leadership

Will July 4th, 2025 mark the downfall of the Republican Party? Time will tell. [Christian]

On 07/04/2025, in 21st century, culture, Daniel S. Christian, ethics, faith, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, hearts -- matters of the heart, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, United States, by Daniel Christian

In Iowa, Trump Begins Task of Selling His Bill to the American Public — from nytimes.com by Tyler Pager
President Trump has spent days cajoling Republicans to support his spending bill. He will also have to sell it to a skeptical public as Democrats focus on all the ways it helps the wealthy.

President Trump took a victory lap on Thursday night after the House passed his sprawling domestic policy bill, which he muscled through Congress even as many in his party fear it will leave them vulnerable to political attacks ahead of next year’s midterm elections. (From DSC: Which it likely will do just that, and very possibly way beyond the midterm elections also.)
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Just 29 percent of voters support the legislation, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. Roughly two-thirds of Republicans supported the bill in that poll, a relatively low figure from the president’s own party for his signature legislation, and independents opposed it overwhelmingly.

From DSC:
Did you get that? Just ***29%*** of voters supported the legislation. But it passed anyway. I’m left thinking…so much for democracy. And I’m also disheartened by the caving of the other two branches of our government. The lack of leadership is staggering. But I guess when you remove all leaders that oppose your way of thinking, you have only Yes men/followers and Yes women/followers left. It’s taken years for the Republican Party to carefully orchestrate the ownership of those other branches. (BTW, I celebrate the handful of Republican leaders in the Senate like Sen. Thom Tillis and in the House who did not cave to Trump and Johnson, but instead voted with their own hearts and minds. They showed true strength of conviction and courage. It will likely cost them, but they can look in the mirror and feel good about themselves and what they’ve done.)

Look out Republicans (and I’ve voted for both Republican and Democrat Presidents in the past). Perhaps July 4th, 2025 will mark the downfall of the Republican Party in America. Time will tell. But I’m hopeful that we can find more common ground.

Regardless, it says a lot about who we, as Americans, are these days — that he’s even in the presidency. I highly doubt he would have been there even a generation or two ago. We’re a nation in decline. It’s been hard to watch this through the years. I’m no saint, but I’m also not the President.

Speaking of matters of faith…I can’t help but wonder what the LORD is doing in this. Is He humbling America or is it something far worse…? He’s justified in whatever He has decided to do. Americans have been dissing Him for decades, while refusing to give Him the credit due His Name. Time will tell my friends…time will tell.

Also see:

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The House passed a sweeping bill to extend tax cuts and slash social safety net programs. The budget office reported the measure would increase U.S. national debt by at least $3.4 trillion over a decade.

Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Also see:

Trump ignored GOP warnings to gamble on a politically risky bill — from washingtonpost.com by Liz Goodwin, Marianna Sotomayor, Theodoric Meyer, and Emily Davies
In the president’s eagerness to score a win and extend tax cuts, he walked away from a key campaign promise on Medicaid.

To get his bill over the line in time for a self-imposed Friday deadline, Trump pressured Republican lawmakers to set aside their concerns about the political consequences of yanking benefits from voters while adding trillions to the federal deficit.

Transform Public Speaking with Yoodli: Your AI Coach — from rdene915.com by Paula Johnson

Yoodli is an AI tool designed to help users improve their public speaking skills. It analyzes your speech in real-time or after a recording and gives you feedback on things like:

- Filler words (“um,” “like,” “you know”)
- Pacing (Are you sprinting or sedating your audience?)
- Word choice and sentence complexity
- Eye contact and body language (with video)
- And yes, even your “uhhh” to actual word ratio

Yoodli gives you a transcript and a confidence score, plus suggestions that range from helpful to brutally honest. It’s basically Simon Cowell with AI ethics and a smiley face interface.

[What’s] going on with AI and education? — from theneuron.ai by Grant Harvey
With students and teachers alike using AI, schools are facing an “assessment crisis” where the line between tool and cheating has blurred, forcing a shift away from a broken knowledge economy toward a new focus on building human judgment through strategic struggle.

