--- title: "EPISODE 360 with Dr. Annette Wallace" id: "6345" type: "podcast" slug: "episode-360-with-dr-annette-wallace" published_at: "2026-11-11T03:57:28+00:00" modified_at: "2026-11-11T04:56:20+00:00" url: "https://kay-twelve.com/podcast/episode-360-with-dr-annette-wallace/" markdown_url: "https://kay-twelve.com/podcast/episode-360-with-dr-annette-wallace.md" taxonomy_podcast_host: - "Katie Jubenville" taxonomy_podcast_subject: - "School Leadership & Design" --- ### EPISODE 360 with Dr. Annette Wallace #### November 10, 2026 Katie Jubenville sits down with Dr. Annette Wallace, Superintendent of Worcester County Public Schools in Maryland, to explore what radically student-centered leadership looks like in practice. Drawing on her journey from math teacher to superintendent, Dr. Wallace shares how a commitment to belonging, literacy, and high expectations has shaped her approach to educational leadership. #### Overview: Katie Jubenville sits down with Dr. Annette Wallace, Superintendent of Worcester County Public Schools in Maryland, to explore what radically student-centered leadership looks like in practice. Drawing on her journey from math teacher to superintendent, Dr. Wallace shares how a commitment to belonging, literacy, and high expectations has shaped her approach to educational leadership. The conversation explores initiatives including Project 100, AP Pathways, and student success storybooks, alongside the importance of meaningful relationships, early literacy intervention, and creating opportunities for every student. Dr. Wallace also reflects on why knowing every child by name, strength, and need is central to improving outcomes, and why schools must take responsibility for ensuring every student has a path forward. #### Meet Our Guest: **About Dr. Annette Wallace:** Dr. Annette Wallace currently serves as Superintendent of Schools for Worcester County Public Schools, bringing decades of experience in education leadership, student advocacy, and instructional innovation. Her mission is to ensure every student has access to a safe, high-quality education and a clear path to success beyond high school, whether through higher education, workforce development, or military service. #### Watch on YouTube: [https://youtu.be/anuXOEXuH00](https://youtu.be/anuXOEXuH00) #### Takeaways: - **Every child deserves to be known.** Building belonging begins with knowing students by name, recognizing their strengths, and understanding where they need support. - **Literacy is a moral imperative.** Early reading proficiency is foundational to students’ future opportunities, making early intervention and focused support essential. - **Create pathways that open doors.** Project 100 and AP Pathways demonstrate how schools can remove barriers and help students prepare for college, careers, apprenticeships, military service, and other postsecondary options. - **Relationships are part of academic success.** Positive connections between students, teachers, and families are not separate from learning. They are central to helping students succeed. - **Radically student-centered leadership means prioritizing student outcomes.** Every decision, support system, and school practice should ultimately serve students and expand their opportunities. #### The Host: **Connect with co-host, Katie Jubenville:** LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiejubenville615/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiejubenville615/) **Learn More About Kay-Twelve:** Website: [http://kay-twelve.com/](http://kay-twelve.com/) LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kay-twelve-com/](https://www.linkedin.com/company/kay-twelve-com/) Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/kay_twelve/](https://www.instagram.com/kay_twelve/) **Episode 360 of the Better Learning Podcast** Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at [www.Kay-Twelve.com](http://www.localhost:10054/) . #### Our Partners: **For more information on our partners:** Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) – [https://www.a4le.org/](https://www.a4le.org/) Education Leaders’ Organization – [https://www.ed-leaders.org/](https://www.ed-leaders.org/) Second Class Foundation – [https://secondclassfoundation.org/](https://secondclassfoundation.org/) EDmarket – [https://www.edmarket.org/](https://www.edmarket.org/) Catapult @ Penn GSE – [https://catapult.gse.upenn.edu/](https://catapult.gse.upenn.edu/) #### Read Transcript: 00:00:00.000 –> 00:00:03.282 And we turned that around and ended up having zero bridge plans in four years. 00:00:03.548 –> 00:00:05.670 The only school in the state of Maryland to do that. 00:00:05.882 –> 00:00:10.387 And the outcome that I desired and sort of casted the vision of in my 00:00:10.403 –> 00:00:14.598 interviews was we’re the best school system in the state of Maryland, and 00:00:14.598 –> 00:00:16.264 it’s really good to be number one. 00:00:16.276 –> 00:00:18.110 That is a huge thing to celebrate. 00:00:18.574 –> 00:00:22.934 However, we still have about 30% of our students who aren’t on grade level 00:00:22.935 –> 00:00:27.264 in grade three, and then after that we know it really doesn’t get any better. 00:00:27.413 –> 00:00:32.107 Well, number one, everyone wants you to know their name, and no one 00:00:32.108 –> 00:00:36.430 wants to say, “Hey, you,” or, “Hey.” Everyone wants to know their name. 00:00:36.433 –> 00:00:38.938 If we pick up a yearbook, the first thing we do is we look 00:00:38.940 –> 00:00:40.342 for ourselves in that yearbook. 00:00:40.353 –> 00:00:41.433 So what are we looking for? 00:00:41.434 –> 00:00:43.593 We’re looking for belonging, and we’re looking for identity. 00:00:43.594 –> 00:00:47.009 So when you can call me by name, I know that you know me. 00:00:47.665 –> 00:00:52.984 And I think as a nation, that’s what sort of that moral imperative of like 00:00:53.022 –> 00:00:54.423 everyone deserves to be literate. 00:00:54.436 –> 00:00:56.469 Like being literate is like the base, 00:01:03.845 –> 00:01:08.060 Welcome back to the Better Learning Podcast, where we explore the ideas, 00:01:08.239 –> 00:01:12.057 strategies, and stories shaping today’s learning environments. 00:01:12.735 –> 00:01:17.599 I’m Katie Jubenville, and I’m your host today, and I am so pleased to 00:01:17.608 –> 00:01:21.317 be joined by Dr. Annette Wallace, Superintendent of Worcester 00:01:21.322 –> 00:01:23.095 County Public Schools in Maryland. 00:01:23.631 –> 00:01:23.944 Dr. 00:01:23.944 –> 00:01:29.159 Wallace brings decades of experience in education from the classroom to the 00:01:29.159 –> 00:01:34.138 principal’s office to the superintendent’s chair, and she has been leading 00:01:34.141 –> 00:01:39.438 transformative work around literacy, belonging, and making sure every child 00:01:39.547 –> 00:01:42.516 is known by name, strength, and need. 00:01:43.206 –> 00:01:45.416 In today’s conversation, we’ll explore Dr. 00:01:45.416 –> 00:01:49.482 Wallace’s leadership journey, how she personally defines radically 00:01:49.482 –> 00:01:53.313 student-centered, and then dive into some of the incredible initiatives happening 00:01:53.325 –> 00:01:59.487 in Worcester County, including Project 100 and the AP Pathways program, and even a 00:01:59.491 –> 00:02:04.664 storybook initiative that’s changing how the district supports at-risk students. 00:02:05.018 –> 00:02:09.535 Dr. Wallace, I just wanna thank you for, for being here today and making time 00:02:09.535 –> 00:02:11.682 in I know a very, very busy schedule. 00:02:11.691 –> 00:02:17.056 So just to get, um, us started, can you take a minute to walk us through your 00:02:17.066 –> 00:02:19.857 journey into education and leadership? 00:02:20.421 –> 00:02:21.496 thank you for having me, Katie. 00:02:21.496 –> 00:02:24.878 I’m excited to be here, um, and story tell with you today. 00:02:24.898 –> 00:02:28.016 So a little bit about myself, uh, my history. 00:02:28.055 –> 00:02:31.414 I am a product of Worcester County Public Schools, and so that’s a 00:02:31.414 –> 00:02:34.065 different and unique experience when you’ve grown up here and this is 00:02:34.066 –> 00:02:37.910 your… This is the place where you live and, and you’ve learned, um, and 00:02:37.910 –> 00:02:40.202 now I lead, which is really exciting. 00:02:40.224 –> 00:02:43.808 I was a student here, and then I went to a local college. 00:02:43.808 –> 00:02:48.185 I attended Salisbury University, and, uh, then came back to be a math teacher 00:02:48.193 –> 00:02:53.370 at a high school and a coach And then, um, surprisingly enough, and I was just 00:02:53.370 –> 00:02:57.058 having a conversation with someone about this yesterday, I didn’t really have 00:02:57.068 –> 00:02:59.582 any, uh, desire to enter into leadership. 00:02:59.583 –> 00:03:02.049 And somebody said, “Well, if you wanna do it in like the next seven 00:03:02.050 –> 00:03:05.143 years, it might be a good idea to just start interviewing because it takes a 00:03:05.144 –> 00:03:07.586 while.” And I ended up interviewing. 00:03:07.588 –> 00:03:10.513 On the first try, I got told that I was, um, going to a school as 00:03:10.513 –> 00:03:13.956 an assistant principal, and I, I think I was like 26 at the time. 00:03:13.956 –> 00:03:18.719 So, um, I went to Pocomoke High School, I became an assistant principal there. 00:03:18.780 –> 00:03:23.825 Uh, and then very serendipitously sort of the same type of thing happened, 00:03:23.835 –> 00:03:30.401 uh, after about a year, um, or after my first year as assistant principal. 00:03:30.413 –> 00:03:33.116 Very early in that second year, the principal came in and let me know 00:03:33.117 –> 00:03:39.144 he was retiring, and, uh, I was like very surprised, uh, but also, um, 00:03:39.209 –> 00:03:42.087 thinking to myself, “Okay, like, what’s next with a new principal?” 00:03:42.108 –> 00:03:46.132 And then I had a lot of our staff members at Pocomoke High School approach me and 00:03:46.132 –> 00:03:51.140 say, “Hey, you need to be the principal.” And I was sort of thinking like, “I don’t 00:03:51.143 –> 00:03:55.377 know that I have any business at 29 years old of becoming the principal of a high 00:03:55.377 –> 00:03:59.403 school.” Uh, I was just starting to get used to being an assistant principal. 