respect in Innovation and Leadership
Jennifer Gerarda Brown, Interim Executive Vice President and Provost, Quinnipiac University
Paul Ellingstad, Managing Partner, PTI Advisors
Charles MacCormack, President Emeritus, Save the Children; Executive Chair, Health MDG Alliance
Mark Roithmayr, CEO, Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Connecting Learning With Purpose
Panelists:
Christopher P. Brown, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin
Cheryl Charles, Co-Founder, President and CEO Emerita, Children & Nature Network
Judy Cuthbertson, Director, Seedlings Educators Collaborative/New Haven
Rebecca Fraser-Thill, Visiting Instructor of Psychology, and Director of Faculty Engagement and Outreach for Purposeful Work, Bates College
Brian Heuser, Assistant Professor of the Practice of International Education Policy, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University; Affiliated Faculty, Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health
Sylvia Martinez, Principal Advisor, Columbia University FabLearn Fellows; Co-author, Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
The Arts Are Integral, and Not Extra
Maria Giarrizzo-Bartz, Founding Artistic Director, ATLAS Middle School, New Haven, Connecticut
Chris Moffett, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Education & Art History, University of North Texas
Karin Patriquin, President, Patriquin Architects
Jeff Rhone, The Hartt School, University of Hartford
Lisa Russell, Emmy-Winning Filmmaker and Founder, Create2030
Aysha Upchurch, Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Play in School and Society
Panelists:
Jane Aronson, Pediatrician; Founder, Worldwide Orphans Foundation
Jesse Robert Coffino, Director of Translation and Interpretation, Anji Childhood Education Research Center
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor, School of Education and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Delaware; Author of Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells us About Raising Successful Children
Peter Gray, Research Professor, Department of Psychology, Boston College
Jana Zindell, Chief Strategy Officer, Ubuntu Pathways
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Lessons Learned in Education, and Embracing Every Challenge as an Opportunity to Grow
Rebecca Hardin, Associate Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
Laura McBain, K12 Lab Director of Community & Implementation, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University
Juliet Robertson, Education Consultant; Author, Messy Maths: A Playful, Outdoor Approach for Early Years; Author, Dirty Teaching, A Beginner’s Guide to Learning Outdoors
Tom Sheppard, Head of School, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, Ridgeland and Jackson, Mississippi
Laura Thomas, Director, Experienced Educators Program; Director, Center for School Renewal, Antioch University New England
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Communicating the Mission
Panelists:
Dean Cycon, Founder and CEO, Dean's Beans Organic Coffee Co.
Firdaus Kharas, Chairman, Chocolate Moose Media and Culture Shift
Karen King, Teacher, Reed Intermediate School, Newtown, Connecticut
Natacha Poggio, Founder, Design Global Change; Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, University of Houston Downtown
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School
Healthy Environments for Learning
Kathy Attar, Engagement Manager, Children's Environmental Health Network
Paolo Campos, Associate Principal, Patriquin Architects
Gary Cohen, President, Health Care Without Harm; President, Practice Greenhealth
Larry Jones, Associate Director, New York, and LEED FELLOW, Atelier Ten
Moderated by Julie Mountcastle, Head of School, Slate School