All Episodes
Student-Centered Learning, Personalized Instruction, and Life-Ready Competencies
Nov. 22, 2020
“Student-centered learning is a change in mindset to not have the learner become compliant to the system, but to have the system customized to the learner.”
Change, Leadership, and Work-Life Balance
Nov. 8, 2020
“We’re changing faster than we’ve ever changed before. The issue is that education is moving at a linear pace but society’s changes are exponential. We need to keep pace to be relevant.”
Transforming Education Systems During Crisis
Oct. 25, 2020
“What opportunities do we have that we can really transform the way we do business? Is every child successful within your system? If not, we really need to think about how we do things differently.”
Servant Leadership, Equity, and Student Success
Oct. 18, 2020
"There are many opportunities that are emerging from the pandemic. It’s given us the autonomy to try new things. We can turn this into the biggest positive in the history of education.”
Remembering Where the Diamonds Are in Difficult Times with Superintendent, Dr. Yvonne Curtis
Oct. 11, 2020
“Context matters. No matter how much experience you have or how much you’ve learned, how much knowledge, when you come to a new area, you have to spend time listening to the people.”
Superintendent, Paul Marietti
Oct. 3, 2020
“This pandemic, although not the education we want for students, has really forced us to roll up our sleeves and dig into what distance learning is, what it is not, and how to do it well.”
Superintendent, Gustavo Balderas
Sept. 12, 2020
“The system is not working for some kids and it has not worked for some kids and that’s why you need to use the information to ensure that you meet the needs of all kids. And that is something that I will continue to push through my senior leaders, through my principals, through my teacher rates.”
Superintendent, Martha Salazar-Zamora
Sept. 5, 2020
“Remember grace, have patience through this and remember, we all went into education because we love it. And not only love each other but remind our students how much we love them.”
Superintendent, Anibal Soler, J.
Aug. 29, 2020
“I’m not a superhero, but you are in this work to try to make a difference for all kids. When you hear about the one kid or the two kids or the five kids – those are the things that keep you up. Have we done everything we could? And it is not so much me, but have I put my organization in the positi…
Socorro Shiels
Aug. 22, 2020
“We must remain hopeful. Because children look to us, other adults in the community look to us; schools are the bedrock of so many communities. "They are the heart and soul of so many neighborhoods, cities, towns, of places in our nation. I think it behooves us to be hopeful – that brighter days wi…
Welcome to Season 2
Aug. 16, 2020
After a two year hiatus, the District Leader Podcast is back to bring you inspiring conversations with school district leaders across the country. The show is hosted by Luis R. Valentino, a career educator whose 30 years of experience is brought to bear in his discussions around the challenges and …
Michael Lubelfeld, Ed.D.
Feb. 7, 2017
Unlearning Leader: Leading for Tomorrow’s Schools Today "We have experienced reform movements since the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s. Elements of them have been really nice, really successful, or really effective. But the reason that many of these reforms have failed, stifled ch…
Fred Navarro, Ed.D.
Jan. 31, 2017
"I think that when the system provides support to staff members and they feel they can take risks, they feel they can be rewarded for being creative and for helping one another, for stepping out of the box, and I see that happen at whatever level, it is just rewarding." - Fred Navarro, Ed.D.
Ricardo Medina
Jan. 24, 2017
"I come from that background as a migrant worker, myself as an English learner, so I had an empathy and an understanding for the struggles that many of the families worked through. And I believe that helped to shape me as a servant leader, and it helped me to serve those communities where I was fo…
Phil Ertl, EdD
Jan. 17, 2017
"The most important part of education is relationships. Whether it's a teacher-student relationship or the teacher, principal, and so on, without good relationships nothing positive is ever going to happen." - Phil Ertl, Ed.D.
Randy Ziegenfuss, Ed.D.
Dec. 13, 2016
"How do we create that inspiring vision that will help us break out of that cycle, something that is greater than ourselves, something that can only be achieved by everybody working together." -Randy Ziegenfuss, Ed.D. -Randy Ziegenfuss, Ed.D.
Hector Montenegro, Ed.D.
Dec. 6, 2016
"...there are these skillset gaps that happen because ...even though they might have been in the system, the system may not have really developed a strategic plan for succession leadership. It's just whose next available or ...I deserve it, it's my turn. and we put people in positions that they a…