00:03:59.403 –> 00:04:00.280 It was a big change. 00:04:00.548 –> 00:04:05.158 Uh, but I sort of, uh, followed the call and I interviewed for the position 00:04:05.171 –> 00:04:08.573 and then, um, I was selected to be the principal of Pocomoke High School 00:04:08.574 –> 00:04:11.910 at the time, the lowest performing high school in the school district. 00:04:11.950 –> 00:04:16.241 Um, when people look at the demographics of Worcester County, we’re very different 00:04:16.243 –> 00:04:17.645 from the north to the south end. 00:04:18.005 –> 00:04:22.956 Um, Pocomoke Hi- where I taught, Stephen Decatur High School, um, is, uh, not 00:04:22.957 –> 00:04:25.275 very diverse and, uh, pretty wealthy. 00:04:25.543 –> 00:04:28.426 And at the southern end of our county where Pocomoke High School 00:04:28.426 –> 00:04:32.410 is, about eight out of 10 students come from homes of poverty, and 00:04:32.410 –> 00:04:34.012 that’s a majority-minority school. 00:04:34.286 –> 00:04:37.265 Um, so the, the, the demographics of the school were very different. 00:04:37.565 –> 00:04:40.054 And, uh, but I, I was excited. 00:04:40.055 –> 00:04:45.240 I got a brand new team and, uh, we ended up, uh, having a lot of really great 00:04:45.252 –> 00:04:47.541 initiatives that moved students forward. 00:04:47.777 –> 00:04:52.001 Um, at the time, the assessment, uh, platform, if you didn’t pass 00:04:52.001 –> 00:04:55.390 the assessments in the state of Maryland, you had to do what 00:04:55.390 –> 00:04:56.571 was called a bridge project. 00:04:57.002 –> 00:05:01.664 Uh, we had a class of 87 students, a very, very small class for us, 00:05:02.128 –> 00:05:04.448 and, uh, there was 78 bridge plans. 00:05:04.478 –> 00:05:09.520 And so, um, you can tell like how very, you know, low performing that school was. 00:05:10.320 –> 00:05:13.603 And we turned that around and ended up having zero bridge plans in four years. 00:05:13.868 –> 00:05:15.991 The only school in the state of Maryland to do that. 00:05:16.203 –> 00:05:20.764 So very, very exciting, um, work that was done and it really was, uh, 00:05:20.806 –> 00:05:22.615 that radically centered student work. 00:05:22.615 –> 00:05:26.463 So it was centered around the belief that every kid can achieve and that 00:05:26.473 –> 00:05:31.854 we will, um, be the change maker for those students or the game changer. 00:05:31.855 –> 00:05:33.240 That was one of our themes one year. 00:05:33.597 –> 00:05:38.196 Um- Couple, uh, six years into that, uh, the superintendent came to me and 00:05:38.196 –> 00:05:41.484 was like, “I have this new role. I think you would be really great at it.” 00:05:41.535 –> 00:05:46.286 And, uh, I was like, “You know, I appreciate it, but I kinda have the 00:05:46.286 –> 00:05:49.672 best thing going here.” And he’s like, “No, I really think, like, 00:05:49.673 –> 00:05:54.122 this is a great opportunity for you.” And I said, “Okay.” Uh, so I became 00:05:54.123 –> 00:05:58.025 an assistant superintendent, uh, did that for, I think, eight years. 00:05:58.694 –> 00:06:02.732 And then, um, this is my going in- this is my second year 00:06:02.732 –> 00:06:03.988 as superintendent of schools. 00:06:04.081 –> 00:06:06.231 So that’s kind of how we got to today 00:06:07.558 –> 00:06:12.373 And, um, I, I love, I always love hearing the, the path because no one’s is the 00:06:12.374 –> 00:06:14.175 same, and it’s, it’s so interesting. 00:06:14.187 –> 00:06:22.154 And, um, through that, um, path, you had something pretty substantial happen in 00:06:22.155 –> 00:06:26.928 your career, which is when you were named Maryland’s Principal of the Year in 2016. 00:06:27.389 –> 00:06:31.694 And what did that recognition mean to you, and how did it shape your 00:06:31.694 –> 00:06:33.698 path toward the superintendency? 00:06:34.408 –> 00:06:37.427 Yeah, I, um, interesting question. 00:06:37.438 –> 00:06:38.360 Really good question. 00:06:38.677 –> 00:06:44.538 I think, uh, I was saying to my staff, I remember saying to my staff a week before 00:06:44.538 –> 00:06:47.517 it happened, we had a really great teacher who was teacher of the year, and we really 00:06:47.520 –> 00:06:48.983 thought she was gonna win for the county. 00:06:49.274 –> 00:06:52.612 Um, because the stories that people told about Pocomoke High School 00:06:52.824 –> 00:06:54.422 weren’t always great stories. 00:06:54.449 –> 00:06:59.768 And so we were at this pivotal point where we had gone from achieving at 23% 00:06:59.780 –> 00:07:03.455 to being the highest performing school for first-time test takers in our district. 00:07:03.477 –> 00:07:06.803 And interestingly enough, our district is the highest performing 00:07:06.803 –> 00:07:08.100 district in the state of Maryland. 00:07:08.107 –> 00:07:11.695 So you can, you can put the dots together on what that meant about 00:07:11.695 –> 00:07:14.207 Pocomoke High School and the learning that was taking place there. 00:07:14.207 –> 00:07:15.687 We had some really great initiatives. 00:07:16.046 –> 00:07:17.896 We were really trying to tell our story. 00:07:18.122 –> 00:07:22.440 Um, but I was constantly having interactions in our community, like 00:07:22.441 –> 00:07:25.660 in our greater community as like a county as a whole, and then tri-county 00:07:25.668 –> 00:07:30.112 area kind of where, um, people just would not like breathe life into 00:07:30.112 –> 00:07:32.632 Pocomoke High School in the stories that they were telling or the things 00:07:32.633 –> 00:07:33.921 that, the comments they were making. 00:07:33.922 –> 00:07:38.960 And so I remember saying to my, uh, team, “We need something really big. 00:07:38.960 –> 00:07:42.577 Like, I’m really hoping that our teacher wins teacher of the year ’cause she’s 00:07:42.581 –> 00:07:45.853 really, really good, and it would just be really great for our school 00:07:46.167 –> 00:07:51.628 to have to add that to our story.” And the next week I was– they surprised 00:07:51.628 –> 00:07:54.593 me and I was named, uh, principal of the year for the state of Maryland. 00:07:54.799 –> 00:07:56.586 So I was the secondary principal of the year. 00:07:56.822 –> 00:07:59.502 Um, so I was a high school principal of the year, and then named the secondary, 00:07:59.502 –> 00:08:00.741 which is middle and high school. 00:08:00.801 –> 00:08:05.822 so I think it was a really pivotal experience for me because it 00:08:05.823 –> 00:08:09.056 allowed us to tell another positive story about Pocomoke High School. 00:08:09.357 –> 00:08:13.499 And you can never, even then, and I don’t– That was s- 00:08:13.568 –> 00:08:14.867 you know, 10 years ago now. 00:08:15.147 –> 00:08:18.727 Um, but then and now, we cannot tell enough positive 00:08:18.727 –> 00:08:20.185 stories about public education. 00:08:20.186 –> 00:08:22.824 And so for me, I think that was the pivotal point. 00:08:22.838 –> 00:08:25.744 It was a wonderful celebration because the award wasn’t about me, 00:08:25.964 –> 00:08:29.388 but it was just a really wonderful celebration of all the work that 00:08:29.412 –> 00:08:33.632 we had accomplished in our school together, uh, and where our school was. 00:08:33.635 –> 00:08:36.890 It sort of changed the narrative about Pocomoke High School in many ways 00:08:38.959 –> 00:08:46.596 Um, and I, I love how you focus more on others and, and not… You don’t 00:08:46.596 –> 00:08:50.537 really even see it as, as you, though you were the one that was awarded 00:08:50.545 –> 00:08:52.611 and obviously very well-deserving. 00:08:52.616 –> 00:08:56.530 But it just shows that your selflessness in your role and, 00:08:56.555 –> 00:08:58.294 um, in your previous roles. 00:08:58.718 –> 00:09:04.575 So, um, your mission as superintendent centers on every child, uh, being 00:09:04.575 –> 00:09:06.841 known by name, strength, and need. 00:09:07.283 –> 00:09:11.629 So can you unpack for our audience what that looks like day to day? 00:09:12.160 –> 00:09:16.142 yeah, as I was shaping what I would want my vision to be should I be selected 00:09:16.142 –> 00:09:19.500 as a superintendent, I took a lot of time thinking about what are the 00:09:19.528 –> 00:09:24.678 tangible things that are gonna get us to the student outcomes that we desire. 00:09:24.695 –> 00:09:29.200 And the outcome that I desired and sort of casted the vision of in my 00:09:29.216 –> 00:09:33.411 interviews was we’re the best school system in the state of Maryland, and 00:09:33.411 –> 00:09:35.077 it’s really good to be number one. 00:09:35.089 –> 00:09:36.923 That is a huge thing to celebrate. 00:09:37.387 –> 00:09:41.747 However, we still have about 30% of our students who aren’t on grade level 00:09:41.748 –> 00:09:46.077 in grade three, and then after that we know it really doesn’t get any better. 00:09:46.226 –> 00:09:48.050 You know, a couple kids fall off the wagon. 00:09:48.050 –> 00:09:49.439 D- that’s just the research. 00:09:50.101 –> 00:09:52.272 And so I set that as the goal. 00:09:52.273 –> 00:09:55.719 I told the board that would be our goal when I accepted the superintendency. 00:09:55.719 –> 00:09:56.969 I announced that publicly. 00:09:57.215 –> 00:09:59.303 Kind of a brave thing to do, I think. 00:09:59.625 –> 00:10:00.724 Yeah, very 00:10:01.009 –> 00:10:03.873 tell our, I tell our school leaders, like, “It’s okay, like you can 00:10:03.873 –> 00:10:07.037 be vulnerable because this is a big, scary, just right goal.” 00:10:07.390 –> 00:10:10.990 And that’s what I, was always my goal for students is, is you need to pick a 00:10:11.015 –> 00:10:13.810 big and scary, just right goal for you. 00:10:14.138 –> 00:10:17.632 And so, um, that is our goal, and how do we get there? 00:10:17.640 –> 00:10:19.671 How do we get to every kid reading on grade level? 00:10:19.671 –> 00:10:22.569 There’s a lot of different tangible things, but first it 00:10:22.588 –> 00:10:26.102 has to be inspiring the heart. 00:10:26.425 –> 00:10:31.091 And so it has to be around believing that every child belongs 00:10:31.136 –> 00:10:32.787 and that every child can achieve. 