What to do about it: The future belongs to the “judgment economy,” where knowledge is commoditized but taste, agency, and learning velocity become the new human moats. Use the “Struggle-First” principle: wrestle with problems for 20-30 minutes before turning to AI, then use AI as a sparring partner (not a ghostwriter) to deepen understanding. The goal isn’t to avoid AI, but to strategically choose when to embrace “desirable difficulties” that build genuine expertise versus when to leverage AI for efficiency.
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The Alpha-School Program in brief:

- Students complete core academics in just 2 hours using AI tutors, freeing up 4+ hours for life skills, passion projects, and real-world experiences.
- The school claims students learn at least 2x faster than their peers in traditional school.
- The top 20% of students show 6.5x growth. Classes score in the top 1-2% nationally across the board.
- Claims are based on NWEA’s Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments… with data only available to the school. Hmm…

Austen Allred shared a story about the school, which put it on our radar.

Featured Report: Teaching for Tomorrow: Unlocking Six Weeks a Year With AI — from gallup.com
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In the latest installment of Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation’s research on education, K-12 teachers reveal how AI tools are transforming their workloads, instructional quality and classroom optimism. The report finds that 60% of teachers used an AI tool during the 2024–25 school year. Weekly AI users report reclaiming nearly six hours per week — equivalent to six weeks per year — which they reinvest in more personalized instruction, deeper student feedback and better parent communication.

Despite this emerging “AI dividend,” adoption is uneven: 40% of teachers aren’t using AI at all, and only 19% report their school has a formal AI policy. Teachers with access to policies and support save significantly more time.

Educators also say AI improves their work. Most report higher-quality lesson plans, assessments and student feedback. And teachers who regularly use AI are more optimistic about its benefits for student engagement and accessibility — mirroring themes from the Voices of Gen Z: How American Youth View and Use Artificial Intelligence report, which found students hesitant but curious about AI’s classroom role. As AI tools grow more embedded in education, both teachers and students will need the training and support to use them effectively.

Also see:

2-Hour Learning
- What if children could crush academics in 2 hours, 2x faster?
- What if children could get back their most valuable resource, which is time?
- What if children could pursue the things they want during their afternoons and develop life skills?

Amira Learning: Teaching With The AI-Powered Reading Tool — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Amira Learning is a research-backed AI reading tutor that incorporates the science of reading into its features.

What Is Amira Learning?
Amira Learning’s system is built upon research led by Jack Mostow, a professor at Carnegie Mellon who helped pioneer AI literacy education. Amira uses Claude AI to power its AI features, but these features are different than many other AI tools on the market. Instead of focusing on chat and generative response, Amira’s key feature is its advanced speech recognition and natural language processing capabilities, which allow the app to “hear” when a student is struggling and tailor suggestions to that student’s particular mistakes.

Though it’s not meant to replace a teacher, Amira provides real-time feedback and also helps teachers pinpoint where a student is struggling. For these reasons, Amira Learning is a favorite of education scientists and advocates for science of reading-based literacy instruction. The tool currently is used by more than 4 million students worldwide and across the U.S.

How Do You Build a Learner-Centered Ecosystem? — from gettingsmart.com by Bobbi Macdonald and Alin Bennett

Key Points

It’s not just about redesigning public education—it’s about rethinking how, where and with whom learning happens. Communities across the United States are shaping learner-centered ecosystems and gathering insights along the way.
What does it take to build a learner-centered ecosystem? A shared vision. Distributed leadership. Place-based experiences. Repurposed resources. And more. This piece unpacks 10 real-world insights from pilots in action.
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We believe the path forward is through the cultivation of learner-centered ecosystems — adaptive, networked structures that offer a transformed way of organizing, supporting, and credentialing community-wide learning. These ecosystems break down barriers between schools, communities, and industries, creating flexible, real-world learning experiences that tap into the full range of opportunities a community has to offer.

Last year, we announced our Learner-Centered Ecosystem Lab, a collaborative effort to create a community of practice consisting of twelve diverse sites across the country — from the streets of Brooklyn to the mountains of Ojai — that are demonstrating or piloting ecosystemic approaches. Since then, we’ve been gathering together, learning from one another, and facing the challenges and opportunities of trying to transform public education. And while there is still much more work to be done, we’ve begun to observe a deeper pattern language — one that aligns with our ten-point Ecosystem Readiness Framework, and one that, we hope, can help all communities start to think more practically and creatively about how to transform their own systems of learning.

