In the final episode of Season 2, we are joined by Dr. Temple Lovelace, executive director of Assessment for Good, and Dr. Susan Lyons, co-founder and executive director of Women in Measurement. They are colleagues and leaders in the field of educational measurement, challenging fundamental assumptions that underpin how our dominant education system values, designs and uses assessments. Join us for a conversation in which we explore why thinking differently about what and how we measure is critical to building human-centered systems of learning and education.

In this episode of the Future of Smart podcast, host Ulcca Joshi Hansen speaks with Jamie Allison, Executive Director of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, which collaborates with partners whose work provides access and opportunity, building a more equitable community in the Bay Area. Their conversation explores the ideological shifts that have led the fund to engage in interest-based partnerships with the organizations they fund, and what this has meant for everyone engaged in the work, including the fund’s board and staff, as well as their nonprofit partners.

In this week’s episode, Ulcca speaks with Mia Howard, managing partner and leader of Innovative Schools at NewSchools Venture Fund. Mia and Ulcca explore the work being done by a new generation of school leaders who are dedicated to building more human-centered programs that embrace expanded definitions of success, equity and innovation. Learn about the ways in which Mia and her team are learning about what it means to codesign with communities and deconstruct assumptions about what matters most about how we educate young people.

Ulcca and Jenny Curtin, Director of Education at the Barr Foundation, explore the innovative approaches and human-centered design principles that are transforming education. Gain insights into how these efforts are ensuring that every student not only completes their high school journey successfully but also becomes an active and engaged member of their community.

This episode explores competency-based education with Laurie Gagnon, Program Director for CompetencyWorks at the Aurora Institute. They discuss how competency models support personalized, equitable learning by focusing on demonstrated skills rather than lockstep grade-level standards.

This week’s guest is world-renowned animal rights advocate and autism spokesperson, Dr. Temple Grandin. Having spent her career exercising her skills in service of humane animal treatment in the livestock industry, Dr. Grandin is becoming increasingly engaged in educating communities about the need to recognize and support diverse kinds of minds within our education system. Join us for a conversation in which we explore the differences between how verbal and visual thinkers see the world, her concerns about how our education system fails to nurture the potential of learners with different kinds of minds and why that matters; as well as her suggestions for change.

Join us for a special conversation between civil rights icon Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr., and LaShawn Routé Chatmon, executive director of the National Equity Project. In this intimate chat held prior to their 2023 EdFunders conference plenary session, they explore lessons from America’s civil rights movement and their relevance at a moment when many of the hard-won rights of that era feel under siege.

In this episode of the Future of Smart podcast, host Ulcca Joshi Hansen speaks with Christina Engel and Tiffany Johnson of Magic Cabinet, a philanthropic organization that seeks to shift power dynamics in philanthropy by championing community-driven grantmaking.

In this thought-provoking episode of "The Future of Smart" podcast, Nicole Lynn Lewis shares her inspiring journey from being a pregnant high school student to a college graduate and founder of Generation Hope. She discusses the need to change societal narratives about teen and student parents and the untapped potential that parenting students bring to classrooms and workplaces.

In this episode of the Future of Smart podcast, host Ulcca Joshi Hansen interviews Alexandra Bernadotte, founder of Beyond 12, a tech-enabled nonprofit that supports students in navigating the complex higher education ecosystem. Bernadotte shares her own experiences as a first-generation college student and discusses how Beyond 12 leverages technology to enable a human-centered approach to mentoring and advising to help students succeed in higher education. The episode also explores the growing trend of EdTech and its impact on education funding. Tune in to hear how Alexandra and Beyond 12 are working towards transforming the college experience for historically underserved populations.

We continue Season 2 in conversation with Bill Milliken, founder of Communities In Schools, and author of “The Last Dropout: A Model for Creating Educational Equity.” Public schools failed to meet Bill’s needs as a young person and a learner, instilling in him a sense of worthlessness. An adult volunteer who wouldn’t give up on him enabled him to believe in himself and in the power of his belief that every young person could succeed if bolstered with strong relationships inside of strong communities. Bill channeled his personal experiences into building Communities In Schools, a model that has proven over the last 50 years that every student - regardless of race, zip code or socio-economic background - can succeed when they are surrounded by an integrated system of supports including caring relationships. This is knowledge that many indigenous and neo-indigenous cultures understand and live into (check out Season 1, episode 2 to learn more). It is an idea that is re-emerging as a central response to the challenges confronting our education system and society more broadly.

This conversation between Nicole Rodriguez Leach and podcast host Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen, chief program officer, explores the personal and career paths that led Nicole to her new position, her insights into education philanthropy, what to look forward to at the conference, and more.

We don’t often equate “leadership” with the words: rest, reflect, heal, and dream. Dr. Gislaine Ngounou does. Meet a leader who does and shares how it changes how she thinks about education.

“Look for the helpers” - this reminder is one of the many gifts offered to us by the children’s television personality Mister Rogers. Fred Rogers believed that a vision of peace is not just the absence of war or conflict; it requires building new ways of being grounded in love and compassion. He invited children and their adults to consider that they were part of building this kinder, more compassionate world. And he used his neighborhood - the onset version as well as his hometown of Pittsburgh - to illustrate what it meant to make these ideas real. Join us for a conversation with Gregg Behr, Executive Director of the Grable Foundation in his hometown of Pittsburg, PA. Gregg is also co-author of the wonderful book “When you Wonder, You’re Learning: Mr. Rogers’ Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids.” The book explores how the principles that informed Rogers’ TV show can be extended to create contexts in which young people and families can experience their communities as learning ecosystems.

Imagine an education system built around the concept of human flourishing. How would that push us to broaden our definitions of success and allow us to build on the assets and strengths of young people? Join us for conversation with Kenji Treanor, Vice President of Strategy, Partnerships and Learning at the Stuart Foundation about the role philanthropy can play as an enabler of new educational policies and approaches that move us in this direction.

Recorded during this year's Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference, Elizabeth (Liz) Thompson of The CAFE Group and The 1954 Project moderates a panel of Black leaders, Jamyle Cannon, Sharif El-Mekki and Saamra Mekuria-Grillo, who share the dreams they hold for the future and the essential role philanthropy must play in making their vision a reality.

A plenary discussion moderated by Ulcca Joshi Hansen during the Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference with Pamela Cantor of Turnaround for Children, Bob Hughes of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and James Shelton, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, will draw on their vast experience in educational equity to share their visions for an education system that can truly serve tomorrow's learners.

Join us to learn about how the Honors Living and Learning Community at Rutgers Newark is interrogating the structures and systems in K-12 and higher education that fail to recognize the brilliance and talent of so many students.

In setting up schools as the heart of our education system we privileged a specific kind of learning - academic learning. We also privileged formal learning over the kinds of informal learning that most of us engage in every day. Human development is sparked by experiences and relationships that can and should exist an all parts of our communities and lives. Join us for a conversation about how centering health human development rather than learning could help us transform education. In order to become healthy adults, young people need access to a wide range of contexts and experiences in which they can have all kinds of learning experiences. that enable them to build the wide range of competencies they need to thrive in life.

Adolescence is a historically misunderstood and maligned period of human development. Dr. Mary Helen Immodino-Yang shares findings from her research of adolescents that demonstrate the enormous opportunity we have during this stage of life to change the trajectory of young people’s lives. Not only can the right sets of experiences mitigate the impact of any earlier trauma or deprivation, the openness and plasticity of the adolescent brain offers an extended period during which we can set young people up for success in early adulthood and beyond.