00:10:32.795 –> 00:10:34.266 And so how do you do that? 00:10:34.513 –> 00:10:39.207 Well, number one, everyone wants you to know their name, and no one 00:10:39.208 –> 00:10:43.530 wants to say, “Hey, you,” or, “Hey.” Everyone wants to know their name. 00:10:43.533 –> 00:10:46.038 If we pick up a yearbook, the first thing we do is we look 00:10:46.040 –> 00:10:47.442 for ourselves in that yearbook. 00:10:47.453 –> 00:10:48.533 So what are we looking for? 00:10:48.534 –> 00:10:50.693 We’re looking for belonging, and we’re looking for identity. 00:10:50.694 –> 00:10:54.109 So when you can call me by name, I know that you know me. 00:10:54.765 –> 00:11:00.804 And then talking about known by name strength- I personally 00:11:00.805 –> 00:11:04.275 prefer for you to not lead with the things that I’m worse at. 00:11:04.632 –> 00:11:08.198 And so we all prefer to be known by our strengths. 00:11:08.685 –> 00:11:11.983 However, that doesn’t eliminate the fact that I do have things 00:11:11.984 –> 00:11:13.049 I need to work and grow on. 00:11:13.054 –> 00:11:16.666 So you need to know me by, by my strengths because we believe in strength-based 00:11:16.666 –> 00:11:20.766 learning and strength-based leadership, but you also need to know all the 00:11:20.766 –> 00:11:24.317 things that I’m going to struggle with, and you’re gonna use those 00:11:24.328 –> 00:11:27.010 strengths to build my weaknesses up. 00:11:27.029 –> 00:11:31.333 Just like when you are– if you’re a sports person, um, when you injure a 00:11:31.334 –> 00:11:35.002 muscle, you don’t just work on that muscle that’s injured, but you work on all the 00:11:35.002 –> 00:11:38.672 muscles around it that are surrounding it to make, help make that muscle to 00:11:38.672 –> 00:11:42.633 make up for the weakness and to continue to build strength in that other muscle. 00:11:42.633 –> 00:11:47.516 And so that’s kind of how we get to our mission statement, um, is knowing every 00:11:47.516 –> 00:11:49.220 student by name, strength, and need. 00:11:49.237 –> 00:11:53.663 And so that has– that was my platform in becoming the superintendent, and then 00:11:53.666 –> 00:11:58.532 the board just recently, um, as recent as last month, adopted that as our, as our 00:11:58.533 –> 00:12:00.185 mission statement for our school system 00:12:01.088 –> 00:12:05.053 Well, and I love that you were able to really truly unpack it for us because 00:12:05.346 –> 00:12:10.080 it’s one thing to say it, but to give that detailed description of… 00:12:10.645 –> 00:12:14.113 It, it just paints a perfect picture of what’s going on day-to-day with, 00:12:14.241 –> 00:12:15.973 with the students in your district. 00:12:15.995 –> 00:12:21.808 So, um, you have some really, you know, powerful initiatives and projects. 00:12:21.821 –> 00:12:23.570 So tell us about Project 100. 00:12:24.539 –> 00:12:28.440 Um, and I’d also like to hear about the AP Pathways program. 00:12:28.483 –> 00:12:30.335 So tell us, tell us about those two 00:12:30.818 –> 00:12:31.006 Yeah. 00:12:31.138 –> 00:12:36.518 Project 100, uh, was our goal to have and is our goal now to have every student, 00:12:36.994 –> 00:12:42.927 um, have a close post-secondary plan when they leave our school system. 00:12:42.953 –> 00:12:44.756 And that can be one of a few things. 00:12:45.074 –> 00:12:48.713 It can be a c- community college or college or university. 00:12:49.593 –> 00:12:54.474 It can be the military, which I think is one of the most noble, um, and honorable 00:12:54.483 –> 00:12:56.657 post-secondary choices a student can make. 00:12:57.407 –> 00:13:02.260 Or it can be to enter, um, a work-based apprenticeship program 00:13:02.273 –> 00:13:04.335 or continuing at a trade school. 00:13:04.930 –> 00:13:06.625 But it’s one of those three things. 00:13:06.702 –> 00:13:12.975 And I think it’s a really great concept, but the difference in really 00:13:12.976 –> 00:13:17.304 great concepts and making it happen are two totally different things. 00:13:17.332 –> 00:13:21.402 And so we put strategies in place that if you were going to– A lot of our 00:13:21.403 –> 00:13:25.364 students started at our local community college because again, population, 00:13:25.409 –> 00:13:29.311 um, was a lot of students who ca- come- came from homes of poverty. 00:13:29.311 –> 00:13:32.604 And so that was not only just a great starter, but financially it was a 00:13:32.605 –> 00:13:36.760 good decision for them as well, uh, because they don’t have necessarily all 00:13:36.761 –> 00:13:38.763 those s- financial supports in place. 00:13:39.475 –> 00:13:42.571 So if they were going to our community college, they were accepted, and 00:13:42.572 –> 00:13:45.837 before they graduated, they left with their schedule for the fall. 00:13:46.593 –> 00:13:48.772 If they were going to a college or university, we had to 00:13:48.779 –> 00:13:49.941 have that acceptance letter. 00:13:50.183 –> 00:13:53.980 If they were going into the military and they were enlisting, they had to 00:13:53.984 –> 00:13:55.380 have their– they had their papers. 00:13:55.388 –> 00:13:57.330 So it wasn’t, you don’t, you don’t just get to say, “I’m 00:13:57.330 –> 00:14:00.346 going into the Coast Guard,” or, “I’m going into the Air Force.” 00:14:00.347 –> 00:14:02.950 They actually– We made sure we broke down that process. 00:14:02.950 –> 00:14:05.075 We brought the recruiters and the parents in. 00:14:05.371 –> 00:14:06.871 Uh, we broke down all barriers. 00:14:07.133 –> 00:14:09.754 Um, before the state of Maryland was requiring it, we were having 00:14:09.769 –> 00:14:11.304 all students complete the FAFSA. 00:14:12.148 –> 00:14:15.407 We also had every single one of our students accepted into a college or 00:14:15.408 –> 00:14:19.761 university, even if they were going to a trade school or going into the military. 00:14:19.929 –> 00:14:23.196 So we had 100% of our students that were accepted into a college or 00:14:23.199 –> 00:14:25.596 university during that time period. 00:14:25.853 –> 00:14:30.219 And, uh, then certainly like a work-based apprenticeship or entering 00:14:30.231 –> 00:14:32.743 into a trade school afterwards. 00:14:32.981 –> 00:14:35.048 But again, all those same rules had to be in place. 00:14:35.055 –> 00:14:36.448 Like, they had to have all their paperwork. 00:14:36.471 –> 00:14:38.261 We did all of that work on site. 00:14:38.514 –> 00:14:43.229 And so what happens when you take that on as a school system or as a school is 00:14:43.229 –> 00:14:45.352 that you eliminate all barriers for kids. 00:14:45.675 –> 00:14:47.730 And that’s really what we were going for. 00:14:47.733 –> 00:14:54.691 We were going for, um, it’s really hard in… Now it’s 2026, but it’s really hard 00:14:54.691 –> 00:14:59.432 to make a good living in 2026 if you don’t have an education beyond high school. 00:14:59.663 –> 00:15:05.212 And that doesn’t mean college for everyone, because the workforce is a great 00:15:05.295 –> 00:15:07.250 place to go and learn a skilled trade. 00:15:07.654 –> 00:15:10.754 But it means that you have a little something extra that everyone else 00:15:10.754 –> 00:15:14.602 doesn’t have that’s gonna give you a leg up in your next steps 00:15:16.919 –> 00:15:21.558 And that’s, um, so we- we’re seeing that, I feel like, across the country 00:15:21.559 –> 00:15:26.862 with all the CTE programs and, you know, finding their ways into districts. 00:15:26.891 –> 00:15:32.272 And it’s so refreshing because I think that can also be a time in, in 00:15:32.415 –> 00:15:34.212 students’ lives that’s really scary. 00:15:34.507 –> 00:15:39.577 And without that support and that, that accountability, they– it’s, it’s, 00:15:39.875 –> 00:15:41.599 it’s easy for them not to have a plan. 00:15:41.652 –> 00:15:43.563 So that’s fantastic. 00:15:43.583 –> 00:15:45.112 W- I love Project 100 00:15:45.395 –> 00:15:48.939 Yeah, it’s huge for making that post-secondary leap a 00:15:48.940 –> 00:15:50.490 little less scary for kids. 00:15:50.749 –> 00:15:54.510 We also really focused on, and to connect it to our AP Pathways program 00:15:54.511 –> 00:15:58.715 that you were asking about as well, we also focused, we also created Pathways 00:15:58.716 –> 00:16:02.546 because one of the things that I noticed immediately at the school was that our 00:16:02.547 –> 00:16:06.608 students weren’t taking the same number of credits that at the high school that 00:16:06.621 –> 00:16:08.262 had completely different demographics. 00:16:08.500 –> 00:16:10.960 At the end of their– They weren’t building a transcript that could 00:16:10.960 –> 00:16:14.172 get them anywhere, and basically, that was my goal for every kid. 00:16:14.200 –> 00:16:17.550 I want you to build a transcript that can take you anywhere you want 00:16:18.668 –> 00:16:22.223 One of the important parts about a small school specifically, you don’t 00:16:22.230 –> 00:16:25.492 face this as much at larger schools because in your master schedule you 00:16:25.492 –> 00:16:27.587 have multiple offerings of everything. 00:16:28.240 –> 00:16:34.620 At a small school, AP Biology only gets offered once, and so all of those courses 00:16:34.622 –> 00:16:36.156 have to be very carefully scheduled. 00:16:36.174 –> 00:16:38.838 So we completely rewrote the master schedule. 00:16:39.163 –> 00:16:44.209 We made sure our scheduling process was, uh, tight, so we made sure 00:16:44.209 –> 00:16:46.888 that students were actually signing up for what they were interested 00:16:46.888 –> 00:16:48.000 in when they did scheduling. 00:16:48.026 –> 00:16:49.690 Everyone had a one-on-one meeting. 00:16:50.385 –> 00:16:54.147 But then what we, what we found out was that if we wanted to maximize the 00:16:54.160 –> 00:16:58.572 AP opportunities for kids, that we had to build out an actual pathway. 00:16:59.163 –> 00:17:03.250 Because at a small school, unless you take things in the right order, for 00:17:03.250 –> 00:17:07.141 example, you have to know that calculus and biology need to go side by side so 00:17:07.141 –> 00:17:10.638 that during their 11th grade year, so that during their senior year they have 00:17:10.661 –> 00:17:15.469 access to AP Chem if they’d like to take it, and they have access to Calc 2 00:17:15.478 –> 00:17:17.530 or AP Stats if they’d like to take it. 00:17:17.762 –> 00:17:20.340 Because it can only sit in one spot in the schedule because 00:17:20.341 –> 00:17:21.846 you ha- they’re all singletons. 