So while it’s still early, we suspect that the way to establish a healthy learner-centered ecosystem is by paying close attention to the following ten conditions:

“If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe.” [Newsom]

On 06/11/2025, in change, Emotion, ethics, game-changing environment, law schools, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, pace of change, parents/guardians, society, sociology, trends, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

California will keep fighting on behalf of all our people including in the courts.

If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe.

Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least… pic.twitter.com/7qXkrLopkc

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 11, 2025

From DSC:
And regarding this weekend, what an incredible waste of money to put the military on display (for his own birthday). This smacks of what arrogant dictators do. It’s big-time ugly.

If our justice system had done its job, this arrogant lawbreaker and convicted criminal would be in jail right now. No wonder he has no regard for the legal system, the Constitution, or the law — those things don’t serve his interests. They impede his interests. And thank God for that! In fact, may true leaders rise up within the Legislative and Judicial Branches of our government. The latter is our best chance of keeping our democracy, as the Republican Party has ceded all of their power — and responsibility — over to Donald Trump. They are not leaders in any sense of the word.

But whatever happens, ultimately, there WILL be justice.

Is America being humbled? Or is it being destroyed?

Trump Is Getting the Military Parade He Wanted in His First Term — from nytimes.com by Helene Cooper
There will be 28 Abrams tanks, 6,700 soldiers, 50 helicopters, 34 horses, two mules and a dog, according to the Army’s plans for the June 14 event.

In President Trump’s first term, the Pentagon opposed his desire for a military parade in Washington, wanting to keep the armed forces out of politics.

But in Mr. Trump’s second term, that guardrail has vanished. There will be a parade this year, and on the president’s 79th birthday, no less.

The current plan involves a tremendous scene in the center of Washington: 28 M1A1 Abrams tanks (at 70 tons each for the heaviest in service); 28 Stryker armored personnel carriers; more than 100 other vehicles; a World War II-era B-25 bomber; 6,700 soldiers; 50 helicopters; 34 horses; two mules; and a dog.

Navigating Career Transitions [er.educause.edu — James, Richichi, Buszka, & Johnson]

On 06/11/2025, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, Emotion, face-to-face, faculty/staff, future, higher education, ideas, law schools, leadership, podcasting, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Navigating Career Transitions — from er.educause.edu by Jay James, Mike Richichi, Sarah Buszka, and Wes Johnson

In this episode, we hear from professionals at different stages of their career journeys as they reflect on risk, resilience, and growth. They share advice on stepping into leadership roles, recognizing when it may be time for a change, and overcoming imposter syndrome.

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Mary Meeker’s AI Trend-Analysis + other items re: AI in general

On 06/09/2025, in Adobe, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, disruption, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, Facebook / Meta Platforms, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Microsoft, online media, Open AI, organizational change, pace of change, pedagogy, platforms, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, workplace, writing, by Daniel Christian

Mary Meeker AI Trends Report: Mind-Boggling Numbers Paint AI’s Massive Growth Picture — from ndtvprofit.com
Numbers that prove AI as a tech is unlike any other the world has ever seen.

Here are some incredibly powerful numbers from Mary Meeker’s AI Trends report, which showcase how artificial intelligence as a tech is unlike any other the world has ever seen.

AI took only three years to reach 50% user adoption in the US; mobile internet took six years, desktop internet took 12 years, while PCs took 20 years.
ChatGPT reached 800 million users in 17 months and 100 million in only two months, vis-à-vis Netflix’s 100 million (10 years), Instagram (2.5 years) and TikTok (nine months).
ChatGPT hit 365 billion annual searches in two years (2024) vs. Google’s 11 years (2009)—ChatGPT 5.5x faster than Google.

Above via Mary Meeker’s AI Trend-Analysis — from getsuperintel.com by Kim “Chubby” Isenberg
How AI’s rapid rise, efficiency race, and talent shifts are reshaping the future.

The TLDR
Mary Meeker’s new AI trends report highlights an explosive rise in global AI usage, surging model efficiency, and mounting pressure on infrastructure and talent. The shift is clear: AI is no longer experimental—it’s becoming foundational, and those who optimize for speed, scale, and specialization will lead the next wave of innovation.

Also see Meeker’s actual report at:

Trends – Artificial Intelligence — from bondcap.com by Mary Meeker / Jay Simons / Daegwon Chae / Alexander Krey

The Rundown: Meta aims to release tools that eliminate humans from the advertising process by 2026, according to a report from the WSJ — developing an AI that can create ads for Facebook and Instagram using just a product image and budget.

