In Season 11 Episode 14, Hayley Spira-Bauer sits down with Deborah Kenny, CEO and Founder of Harlem Village Academies, to explore what it truly means to educate a child beyond test scores. Drawing from decades of leadership and her new book The Well-Educated Child, Deborah shares a refined philosophy centered on quality thinking, student agency, and ethical purpose. She reflects on her journey building HVA, the importance of cultivating intrinsic motivation and a love of reading, and the need to move beyond compliance-driven schooling toward deeper, intellectually rich learning experiences. The conversation emphasizes developing students who are curious, independent thinkers with a strong sense of purpose in a rapidly evolving and complex world.

In Season 11 Episode 13, Hayley Spira-Bauer sits down with John White, CEO of Great Minds and former Louisiana State Superintendent, for a candid conversation on leadership, systems change, and the role of curriculum in driving student outcomes. Drawing from his experience leading post-Katrina education reform in Louisiana, John discusses how crisis can catalyze improvement, the importance of local autonomy through charter systems, and why sustained gains in student achievement come from consistent, high-quality curriculum paired with strong accountability. He also explores the future of education amid rapid technological change, advocating for “productive friction,” human-centered learning, and meaningful classroom discourse as essential to student growth.

In Season 11 Episode 12, Hayley Spira‑Bauer speaks with Dana Ainsworth, founder of Tomorrow House, about reframing student behavior through the lens of nervous system regulation rather than discipline or motivation. Drawing from her own lived experience, teaching background, and research in trauma, polyvagal theory, and education policy, Dana explains how adverse childhood experiences, outdated school structures, and rapid technological change contribute to widespread student dysregulation. The episode highlights practical, classroom‑ready strategies—like breathwork and behavior‑as‑communication—to support both educators and students, while calling for deeper alignment between research, policy, and everyday school practice.

In Season 11 Episode 11, Hayley Spira‑Bauer brings together Dr. Elizabeth Chu (Executive Director, CPRL), Jason Kamras (Superintendent, Richmond Public Schools), and Celeste Terry (Superintendent, NYC District 18) for a powerful conversation on systems‑level change that is producing real academic gains. The episode centers on All Systems Go and the REACH framework, highlighting how districts across the country are improving reading outcomes by investing in high‑quality instructional materials, deeply supporting teachers, listening to communities, and hardwiring effective practices into daily operations. Through candid leadership stories and concrete data, the guests show that meaningful improvement is possible when systems focus on coherence, trust, and implementation quality.
 

In Season 11 Episode 10 of Learning Can’t Wait, Hayley Spira‑Bauer is joined by Alicia Meyers, an early childhood educator and children’s book author, for a rich conversation about teaching, literacy, and neurodiversity. Alicia shares her journey as a lifelong teacher, her experiences teaching in urban classrooms in Washington, D.C., and how the COVID era inspired her to begin writing. She discusses her newest picture book, Tickerific Me, which celebrates Tourette Syndrome and neurodiversity, alongside her practical guide for educators and families, The A to Z Teaching Toolkit. Throughout the episode, Alicia emphasizes the importance of representation, balance in early literacy instruction, and creating classrooms where children feel seen, confident, and empowered as readers and writers.

In Season 11 Episode 9, Hayley Spira‑Bauer welcomes Frances Messano, CEO of New Schools Venture Fund, for a wide‑ranging and deeply personal conversation about equity, choice, and courage in education. Frances reflects on growing up in a working‑class immigrant family in Coney Island, how access and luck shaped her own trajectory, and why she has dedicated her career to making opportunity less dependent on chance. She explains New Schools’ venture‑philanthropy approach—investing in early‑stage innovators across schools, learning solutions, and people—and discusses how the organization is navigating constrained funding, shifting policy, and the urgent need to measure real impact. Throughout the episode, Frances emphasizes that choice is freedom, that quality must lead ed tech adoption, and that redesigning the teaching profession is essential to creating sustainable, student‑centered systems.

In Season 11 Episode 8, Hayley Spira‑Bauer sits down with Christopher Hull, Co-founder & President at Otus, to explore how meaningful data use can restore time, clarity, and humanity to teaching. A former middle school teacher, Chris shares how mentors helped him find his voice and why classroom frustrations—especially inefficient, narrative‑driven problem‑solving meetings—sparked the idea for Otis. He explains how a comprehensive, longitudinal student profile enables educators to move beyond fragmented storytelling to actionable insights, helping schools identify root causes, respond thoughtfully to parent concerns, and focus on what matters most: student engagement, motivation, and growth over time.
 

In Season 11 Episode 7 of Learning Can’t Wait, Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, CEO and founder of Medley Learning, shares his journey from multilingual learner to educator, school leader, and edtech founder. He describes how early classroom experiences and the impact of a teacher who provided personalized language scaffolds shaped his commitment to equity and access. Brandon discusses the persistent gaps facing multilingual learners, the challenge of providing real-time, differentiated language supports, and how Medley leverages technology to bridge the research-to-reality gap—empowering teachers and students without lowering rigor. He emphasizes that belonging, high expectations, and intentional scaffolding are essential for student success, and urges educators not to use AI as a shortcut for reducing rigor, but as a tool for advancing achievement and inclusion.