00:17:21.880 –> 00:17:24.702 And so it’s, that master schedule is critical. 00:17:25.509 –> 00:17:29.720 But also in developing out the master schedule that would work to take it, you 00:17:29.776 –> 00:17:32.349 also have to give students direction. 00:17:33.407 –> 00:17:36.801 they had, we had to create the actual AP pathway that said, “What 00:17:36.802 –> 00:17:38.054 are you taking in ninth grade? 00:17:38.157 –> 00:17:41.889 Here’s exactly what you’re taking to create a map, to create a transcript 00:17:41.891 –> 00:17:47.940 that will take you anywhere.” And our AP Pathways was not for the 20 00:17:47.944 –> 00:17:50.045 brightest students out of a class of 100. 00:17:50.765 –> 00:17:56.254 The way that we sold our AP Pathways for it was, “Are you interested in building 00:17:56.255 –> 00:17:58.915 a transcript that can take you anywhere?” 00:17:59.502 –> 00:18:03.462 And so, um, we had some students who didn’t find success in 00:18:03.821 –> 00:18:05.936 only a handful of AP courses. 00:18:06.246 –> 00:18:09.860 But what students consistently came back and told us year after year after they 00:18:09.863 –> 00:18:15.512 graduated is that, “I went to college and it was actually easy because I struggled 00:18:15.514 –> 00:18:19.728 here and I took nine, 10 AP classes here. 00:18:20.637 –> 00:18:24.211 But when I went to college, I had already developed that stamina. 00:18:24.247 –> 00:18:26.451 I developed the belief in myself that I could do it. 00:18:26.664 –> 00:18:30.748 And because you guys were here giving me all those supports on the early end of 00:18:30.748 –> 00:18:35.503 those AP courses, when I went to college, like, it was a piece of cake.” And that 00:18:35.511 –> 00:18:37.676 as a principal is like, that’s your dream. 00:18:37.706 –> 00:18:38.962 That’s the sweet spot. 00:18:39.233 –> 00:18:43.404 Um, and then also making sure that the other students who decided college 00:18:43.410 –> 00:18:47.725 wasn’t for them They wanted to do the military or they wanted to do a trade 00:18:47.727 –> 00:18:49.121 school, and maybe college came later. 00:18:49.351 –> 00:18:52.242 And that was part of us getting every student accepted into 00:18:52.244 –> 00:18:53.327 a college or university. 00:18:53.552 –> 00:18:58.168 Because maybe right now college isn’t the right fit for you, but you know what? 00:18:58.195 –> 00:19:01.450 It might help you to have that acceptance into a, our local college 00:19:01.450 –> 00:19:04.542 or university because you might wanna take some business courses if you’re 00:19:04.542 –> 00:19:05.996 into, if you have a skilled trade. 00:19:06.013 –> 00:19:09.139 Because you may wanna start working for someone else, but later you 00:19:09.140 –> 00:19:10.339 may wanna work for yourself. 00:19:10.366 –> 00:19:12.445 So maybe you wanna take some business courses. 00:19:12.445 –> 00:19:13.719 You already have that under your belt. 00:19:13.723 –> 00:19:15.015 You know you can get accepted. 00:19:15.020 –> 00:19:15.989 You’ve been accepted. 00:19:16.252 –> 00:19:20.151 Um, and many of those college, uh, many, like our local community college, 00:19:20.191 –> 00:19:22.923 um, it’s a fairly simple process if you’ve already been accepted. 00:19:23.251 –> 00:19:27.327 Uh, and so we wanted to make sure also that we weren’t … Even though college 00:19:27.327 –> 00:19:31.935 doesn’t have to be for everyone, it can be very easy in a high poverty, 00:19:32.129 –> 00:19:36.250 majority minority school for people to look at students and immediately 00:19:36.250 –> 00:19:37.889 label them as not a college student. 00:19:37.902 –> 00:19:41.466 So that’s why we also made sure that every student was accepted into a college or 00:19:41.466 –> 00:19:49.305 university because we didn’t ever want any adult to break the spirit of a student. 00:19:49.746 –> 00:19:52.560 And so we did believe that if a c- child wanted to do a college or 00:19:52.560 –> 00:19:54.543 university, like we can, you can do it. 00:19:54.998 –> 00:19:58.455 And so that was sort of the whole picture of everything we did. 00:19:58.456 –> 00:20:02.376 We also, um, did some … We did a lot of research on the front end of 00:20:02.377 –> 00:20:06.242 it, um, and we had our students take to make sure that they had all those 00:20:06.251 –> 00:20:10.762 background skills necessary for those AP courses, and we wanted to build up. 00:20:10.765 –> 00:20:15.195 Because when you do have a community of poverty, the experiences that 00:20:15.195 –> 00:20:18.103 students bring to the table that can help them in those types of courses 00:20:18.135 –> 00:20:21.698 is not the, the breadth is just not there and the depth is just not 00:20:21.699 –> 00:20:24.922 necessarily there because they haven’t had all of those outside experiences. 00:20:24.931 –> 00:20:30.092 So we actually added a course in Latin so that they learned, um, specifically 00:20:30.093 –> 00:20:35.195 for biology and in science, um, making sure that they learned all those Latin 00:20:35.197 –> 00:20:36.798 roots because that actually helps them. 00:20:36.798 –> 00:20:41.481 So they took a course in Latin, and we also created a cohort model for them, so 00:20:41.482 –> 00:20:45.527 they took all of their courses together, um, because we know that especially for 00:20:45.527 –> 00:20:49.566 students coming from homes of poverty, having a cohort is really productive. 00:20:49.568 –> 00:20:53.591 And so they created, um, little, they were little mini armies within our 00:20:53.593 –> 00:20:56.685 school, those AP Pathways kids, and they stayed connected with each other, 00:20:56.923 –> 00:21:00.380 uh, throughout the years and that was a really, really great experience. 00:21:00.406 –> 00:21:05.304 And we also, um, every two years, uh, and I only got through two 00:21:05.304 –> 00:21:07.701 cycles of it because then I left and went to the central office, 00:21:07.705 –> 00:21:09.437 but we were taking students abroad. 00:21:10.282 –> 00:21:13.410 And so that was part of that AP Pathways experience was world travel. 00:21:13.750 –> 00:21:16.595 Uh, and it’s actually something I’m gonna start as superintendent, 00:21:16.856 –> 00:21:20.363 uh, when I have time to get my nonprofit up and off the ground. 00:21:20.430 –> 00:21:26.709 Um, but I’m gonna start a, a nonprofit locally where I can take students every 00:21:26.711 –> 00:21:31.452 year abroad, and I will take students from each of the schools in our district 00:21:31.452 –> 00:21:34.638 who would’ve never gotten to have that experience, um, and take them abroad. 00:21:34.669 –> 00:21:37.630 So, um, there’s nothing like world travel to open students’ 00:21:37.636 –> 00:21:39.732 eyes up to so many things 00:21:40.776 –> 00:21:44.661 Schools spend millions on new buildings, renovations, and furniture, and yet too 00:21:44.674 –> 00:21:48.300 often the classrooms that open don’t change how students actually learn. 00:21:48.551 –> 00:21:51.609 The space looks great, but the teaching, the vision, and the day-to-day 00:21:51.609 –> 00:21:53.337 practice were never aligned to it. 00:21:53.826 –> 00:21:57.233 It’s a problem school leaders have felt for years, but it’s rarely been named. 00:21:57.595 –> 00:22:00.247 That’s why we wrote Radically Student Centered: Learning Space 00:22:00.266 –> 00:22:02.016 Integration for Lasting Impact. 00:22:02.424 –> 00:22:05.852 The book introduces a new approach called learning space integration. 00:22:06.142 –> 00:22:09.750 It’s about aligning people, pedagogy, and place so that the learning 00:22:09.750 –> 00:22:13.178 environments you invest in deliver lasting results for students. 00:22:13.555 –> 00:22:16.456 Whether you’re a school or district leader, an architect, or part of a 00:22:16.456 –> 00:22:20.093 construction team, this book gives you a clear path to better decisions, 00:22:20.104 –> 00:22:22.865 stronger processes, and better outcomes. 00:22:23.174 –> 00:22:27.431 Get your copy today at k12.com/rsc-book. 00:22:27.483 –> 00:22:31.752 That’s K-A-Y-T-W-E-L-V-E.com/R-S-C-B-O-O-K. 00:22:37.509 –> 00:22:42.034 Well, not that you haven’t been super busy, but you have been, uh, 00:22:42.071 –> 00:22:45.929 there’s other things beyond the Project 100 and AP Pathways program. 00:22:45.929 –> 00:22:51.675 You also, um, in your district have created storybooks for students, um, 00:22:51.680 –> 00:22:55.397 predicted to struggle on assessments with monthly chapters and one-on-one 00:22:55.398 –> 00:22:57.401 meetings between teachers and principals. 00:22:57.846 –> 00:23:02.928 So what inspired that, and how has it been received by your, your staff? 00:23:04.622 –> 00:23:11.720 The sort of inception of it was that is how we went from, um 78 bridge 00:23:11.721 –> 00:23:17.651 plans down to zero because we created individual student success plans. 00:23:18.026 –> 00:23:22.639 And then every three weeks, uh, myself and my assistant principal and my curriculum 00:23:22.639 –> 00:23:27.601 planner sat down with each teacher in each assessed area, and they had to run through 00:23:27.601 –> 00:23:30.397 their plan for success for that student. 00:23:31.380 –> 00:23:35.184 And so when I came to the central office, we’ve been trying to sort of revive 00:23:35.184 –> 00:23:40.224 this plan for success process at the district level for the past four years. 00:23:40.552 –> 00:23:44.375 And, um, the– they sort of turned into something else. 00:23:44.387 –> 00:23:48.738 So we had plans for success meetings, but then in my school when I was a 00:23:48.738 –> 00:23:52.129 principal, we also had student progress meetings, and the student progress 00:23:52.152 –> 00:23:54.223 meeting was, was the wraparound meeting. 00:23:54.228 –> 00:23:57.897 And student progress meetings happened every single week, and 00:23:57.898 –> 00:24:00.969 we brought in all of our support services, so like health department. 00:24:01.275 –> 00:24:04.764 At the time, we didn’t have social workers, um, but basically our school 00:24:04.766 –> 00:24:09.199 nurse, uh, the health department was there, our special ed staff was there, 00:24:09.454 –> 00:24:12.441 administrators were there, school counselors were there, and it was sort 00:24:12.441 –> 00:24:16.147 of, it was, at the time, the best we could do to give wraparound services for kids. 00:24:16.164 –> 00:24:20.071 So what we found at the district level was that our success plan meetings had 00:24:20.110 –> 00:24:22.226 actually become student progress meetings. 