The details:

Companies would submit product images and budgets, letting AI craft the text and visuals, select target audiences, and manage campaign placement.
The system will be able to create personalized ads that can adapt in real-time, like a car spot featuring mountains vs. an urban street based on user location.
The push would target smaller companies lacking dedicated marketing staff, promising professional-grade advertising without agency fees or skillset.
Advertising is a core part of Mark Zuckerberg’s AI strategy and already accounts for 97% of Meta’s annual revenue.

Why it matters: We’re already seeing AI transform advertising through image, video, and text, but Zuck’s vision takes the process entirely out of human hands. With so much marketing flowing through FB and IG, a successful system would be a major disruptor — particularly for small brands that just want results without the hassle.

“The AI-enhanced learning ecosystem” [Jennings] + other items re: AI in our learning ecosystems

On 06/09/2025, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, architecture, Augmented Reality (AR), bots, business, career development, change, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, curriculum, data related items, design, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, Google, health, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, library / librarians, lifelong learning, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, podcasting, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, skills, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The AI-enhanced learning ecosystem: A case study in collaborative innovation — from chieflearningofficer.com by Kevin Jennings
How artificial intelligence can serve as a tool and collaborative partner in reimagining content development and management.

Learning and development professionals face unprecedented challenges in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report, 67 percent of L&D professionals report being “maxed out” on capacity, while 66 percent have experienced budget reductions in the past year.

Despite these constraints, 87 percent agree their organizations need to develop employees faster to keep pace with business demands. These statistics paint a clear picture of the pressure L&D teams face: do more, with less, faster.

This article explores how one L&D leader’s strategic partnership with artificial intelligence transformed these persistent challenges into opportunities, creating a responsive learning ecosystem that addresses the modern demands of rapid product evolution and diverse audience needs. With 71 percent of L&D professionals now identifying AI as a high or very high priority for their learning strategy, this case study demonstrates how AI can serve not merely as a tool but as a collaborative partner in reimagining content development and management.
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How we use GenAI and AR to improve students’ design skills — from timeshighereducation.com by Antonio Juarez, Lesly Pliego and Jordi Rábago who are professors of architecture at Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico; Tomas Pachajoa is a professor of architecture at the El Bosque University in Colombia; & Carlos Hinrichsen and Marietta Castro are educators at San Sebastián University in Chile.
Guidance on using generative AI and augmented reality to enhance student creativity, spatial awareness and interdisciplinary collaboration

Blend traditional skills development with AI use
For subjects that require students to develop drawing and modelling skills, have students create initial design sketches or models manually to ensure they practise these skills. Then, introduce GenAI tools such as Midjourney, Leonardo AI and ChatGPT to help students explore new ideas based on their original concepts. Using AI at this stage broadens their creative horizons and introduces innovative perspectives, which are crucial in a rapidly evolving creative industry.

Provide step-by-step tutorials, including both written guides and video demonstrations, to illustrate how initial sketches can be effectively translated into AI-generated concepts. Offer example prompts to demonstrate diverse design possibilities and help students build confidence using GenAI.

Integrating generative AI and AR consistently enhanced student engagement, creativity and spatial understanding on our course.

How Texas is Preparing Higher Education for AI — from the74million.org by Kate McGee
TX colleges are thinking about how to prepare students for a changing workforce and an already overburdened faculty for new challenges in classrooms.

“It doesn’t matter if you enter the health industry, banking, oil and gas, or national security enterprises like we have here in San Antonio,” Eighmy told The Texas Tribune. “Everybody’s asking for competency around AI.”

It’s one of the reasons the public university, which serves 34,000 students, announced earlier this year that it is creating a new college dedicated to AI, cyber security, computing and data science. The new college, which is still in the planning phase, would be one of the first of its kind in the country. UTSA wants to launch the new college by fall 2025.

But many state higher education leaders are thinking beyond that. As AI becomes a part of everyday life in new, unpredictable ways, universities across Texas and the country are also starting to consider how to ensure faculty are keeping up with the new technology and students are ready to use it when they enter the workforce.

In the Room Where It Happens: Generative AI Policy Creation in Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Esther Brandon, Lance Eaton, Dana Gavin, and Allison Papini

To develop a robust policy for generative artificial intelligence use in higher education, institutional leaders must first create “a room” where diverse perspectives are welcome and included in the process.