00:24:22.618 –> 00:24:25.924 And so what happens in a student progress meeting is everybody 00:24:25.924 –> 00:24:27.573 gets a small piece of the kid. 00:24:27.820 –> 00:24:32.845 So the health department is trying to, um, to close the gaps in any 00:24:32.866 –> 00:24:34.801 mental or physical health needs. 00:24:35.203 –> 00:24:38.258 The school nurse is contributing sort of that process of, “Hey, like they’re 00:24:38.259 –> 00:24:41.535 missing a lot of school. It’s because they have a sinus infection, so like 00:24:41.536 –> 00:24:45.156 let’s try to head that off.” Um, we did a lot of partnerships with dental 00:24:45.313 –> 00:24:48.065 and things like that to make sure like those health needs were off the table. 00:24:48.231 –> 00:24:53.867 But what we realized as a district is that when you do that, no one is 00:24:53.868 –> 00:24:57.947 responsible for a net because everybody’s just responsible for a piece of a net. 00:24:58.171 –> 00:25:02.672 And the difference in success plans at a school level for me was that that 00:25:02.872 –> 00:25:07.903 success, success plan actually was what served as that, that touch point where 00:25:07.904 –> 00:25:09.981 the teacher is responsible for a net. 00:25:10.376 –> 00:25:14.853 And so what we’ve done with our storybooks is the s-success plans 00:25:14.854 –> 00:25:17.637 as a district sort of went in the student progress meeting direction. 00:25:17.637 –> 00:25:20.660 So we were like, “Okay, how do we…” We spent all summer figuring 00:25:20.660 –> 00:25:22.019 out how do we get back to this? 00:25:22.058 –> 00:25:27.341 And we have so many data points in education that sometimes I think 00:25:27.342 –> 00:25:28.912 the data becomes overwhelming. 00:25:29.296 –> 00:25:34.053 And data is wonderful and, and it’s great to have rich data, but also sometimes 00:25:34.053 –> 00:25:35.305 you gotta go back to the basics. 00:25:35.325 –> 00:25:40.187 And so for us, like when we had, when we had, um, our bridge plans that we wanted 00:25:40.187 –> 00:25:43.761 to get to zero, we were like, “Okay, this year we’re gonna, we’re gonna, we’re 00:25:43.761 –> 00:25:46.403 gonna get to zero, but this year our goal is gonna be to have it, have that 00:25:46.403 –> 00:25:48.601 number in half.” And that’s really simple. 00:25:49.129 –> 00:25:52.694 And when you sit down with a teacher one-on-one with a storybook and they have 00:25:52.695 –> 00:25:56.114 to go through each chapter each month with the principal, and you’re talking 00:25:56.115 –> 00:25:59.277 about it like someone’s responsible for a net, ’cause the net’s projected 00:25:59.277 –> 00:26:02.980 not to fail, and that someone is my teacher, who is exactly who should 00:26:02.993 –> 00:26:04.858 be responsible for, for my learning. 00:26:05.055 –> 00:26:09.716 The other people can be supports to the teacher And we only talk about things 00:26:09.718 –> 00:26:11.298 that are within our locus of control. 00:26:12.279 –> 00:26:14.718 So we don’t talk about the student’s home life. 00:26:14.755 –> 00:26:17.371 That can happen, that happens in our success plan meeting when 00:26:17.371 –> 00:26:18.532 we have wraparound services. 00:26:18.712 –> 00:26:21.122 But we only talk about the things that we can control. 00:26:21.144 –> 00:26:25.292 So tier one instruction, tier two, tier three instruction if they need it. 00:26:25.309 –> 00:26:26.715 Those are things they can control. 00:26:27.523 –> 00:26:29.658 We have after-school academies in all of our schools. 00:26:29.658 –> 00:26:32.234 They can teach after-school academy to that student. 00:26:33.293 –> 00:26:35.032 And then we’re gonna meet every month and we’re gonna talk 00:26:35.043 –> 00:26:36.159 about like, “Has the net moved?” 00:26:36.675 –> 00:26:40.942 Because at the end of the day, if Katie is my teacher, it’s Katie’s 00:26:40.955 –> 00:26:42.358 responsibility to make sure I move. 00:26:42.392 –> 00:26:43.783 That’s actually our job. 00:26:44.422 –> 00:26:50.529 And so what a tremendous responsibility because I think teachers might just be 00:26:50.529 –> 00:26:52.078 the most important people in the world. 00:26:52.938 –> 00:26:54.544 What a tremendous responsibility. 00:26:54.575 –> 00:26:58.289 But like if we’re not doing that, I have lots of questions about what we’re doing. 00:26:59.184 –> 00:26:59.763 You know? 00:26:59.902 –> 00:27:03.778 The school to prison pipeline information data has been out 00:27:03.779 –> 00:27:05.673 for probably 20 years now. 00:27:06.207 –> 00:27:08.738 We know what happens when kids can’t read on grade level. 00:27:09.551 –> 00:27:13.332 And so I was just talking with staff this morning in a, in a big presentation to a 00:27:13.332 –> 00:27:19.727 staff and I was like, “We had 133 kids the year before last. Last year we had 109.” 00:27:19.865 –> 00:27:24.006 I was like, “Our goal for this year is 50.” And we all have to, number one, 00:27:24.007 –> 00:27:27.902 believe that every kid can read on grade level by grade three, and then 00:27:27.903 –> 00:27:29.669 we just have to focus in on those kids. 00:27:29.678 –> 00:27:32.555 Because if you think about it, we’ve got five elementary schools. 00:27:33.488 –> 00:27:38.079 So I have 109 kids across five elementary schools across four or five classrooms. 00:27:38.084 –> 00:27:39.290 That’s only a couple kids. 00:27:40.476 –> 00:27:43.216 It’s only a couple kids per teacher, so we gotta cut that number in half. 00:27:43.593 –> 00:27:44.573 That’s our goal. 00:27:44.840 –> 00:27:50.606 Um, and if we’re not doing that though, like I have these big questions in my 00:27:50.609 –> 00:27:54.706 mind, even as a nation around what are we doing if we’re not focusing on that 00:27:54.708 –> 00:27:58.599 when we know that there’s no positive outcome predicted for a student who’s 00:27:58.599 –> 00:28:00.046 not on grade level by grade three? 00:28:00.076 –> 00:28:04.594 And then after grade three, so everybody before grade three we’ve done a lot of 00:28:04.594 –> 00:28:09.535 focus in the last year around building up our early childhood because, and 00:28:09.535 –> 00:28:13.233 research says the same thing, but you get the most growth up to like first grade. 00:28:14.168 –> 00:28:18.196 And so we’re seeing tremendous growth in our kids, um, from 00:28:18.197 –> 00:28:19.599 pre-K three to first grade. 00:28:19.617 –> 00:28:20.818 I’d love to have two-year-olds. 00:28:20.821 –> 00:28:21.679 That’s my dream. 00:28:21.990 –> 00:28:24.749 Um, but we’re seeing huge growth from them. 00:28:24.977 –> 00:28:28.487 So that, that grade three benchmark is a benchmark for 00:28:28.510 –> 00:28:29.875 everybody that comes before it. 00:28:29.880 –> 00:28:33.821 And then after grade three the benchmark is everybody has to stay on grade level. 00:28:34.514 –> 00:28:38.237 And so the beautiful thing is that we have very rich data to tell us who 00:28:38.239 –> 00:28:42.213 those kids are, um, but after that it really just needs to be focused. 00:28:42.233 –> 00:28:47.070 And I would guess every district I’ve ever visited or been a part of, there’s always 00:28:47.071 –> 00:28:49.060 room for tier one instruction to grow. 00:28:49.633 –> 00:28:52.925 Whether it’s teaching bell to bell, whether it’s using every one of those 00:28:52.925 –> 00:28:57.516 instructional minutes, um, with purpose, whether it’s making sure that your 00:28:57.516 –> 00:29:00.399 learning targets and your success criteria are on, whether it’s making 00:29:00.399 –> 00:29:04.130 sure that you’ve developed a relationship because that’s the other piece of it’s 00:29:04.147 –> 00:29:09.634 literacy and belonging And I actually sat down with the principal at the end 00:29:09.634 –> 00:29:12.581 of the school year last year, and we look at every single kid who failed. 00:29:12.837 –> 00:29:16.558 And I said to the principal, I was like, “Did, did you guys, did the 00:29:16.558 –> 00:29:20.121 teacher and, and the administration, like your team, have a positive 00:29:20.121 –> 00:29:22.627 relationship with the student and the parent?” And they said, no. 00:29:23.114 –> 00:29:25.501 And then I moved up to the next kid who didn’t pass and I said, “What 00:29:25.502 –> 00:29:27.146 about this kid?” And they said, no. 00:29:27.330 –> 00:29:28.267 We went through the whole list. 00:29:28.289 –> 00:29:31.731 Now mind you, the list wasn’t long because we’re only probably talking 00:29:31.740 –> 00:29:34.532 about like 15 kids-ish per school. 00:29:34.947 –> 00:29:38.303 So the list wasn’t long, but the interesting and impactful thing for me 00:29:38.303 –> 00:29:44.303 in that moment was, oh my gosh Number one, I know relationships are critical, 00:29:44.493 –> 00:29:47.373 but like when you know you don’t have a positive relationship with them, 00:29:47.379 –> 00:29:48.976 that’s telling us our outcomes too. 00:29:49.448 –> 00:29:52.426 Like, I don’t even need the DIBELS data ’cause I could just say to you in first 00:29:52.426 –> 00:29:55.599 grade, “Who do you not have positive– Who doesn’t have a positive relationship 00:29:55.599 –> 00:29:59.286 with an adult in the building?” And that’s something that we also started at Pocomoke 00:29:59.286 –> 00:30:03.405 High School, was making sure that every single child had a positive connection 00:30:03.405 –> 00:30:04.931 with adult, an adult in the building. 00:30:05.853 –> 00:30:09.365 And now they’ve taken it and made it into a really big and robust, since I’ve left, 00:30:09.366 –> 00:30:13.604 process called Be The One, where every child picks out who is their one person. 00:30:13.879 –> 00:30:17.669 Um, but I made sure I had every student’s face up in our workroom. 00:30:17.906 –> 00:30:20.728 And so every single student in our, in our school, their face 00:30:20.729 –> 00:30:21.957 was posted in our workroom. 00:30:22.836 –> 00:30:26.599 And staff had to, uh, every student by the end of the first quarter had to 00:30:26.608 –> 00:30:28.332 have at least one positive connection. 00:30:28.340 –> 00:30:30.293 You could write a postcard, you could do a phone call. 00:30:30.605 –> 00:30:31.990 Um, no emails. 