Q&A: Artificial Intelligence in Education and What Lies Ahead — from usnews.com by Sarah Wood
Research indicates that AI is becoming an essential skill to learn for students to succeed in the workplace.

Q: How do you expect to see AI embraced more in the future in college and the workplace?
I do believe it’s going to become a permanent fixture for multiple reasons. I think the national security imperative associated with AI as a result of competing against other nations is going to drive a lot of energy and support for AI education. We also see shifts across every field and discipline regarding the usage of AI beyond college. We see this in a broad array of fields, including health care and the field of law. I think it’s here to stay and I think that means we’re going to see AI literacy being taught at most colleges and universities, and more faculty leveraging AI to help improve the quality of their instruction. I feel like we’re just at the beginning of a transition. In fact, I often describe our current moment as the ‘Ask Jeeves’ phase of the growth of AI. There’s a lot of change still ahead of us. AI, for better or worse, it’s here to stay.

AI-Generated Podcasts Outperform Textbooks in Landmark Education Study — form linkedin.com by David Borish

A new study from Drexel University and Google has demonstrated that AI-generated educational podcasts can significantly enhance both student engagement and learning outcomes compared to traditional textbooks. The research, involving 180 college students across the United States, represents one of the first systematic investigations into how artificial intelligence can transform educational content delivery in real-time.

What can we do about generative AI in our teaching? — from linkedin.com by Kristina Peterson

So what can we do?

Interrogate the Process: We can ask ourselves if we I built in enough checkpoints. Steps that can’t be faked. Things like quick writes, question floods, in-person feedback, revision logs.
Reframe AI: We can let students use AI as a partner. We can show them how to prompt better, revise harder, and build from it rather than submit it. Show them the difference between using a tool and being used by one.
Design Assignments for Curiosity, Not Compliance: Even the best of our assignments need to adapt. Mine needs more checkpoints, more reflective questions along the way, more explanation of why my students made the choices they did.

Teachers Are Not OK — from 404media.co by Jason Koebler

The response from teachers and university professors was overwhelming. In my entire career, I’ve rarely gotten so many email responses to a single article, and I have never gotten so many thoughtful and comprehensive responses.

One thing is clear: teachers are not OK.
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In addition, universities are contracting with companies like Microsoft, Adobe, and Google for digital services, and those companies are constantly pushing their AI tools. So a student might hear “don’t use generative AI” from a prof but then log on to the university’s Microsoft suite, which then suggests using Copilot to sum up readings or help draft writing. It’s inconsistent and confusing.

I am sick to my stomach as I write this because I’ve spent 20 years developing a pedagogy that’s about wrestling with big ideas through writing and discussion, and that whole project has been evaporated by for-profit corporations who built their systems on stolen work. It’s demoralizing.

The skills defining leadership in 2030 [Moioli]

On 06/04/2025, in business, career development, corporate / business world, leadership, skills, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From this posting at LinkedIn:

A deeply troubling item from the NY Times (gifted article)

On 05/27/2025, in Daniel S. Christian, ethics, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, policy, political science, society, United States, by Daniel Christian

Republican Bill Would Limit Judges’ Contempt Power — from nytimes.com by Michael Gold (this is a gifted article)
Democrats have argued that House Republicans’ measure would rob courts of their power by stripping away any consequences for officials who ignore judges’ rulings.

The sprawling domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House [last] Thursday would limit the power of federal judges to hold people in contempt, potentially shielding President Trump and members of his administration from the consequences of violating court orders.

Republicans tucked the provision into the tax and spending cut bill at a time when they have moved aggressively to curb the power of federal courts to issue injunctions blocking Mr. Trump’s executive actions. It comes as federal judges have opened inquiries about whether to hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating their orders in cases related to its aggressive deportation efforts.

From DSC:
This is deeply disappointing to see that this sneaky little provision was tucked away in a 1,000+ page bill. It’s highly likely that it’s from Donald Trump himself — as he stands in contempt of court from a Supreme Court ruling from several weeks ago. But what is equally troubling is that the Republican “leadership” is good with it too, evidently. Shame on them. This isn’t leadership. This is tyranny and a blatant disregard for the rule of law.

What’s even more troubling about the whole Trump situation is that just over half of America put him there. For those who put him in office, I’m not sure how they can tell their children not to lie. Because if a person voted for Donald Trump, they no longer care about someone telling the truth.