00:30:31.994 –> 00:30:34.123 Like it had to even… Like, it had to be a personal touch. 00:30:34.123 –> 00:30:36.965 So like a postcard is a very personal touch, um, or a 00:30:36.965 –> 00:30:38.228 phone call that was positive. 00:30:38.240 –> 00:30:43.290 And then after that first sort of, um, cycle of that, like we added it more. 00:30:43.291 –> 00:30:45.731 So you had to have two in the first quarter, and then every student had 00:30:45.731 –> 00:30:46.998 to have three in the first quarter. 00:30:47.000 –> 00:30:51.300 And so it really changed the culture of our school, and it changed 00:30:51.311 –> 00:30:54.327 the culture of our relationships between our adults and kids. 00:30:54.353 –> 00:30:58.262 Because not to go back to like … I always think like, it’s not that hard. 00:30:59.038 –> 00:31:00.022 I was a teacher. 00:31:00.117 –> 00:31:01.503 It’s not, it’s not that hard. 00:31:01.532 –> 00:31:04.501 It, I mean, it’s infinitely hard, but it’s also not that hard. 00:31:04.869 –> 00:31:08.889 And so thinking about Rita Pierson and what she said, and like, “Kids don’t learn 00:31:08.889 –> 00:31:10.512 from people they don’t like,” period. 00:31:11.557 –> 00:31:12.084 Period. 00:31:12.951 –> 00:31:16.668 And so when we talk about relationships, and I sit down with a principal and I say, 00:31:16.917 –> 00:31:18.579 “Did you have a positive relationship?” 00:31:18.579 –> 00:31:21.942 Like that was like a shot to the heart to go through that whole list. 00:31:21.957 –> 00:31:26.969 And, and I also, I think there’s this idea of like, uh, my last, and I’ll 00:31:26.974 –> 00:31:29.958 use a different name because I, I don’t wanna reveal the name of the student, 00:31:29.959 –> 00:31:35.083 but my last year teaching, uh, I was teaching Algebra 1 and AP Stats and AP 00:31:35.096 –> 00:31:38.651 Calculus, the lowest and the highest level of courses in the building. 00:31:38.851 –> 00:31:41.691 And I had one student who did not pass the high school assessment. 00:31:41.696 –> 00:31:45.878 And to this day, I’m gonna use a different name, Steven haunts me. 00:31:46.489 –> 00:31:51.586 And I think to myself, now that I have all these tools in my toolkit, I would’ve 00:31:51.586 –> 00:31:52.858 definitely been able to reach him. 00:31:53.076 –> 00:31:57.126 Like we have gi- we give our teachers so many tools now in our school district 00:31:57.430 –> 00:32:02.597 that they have multiple strategies to try to access a positive relationship. 00:32:02.949 –> 00:32:07.677 Um, you know, and there was a, another study done that was talking about 00:32:07.677 –> 00:32:12.030 telling teachers that students were gifted, and so they did a control group 00:32:12.030 –> 00:32:15.209 and, and they told a group of teachers that their kids were gifted, and the 00:32:15.209 –> 00:32:19.449 kids were not, did not in fact have any assessment that said they were gifted. 00:32:19.449 –> 00:32:21.377 They literally were randomly selected. 00:32:21.656 –> 00:32:25.174 Um, and not only did their performance on state assessments improve, 00:32:25.958 –> 00:32:27.779 but their IQ actually increased. 00:32:28.333 –> 00:32:33.835 So in education, we have to make sure- That every student feels 00:32:33.836 –> 00:32:37.321 like they belong, and it goes back to, like, our every, knowing every 00:32:37.321 –> 00:32:38.491 student by name, strength, and need. 00:32:38.505 –> 00:32:42.957 And having that positive relationship with a kid and their family, because 00:32:42.957 –> 00:32:45.290 number one, if you don’t believe they can achieve, it’s not gonna happen. 00:32:45.292 –> 00:32:49.669 But number two, if you don’t develop a relationship with your kids, it’s just 00:32:49.805 –> 00:32:54.107 bridging that gap if they’re a struggling learner, it’s just not gonna happen. 00:32:54.929 –> 00:32:56.612 And so it’s, it’s as simple as that 00:32:58.033 –> 00:33:02.611 And that really just kind of segues right into what I wanted you to 00:33:02.611 –> 00:33:06.527 comment on next, which the– our, our core theme at “The Better Learning 00:33:06.548 –> 00:33:08.658 Podcast” is radically student-centered. 00:33:09.021 –> 00:33:14.819 So, I mean, pretty much everything you’ve said goes right toward that theme. 00:33:15.112 –> 00:33:17.749 But when you hear that phrase, radically student-centered, 00:33:18.463 –> 00:33:19.746 what does that mean to you? 00:33:19.748 –> 00:33:22.868 I, I know it means probably all the things that you just spoke of, but is 00:33:22.869 –> 00:33:25.302 there anything you can add to that? 00:33:26.161 –> 00:33:30.516 When I first heard the phrase associated with your podcast, I was like, “Oh, I love 00:33:30.718 –> 00:33:35.861 that I now have a phrase that I can use that sort of captures the heart of the 00:33:35.862 –> 00:33:39.528 work that we do every day, and the beliefs that we have in our school district of 00:33:39.540 –> 00:33:44.004 being radically student-centered.” So like, I am not centered on adult outcomes. 00:33:44.275 –> 00:33:47.207 That does not mean that I’m not gonna build a positive school culture 00:33:47.210 –> 00:33:48.353 for the adults in our building. 00:33:48.577 –> 00:33:52.570 Um, a- and also, like, our belief as a system that everyone is an educator. 00:33:52.752 –> 00:33:55.953 So like, you could walk in Pocomoke High School right now and you might see a 00:33:55.953 –> 00:33:59.495 custodian sitting side by side with a student in English class working with 00:33:59.496 –> 00:34:03.431 a student, mentoring them, working with them on whatever their assignment is. 00:34:03.439 –> 00:34:05.432 So everyone is an educator. 00:34:05.970 –> 00:34:08.975 Everyone has a piece of this educational process because that 00:34:08.976 –> 00:34:12.245 builds a culture for adults where everyone is appreciated and everyone 00:34:12.245 –> 00:34:14.160 has a really, really important job. 00:34:14.540 –> 00:34:16.753 Um, and that is to focus on the student. 00:34:17.315 –> 00:34:20.959 And so everything we do as a school district, everything that we do, 00:34:21.190 –> 00:34:25.936 um, I did as a principal, was centered around student outcomes. 00:34:25.962 –> 00:34:28.910 And when I think about the word, like radically student-centered, I think 00:34:28.921 –> 00:34:30.514 about like radical student outcomes. 00:34:30.517 –> 00:34:34.700 And so radical student outcomes are every child is on grade level by grade three. 00:34:35.729 –> 00:34:37.186 That’s a radical student outcome. 00:34:37.215 –> 00:34:39.981 A radical student outcome is there are no bridge projects in a school. 00:34:40.587 –> 00:34:45.348 And so I think the way that you get to a radical student outcome, which 00:34:45.348 –> 00:34:50.452 is a very big, scary, just right goal for every single school, is 00:34:50.463 –> 00:34:51.901 to be radically student-centered. 00:34:51.902 –> 00:34:56.197 I think the two cannot happen without one another, and it- you have to have strong 00:34:56.200 –> 00:35:01.806 cur- curriculum, you have to have strong, um, social, emotional … And, and I know 00:35:01.807 –> 00:35:06.615 that term is, in some, you know, in 2026 sometimes people don’t like that term. 00:35:06.618 –> 00:35:10.611 But it’s, it’s what we do in our homes when we have a home that’s 00:35:10.617 –> 00:35:14.385 very supportive, um, it’s making sure that we have all those systems in 00:35:14.388 –> 00:35:16.289 place that we’re staying regulated. 00:35:16.575 –> 00:35:19.708 Um, so we do a lot of work in our school district too around conscious 00:35:19.708 –> 00:35:24.478 discipline, which connects to this idea of radically student-centered because 00:35:24.605 –> 00:35:29.149 conscious discipline is all about the environment that we create for students 00:35:29.152 –> 00:35:35.641 to learn, and how we take responsibility for our actions to elevate or deescalate 00:35:35.645 –> 00:35:36.539 a student when they’re struggling. 00:35:37.359 –> 00:35:40.241 And we all know that when we start talking about our students that aren’t 00:35:40.251 –> 00:35:44.016 having the outcomes that we need, um, I, I can tell you, you can probably 00:35:44.017 –> 00:35:47.126 talk to any administrator in the whole country and they will tell you, “Every 00:35:47.128 –> 00:35:51.900 time I read a referral-” Until you have the school culture that you want, every 00:35:51.900 –> 00:35:55.523 time you read a referral, you will see a place where the adult could have made 00:35:55.524 –> 00:35:59.257 a different decision and they chose to escalate instead of deescalate, and 00:35:59.257 –> 00:36:03.123 the student would never be in front of you if the adult had stayed regulated. 00:36:03.430 –> 00:36:08.192 And I would say like, nine out of 10 referrals, uh, were, were like that until 00:36:08.192 –> 00:36:12.978 we built a school culture where we weren’t excluding kids, because that’s what 00:36:12.987 –> 00:36:14.581 happens when you get sent out of class. 00:36:14.814 –> 00:36:18.797 And what’s interesting about our district is our exclusionary, not only are we 00:36:18.844 –> 00:36:23.776 top performing, but our exclusionary practices have reduced significantly 00:36:23.816 –> 00:36:27.043 and it’s because of our work around safe and supportive schools and belonging. 00:36:27.895 –> 00:36:31.083 But at the same time, we have a Maryland school climate survey 00:36:31.083 –> 00:36:32.655 and part of it focuses on safety. 00:36:32.841 –> 00:36:36.399 At the same time, how safe students feel at school has also risen. 00:36:36.678 –> 00:36:39.752 So, you know, there’s a lot of folks that wanna shoot, you know, holes in 00:36:39.752 –> 00:36:44.595 this idea of, “Oh, you’re reducing your suspensions, um, but that’s just 00:36:44.595 –> 00:36:45.795 because you’re not suspending kids.” 00:36:45.835 –> 00:36:47.355 No, not in our district. 00:36:47.374 –> 00:36:50.792 In our district our kids are actually saying like, “We actually feel safer at 00:36:50.792 –> 00:36:53.975 school,” which is an outstanding outcome. 00:36:54.010 –> 00:36:55.406 So exciting for us to hear. 00:36:55.406 –> 00:36:57.804 But I think the two are connected. 00:36:57.804 –> 00:37:00.850 I think every kid deserves a radical outcome, so how do you do that? 00:37:00.854 –> 00:37:02.297 By being radically student-centered 00:37:03.533 –> 00:37:09.951 And, um, you and I actually had a conversation earlier, um, and, and 00:37:10.146 –> 00:37:13.115 you compared teachers to surgeons, and I loved that comparison. 00:37:13.116 –> 00:37:15.667 I’ve never really thought of it in those, in that way. 00:37:15.672 –> 00:37:20.146 But when you made that comparison, you know, when you were– you specifically 00:37:20.194 –> 00:37:25.151 referred to, you know, the impact that, um, they have on a child’s life. 00:37:25.157 –> 00:37:29.969 So just talk about that comparison a little bit for our audience. 00:37:31.139 –> 00:37:35.371 Yeah, I, I think teaching I, I compare it to two things regularly, and one is 00:37:35.372 –> 00:37:39.183 being a surgeon, and one is that this is like a ministry because, like, I do 00:37:39.184 –> 00:37:43.464 believe, like, for me, um, throughout my whole career I was really blessed. 00:37:43.464 –> 00:37:46.283 I had a coach one time tell me, “Annette, you should choose a career where you 00:37:46.296 –> 00:37:47.860 never feel like you’re going to work.” 00:37:48.165 –> 00:37:51.567 And I think that’s what happens when, like, you pick ministry because it’s 00:37:51.572 –> 00:37:54.349 just how you live and how you operate. 00:37:54.685 –> 00:37:59.728 And, um, when I think about, like, the ministry that we, that we do every 00:37:59.728 –> 00:38:03.197 day with our kids, but I also think about, like, the importance of how 00:38:03.197 –> 00:38:07.434 teachers are more important than even a doctor because teachers are, and it, 00:38:07.475 –> 00:38:13.602 it sounds, like, sort of foundational, but teachers have the ability to either 00:38:13.663 –> 00:38:19.010 catapult a student to a completely different trajectory by speaking life 00:38:19.010 –> 00:38:24.523 into the student, by believing in them, by giving them access to high-quality 00:38:24.523 –> 00:38:28.142 instructional materials, by having high expectations and the right level of 00:38:28.144 –> 00:38:32.293 scaffolds because it’s not about high expectations and high support, it’s about 00:38:32.305 –> 00:38:37.020 high expectations and the right supports because we never wanna over-scaffold 00:38:37.047 –> 00:38:38.897 because then we put a ceiling on our kids. 00:38:39.305 –> 00:38:43.238 And so when I think about, you know, teachers being, like, in this career 00:38:43.238 –> 00:38:48.861 that’s so, you know, important, you know, we think about surgeons as people who save 00:38:48.862 –> 00:38:51.332 lives, teachers are people who give life. 00:38:52.605 –> 00:38:58.685 And what a tremendous and scary, but just right job to be in when you believe it’s 00:38:58.694 –> 00:39:02.081 also a ministry because then every day 00:39:02.083 –> 00:39:03.526 And we have to check ourselves as adults. 00:39:03.541 –> 00:39:08.920 Do not get me wrong, I do not get this right every single day, but I check myself 00:39:08.931 –> 00:39:11.969 also, and our team checks ourselves. 00:39:11.981 –> 00:39:18.374 We always ask ourselves, “Is this decision good for all students?” Because if the 00:39:18.375 –> 00:39:21.872 decision is only good for some students, and only some students benefit, we all 00:39:21.872 –> 00:39:26.421 know who those some students always are, and that’s not the group of students 00:39:26.678 –> 00:39:28.413 that we’re not reaching in our building. 00:39:28.420 –> 00:39:31.640 So we have to make sure that that decision is right for all students. 00:39:31.654 –> 00:39:36.286 But, you know, you just think about the idea of, like, saving lives, 00:39:36.287 –> 00:39:37.738 like, we’re saving lives too. 00:39:37.754 –> 00:39:42.079 Like, we’re giving life, and we’re saving lives because every educator could 00:39:42.081 –> 00:39:47.923 probably, um, name a student who they saw something happen in that student while 00:39:47.923 –> 00:39:51.659 they were in their classroom, and it just completely changed the trajectory 00:39:51.928 –> 00:39:56.160 of that whole student’s outcomes through school and outcomes out of school 00:39:58.028 –> 00:40:01.069 Well, and you’ve talked about time is up when it comes to 00:40:01.115 –> 00:40:03.278 closing educational disparities. 00:40:03.645 –> 00:40:06.980 So what does that urgency look like in, in practice? 00:40:08.233 –> 00:40:08.554 Yeah. 00:40:09.998 –> 00:40:13.505 You know, I, I always go back to that school to prison pipeline research that 00:40:13.507 –> 00:40:17.712 I believe was, like, in the ’90s, and so we’ve known this for a very long time. 00:40:18.547 –> 00:40:24.593 It’s almost puzzling to me why no one just says it, and no one is 00:40:24.594 –> 00:40:28.704 like, “As a nation, we aren’t like… We have a crisis because we’re not 00:40:28.704 –> 00:40:30.107 reaching every kid, and we’re not…” 00:40:30.290 –> 00:40:33.927 Well, when kids aren’t literate when they leave us, it doesn’t get better for them. 00:40:34.662 –> 00:40:38.619 And so, like, for me, it’s a moral imperative of, like, if you know this 00:40:38.619 –> 00:40:43.255 child is headed for bad outcomes if they can’t be on grade level by grade three, 00:40:44.469 –> 00:40:48.174 I, sometimes am just puzzled at how we aren’t all just fired up about it. 00:40:48.190 –> 00:40:50.197 Like, it gets me fired up to talk about it. 00:40:50.197 –> 00:40:54.236 Like, I lose sleep every night about 109 kids that are now in fourth grade 00:40:55.587 –> 00:40:59.725 And until we’re down to zero, I will continue to lose sleep over those kids 00:40:59.962 –> 00:41:02.060 because I know what road is ahead of them. 00:41:03.037 –> 00:41:03.943 We all know. 00:41:04.647 –> 00:41:08.024 Every single superintendent should know exactly how many kids is in 00:41:08.026 –> 00:41:12.411 our grade level in grade three because it’s so pivotal to the 00:41:12.413 –> 00:41:14.676 success of the rest of their lives. 00:41:15.078 –> 00:41:17.689 And we think about all the things that start happening. 00:41:17.690 –> 00:41:20.906 You know, I’ve ha- I have conversations with our school principals, um, 00:41:20.942 –> 00:41:22.092 every time we sit down and meet. 00:41:22.113 –> 00:41:26.401 We’re focused on these specific kids that have storybooks, and we’re 00:41:26.460 –> 00:41:31.698 focused specifically on how can we create a better outcome for them. 00:41:31.698 –> 00:41:33.812 And I said, like imagine being a student. 00:41:34.515 –> 00:41:38.195 Like I know for myself in my own personal experience, I have someone in my, my 00:41:38.197 –> 00:41:43.518 immediate sort of family that I love very much, um, who is, who, uh, is experiences 00:41:43.520 –> 00:41:45.224 some special and unique challenges. 00:41:45.570 –> 00:41:52.603 Um, and after first grade he came home and he said, “I failed and 00:41:52.603 –> 00:41:54.978 so I have to go to summer school.” And we’re like, “Where did this…” 00:41:55.031 –> 00:41:55.458 You know? 00:41:55.631 –> 00:41:59.286 So as young as first grade, and I’ve had a lot of conversations with staff, and 00:41:59.286 –> 00:42:03.643 they’re kinda like, “Yeah, I think that is that pivot point of where a kid realizes 00:42:03.645 –> 00:42:05.450 for the first time, ‘Hold on a second. 00:42:05.759 –> 00:42:06.529 I’m different. 00:42:07.223 –> 00:42:09.566 I’m not experiencing the success of my peers. 00:42:09.611 –> 00:42:15.887 I can’t do what they can do.'” And so, um, you know, when we think about that, 00:42:15.908 –> 00:42:19.737 think about that student now in second grade struggling, third grade struggling, 00:42:19.762 –> 00:42:22.835 fourth grade struggling, fifth grade struggling, sixth grade, seventh grade. 00:42:23.194 –> 00:42:26.377 And that was where we got to ’cause that was the principal’s first grade level 00:42:26.377 –> 00:42:27.726 that they got to was seventh grade. 00:42:28.157 –> 00:42:32.513 And I was like, I said, “Imagine all the strategies they put in place to 00:42:32.513 –> 00:42:38.145 avoid shame.” ‘Cause let’s be real, like when you can’t read, it’s, that 00:42:38.145 –> 00:42:40.380 creates a feeling of shame for our kids. 00:42:40.588 –> 00:42:44.496 You definitely don’t feel like you belong because you know all those feelings 00:42:44.496 –> 00:42:45.714 that are going into middle school kids. 00:42:45.714 –> 00:42:47.887 Like, there’s stuff that’s physically happening to you. 00:42:47.901 –> 00:42:49.265 There’s hormones. 00:42:49.268 –> 00:42:51.525 There’s all kinds of things that are happening to you, so it’s a 00:42:51.526 –> 00:42:53.034 very confusing time in general. 00:42:53.205 –> 00:42:56.585 But not to have a sense of belonging, and then what do you end up doing? 00:42:56.611 –> 00:43:02.150 Like, you end up gravitating towards other friends who are experiencing 00:43:02.153 –> 00:43:05.964 probably the same outcomes as you, and then it, it isn’t productive. 00:43:06.039 –> 00:43:07.412 Like, we don’t see the growth. 00:43:07.446 –> 00:43:10.735 And she was like, “Wow, Go- I never thought of like what it might 00:43:10.735 –> 00:43:14.055 be like to be in seventh grade and have struggled from pre-K to 00:43:14.060 –> 00:43:15.831 seventh grade.” Like, you’re right. 00:43:15.847 –> 00:43:19.595 No wonder they have these big behaviors and these big feelings. 00:43:20.148 –> 00:43:22.471 But the key is we gotta solve it in third grade. 00:43:23.528 –> 00:43:27.930 We’ve gotta solve it by third grade because even first grade, it- we looked 00:43:27.930 –> 00:43:30.885 at our district and I would be interested to like look at other districts, but in 00:43:30.888 –> 00:43:34.748 first grade, you know, we have, we’ve triangulated all, all of our data back. 00:43:34.755 –> 00:43:39.886 So I can pick up, and we know as early as like 18 months we can cite out kids 00:43:39.886 –> 00:43:40.968 who are gonna struggle in reading. 00:43:40.970 –> 00:43:42.229 You can kinda parse them out. 00:43:42.242 –> 00:43:44.647 You can start to know at 18 months who’s gonna struggle and who isn’t. 00:43:45.009 –> 00:43:47.761 But by first grade we have that data triangulated. 00:43:48.506 –> 00:43:51.828 When we looked at our third graders and we look back to their first grade 00:43:51.840 –> 00:43:54.793 data, we only moved 23% of them. 00:43:55.955 –> 00:44:00.111 So now the good thing for us is that we have them on such a strong trajectory 00:44:00.112 –> 00:44:04.441 up to first grade, and our early, um, childhood area is so strong that they’re 00:44:04.441 –> 00:44:07.638 moving kids a l- they’re moving a lot of kids before they get to first grade. 00:44:07.893 –> 00:44:10.233 So we’re making up for a lot of lost time there. 00:44:10.465 –> 00:44:14.270 But to think after first grade we’re only moving 23% of our kids, that’s 00:44:14.270 –> 00:44:15.742 not a statistic to be proud of. 00:44:16.731 –> 00:44:19.621 And so, you know, we know, but we know all those feelings 00:44:19.621 –> 00:44:20.797 are starting to happen, right? 00:44:20.812 –> 00:44:26.950 So we’re really honing in and focusing on making sure like at those early 00:44:26.951 –> 00:44:31.252 intervention stages we aren’t missing anyone, we’re making sure that we’re 00:44:31.252 –> 00:44:38.780 creating high, um, really strong experiences for our students, um, at 00:44:38.781 –> 00:44:42.268 those early ages because it’s just tough. 00:44:42.316 –> 00:44:45.846 Like I, you know, and I was a high school principal so when they got to me like 00:44:45.846 –> 00:44:50.075 there was this sense of urgency of like we only have four years to get it right, and 00:44:50.148 –> 00:44:52.123 that created kind of our sense of urgency. 00:44:52.123 –> 00:44:57.342 But I think as a whole district It has to create some sort of sense of urgency to 00:44:57.343 –> 00:45:00.311 know what the outcomes are gonna be when these kids can’t read by third grade. 00:45:00.549 –> 00:45:05.867 And I think as a nation, that’s what sort of that moral imperative of like 00:45:05.905 –> 00:45:07.306 everyone deserves to be literate. 00:45:07.319 –> 00:45:10.537 Like being literate is like the base, know what I mean? 00:45:10.537 –> 00:45:14.468 Like I, my goal isn’t just for our kids to be literate and be on grade level, 00:45:14.471 –> 00:45:17.512 like I have much bigger goals for them, but like we kinda have to start there 00:45:18.138 –> 00:45:20.943 because we’re, while we’re the highest performing district in the state of 00:45:20.943 –> 00:45:22.827 Maryland, we aren’t getting all kids. 00:45:23.332 –> 00:45:25.688 And the fact is after third grade we lose more and more. 00:45:25.688 –> 00:45:27.794 A couple f- just like every other district, a couple more 00:45:27.794 –> 00:45:29.097 fall off the wagon every year. 00:45:29.098 –> 00:45:32.967 So I think that’s what sort of creates this sense of urgency is, is the 00:45:32.968 –> 00:45:37.659 moral imperative and, and it is my job as a superintendent to tell that 00:45:37.661 –> 00:45:42.144 story and sort of build that moral imperative for staff so they feel like 00:45:42.393 –> 00:45:45.617 And, and listen, I don’t want my staff staying up being haunted by kids, but at 00:45:45.619 –> 00:45:52.277 the same time, like I’m haunted by them because I know that if I can’t fix it by 00:45:52.277 –> 00:45:54.041 third grade, I know we’re not fixing it. 00:45:54.100 –> 00:45:57.129 And, and I don’t, I don’t want that outcome for any human 00:45:58.723 –> 00:46:02.030 Well, you shared a little story with me about your staff actually. 00:46:02.037 –> 00:46:07.928 Um, you spoke about a lip-sync video that y- you all made, and I 00:46:07.928 –> 00:46:09.450 believe it was “This Is Me” right? 00:46:09.451 –> 00:46:11.569 From the Greatest Showman movie. 00:46:11.570 –> 00:46:16.275 So I thought just as we wrap our conversation up, it would be fun for our 00:46:16.275 –> 00:46:22.091 audience to, to hear about that because I think though it’s a, a little less 00:46:22.101 –> 00:46:29.766 serious and maybe, um, more fun than anything, it, it also really speaks to, to 00:46:30.066 –> 00:46:31.922 your leadership style and your district. 00:46:31.931 –> 00:46:32.804 So tell us about it. 00:46:33.241 –> 00:46:36.687 So, uh, several years ago we started doing, uh, lip sync videos back 00:46:36.689 –> 00:46:39.253 to school, and we’ve done a lot of different things over time. 00:46:39.496 –> 00:46:42.129 Um, we actually did, like, a lip sync battle and when we were meeting all 00:46:42.129 –> 00:46:45.101 together before COVID, we actually had the winners and we voted as a 00:46:45.101 –> 00:46:48.145 district, and then we had the winners and they performed on a big stage in, 00:46:48.148 –> 00:46:52.758 like, a real, um, lip sync battle and had a, had a district-wide winner. 00:46:53.018 –> 00:46:55.401 Um, so the top two, like, performed for the whole district. 00:46:55.401 –> 00:46:56.271 It was really cool. 00:46:56.501 –> 00:47:00.398 Uh, but we’ve done a lot of different videos and, uh, since I became the 00:47:00.399 –> 00:47:04.440 superintendent, I did a lot of work around safe and supportive schools in my 00:47:04.453 –> 00:47:08.442 former roles as the chief safety officer and academic officer for high schools. 00:47:08.783 –> 00:47:13.215 Um, but we really worked on connecting this idea of 00:47:13.215 –> 00:47:15.103 belonging and literacy together. 00:47:15.367 –> 00:47:18.261 And so when we were thinking about knowing every student by name, strength, 00:47:18.262 –> 00:47:23.363 and need, um, this year our theme is, um, every story matters and every child 00:47:23.365 –> 00:47:26.779 belongs, so we’re continuing to make that connection between belonging. 00:47:27.049 –> 00:47:31.386 And when you think about The Greatest Showman and you think about, um, the music 00:47:31.387 –> 00:47:35.204 video of This is Me, it just seemed to be the perfect intersection of everything we 00:47:35.205 –> 00:47:36.923 were trying to inspire in our district. 00:47:36.953 –> 00:47:42.034 Because, um, those folks were not, uh, as… It was interesting, we had 00:47:42.034 –> 00:47:45.508 some students come in this summer and speak to us, and they spoke 00:47:45.510 –> 00:47:49.422 to us about star students who get special treatment in our schools. 00:47:49.445 –> 00:47:52.864 And I’ll tell you, you could have knocked people in the room over with 00:47:52.866 –> 00:47:55.912 a feather because it’s the exact thing that I’m talking about and 00:47:55.913 –> 00:47:57.317 we’re talking about all the time. 00:47:57.488 –> 00:48:00.803 But to hear from a kid that they knew they weren’t a star student 00:48:00.803 –> 00:48:04.409 in your building, and it was, it was an interesting experience. 00:48:04.420 –> 00:48:07.347 So we kind of took all those things and then we thought, gosh, what 00:48:07.348 –> 00:48:13.287 a perfect song and what a perfect message of belonging, um, and also, 00:48:13.288 –> 00:48:15.312 like, owning up to who you are. 00:48:15.619 –> 00:48:21.317 Because we all have a story, and we all have a story that’s worth telling and we 00:48:21.317 –> 00:48:22.907 have a story that’s worth believing in. 00:48:23.432 –> 00:48:27.575 And so when we can get that right and when we, we know as a district that every 00:48:27.575 –> 00:48:31.850 story matters and that every kid really belongs here, and then we translate 00:48:31.850 –> 00:48:36.000 that into making our kids feel like that, I think that’s the sweet spot. 00:48:36.582 –> 00:48:40.930 And so we’ve gotten a lot of really positive feedback this year around 00:48:40.930 –> 00:48:44.697 the message of that video and how inspiring it was for teachers, uh, 00:48:44.698 –> 00:48:48.364 and staff and, and everybody who’s a part of our educational system. 00:48:48.366 –> 00:48:52.581 Everyone is an educator here, so everyone is sort of a part of that big thing. 00:48:52.904 –> 00:48:57.319 Um, and, and just this idea of getting together to celebrate with a video 00:48:57.320 –> 00:49:02.028 that just had such a wonderful message, uh, I think was really the sweet spot 00:49:02.032 –> 00:49:03.694 for us to kick off our school year 00:49:04.995 –> 00:49:10.129 Well, Dr. Wallace, I just wanna thank you for sharing, um, so much with our 00:49:10.130 –> 00:49:15.080 listeners today, and I want to personally just acknowledge, um, the impact of 00:49:15.080 –> 00:49:19.151 the work that you’re doing in Worcester County and that you’ve done already 00:49:19.151 –> 00:49:21.592 there, and obviously there’s more to come. 00:49:22.052 –> 00:49:27.051 Um, and for our listeners, uh, we would love for you to like, share, 00:49:27.078 –> 00:49:28.607 comment, and continuing follow… 00:49:28.881 –> 00:49:31.878 continue following us, uh, at the Better Learning Podcast. 00:49:32.526 –> 00:49:33.947 Until next time, thank you 00:49:34.838 –> 00:49:35.630 Thanks, Katie ## Be a Guest on the Better Learning Podcast! Are you rethinking what learning environments can be? We are always looking for thoughtful school leaders, designers, and educators to join the Better Learning Podcast and share real stories from the field. As a guest, you will take part in meaningful conversations about student centered design, planning, and collaboration and how these ideas show up in real schools. We explore what is working, what is evolving, and what educators can do today to create learning spaces that truly support students and teachers. If you are passionate about improving learning environments and have insights, experiences, or lessons to share, we would love to have you on the podcast. Better Learning Podcast Request Form "*" indicates required fields ## About the podcast The Better Learning Podcast explores the ideas, strategies, and stories shaping today’s learning environments. Host Kevin Stoller sits down with school leaders, designers, and educators to uncover how thoughtful design, planning, and collaboration can transform schools into spaces that truly put students first. Through in-depth conversations, the podcast highlights how Radically Student Centered™ approaches can make a tangible difference in schools, inspiring educators, administrators, designers, and anyone passionate about the future of learning. - [https://www.youtube.com/@thebetterlearningpodcast](https://www.youtube.com/@thebetterlearningpodcast) - [https://open.spotify.com/show/49ipbC2JYwZSbXzzSEpaTW](https://open.spotify.com/show/49ipbC2JYwZSbXzzSEpaTW) - [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-learning-podcast/id1300009573](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-learning-podcast/id1300009573)