Character matters. Ethics and morals matter. The Constitution matters. People matter. America matters. The rule of law matters. Justice matters. We need to take a serious look in the mirror.

Opinions | This Baltimore program shows how to fight generational poverty – from washingtonpost.com by Leana S. Wen; this is a gifted article
How one grassroots organization is teaching young people leadership skills and giving them hope.

She recognized their desperation and felt called to return and use what she had learned to help them realize a different future. So she set up an organization, HeartSmiles, to do just that — one young person at a time.

Holifield’s experience is one that city officials and public health workers can learn from. If they want to disrupt the generational cycle of poverty, trauma and hopelessness that afflicts so many communities, a good place to focus their efforts is children.
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How can communities overcome inertia and resignation? Holifield’s organization starts with two core interventions. The first is career and leadership development. Children as young as 8 go to the HeartSmiles center to participate in facilitated sessions on youth entrepreneurship, budgeting and conflict resolution. Those who want to explore certain career paths are matched with professionals in these fields.
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The second part of her vision is youth-led mentorship, which involves pairing young people with those not much older than they are.

Also relevant/see:

Lost boys, trapped men, and the role of lifers in prison education — from college-inside.beehiiv.com by Charlotte West

This week, we’re publishing Part 2 of a Q&A with Erik Maloney, a lifer in Arizona, and Kevin Wright, a criminal justice professor at Arizona State University. They co-authored Imprisoned Minds, a book about trauma and healing published in December 2024, over the course of seven years. Check out Part 1 of the Q&A.

West: The fact that you created your own curriculum to accompany the book makes me think about the role of lifers in creating educational opportunities in prisons. What do you see as the role of lifers in filling some of these gaps?

Maloney: I’ve said for years that lifers are so underutilized in prison. It’s all about punishment for what you’re in for, and [the prison system] overlooks us as a resource. We are people who, if allowed to be educated properly, can teach courses indefinitely while also being a role model for those with shorter sentences. This gives the lifer meaning and purpose to do good again. He serves as a mentor, whether he likes it or not, to [those] people coming into the prisons. When they see him doing well, it inspires others to want to do well.

But if it’s all about punishment, and a person has no meaning and no purpose in life, then all they have is hopelessness. With hopelessness comes despair, and with despair, you have rampant drug and alcohol abuse in prison, and violence stems from that.

Boys Are Struggling in School. What Can Be Done? — from edweek.org by Rick Hess
Scholar Richard Reeves says it’s time to take a hard look at gender equity

Rick: What kinds of strategies do you think would help?

Richard: In education, we should expand the use of male-friendly teaching methods, such as more hands-on and active learning approaches. We should also consider redshirting boys—starting them in school a year later—to account for developmental differences between boys and girls. We should also introduce more male mentors and role models in schools, particularly in elementary education, where male teachers are scarce. In the workforce, apprenticeship and vocational training programs need to be expanded to create pathways into stable employment for young men who may not pursue a four-year degree. Career counseling should also emphasize diverse pathways to ensure that boys who may not thrive in a traditional academic setting still have opportunities for success. Additionally, fatherhood policies should recognize the importance of male engagement in family life, supporting fathers in their role as caregivers and providers.

While on the topic of K12 education, also see:

How Electives Help All Students Succeed — from edutopia.org by Miriam Plotinsky
Giving students a choice of electives increases engagement and allows them to develop skills outside of core academic subjects.

I recently conducted a student focus group on the topic of school attendance. One of the participants, a high school junior who admitted to being frequently late or absent, explained why she still came to school: “I never want to miss Drama. My teacher is awesome. Her class is the reason I show up every day.” As the rest of the focus group chimed in with similar thoughts, I reflected on the power that elective courses hold for students of all ages.

These courses, from jazz band to yoga, cement students’ sense of self not just in their primary and secondary years, but also in their journey toward adulthood. In these tight economic times, schools or districts often slash electives to save money on staffing, which is highly detrimental to student success. Instead, not only should budget cuts be made elsewhere, but also elective offerings should increase to heighten student choice and well-being.

Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

The Public Microschool Playbook [GettingSmart.com]

On 05/18/2025, in education, education reform, experimentation, ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, project-based learning, real-world assignments, strategy, teachers, United States, vocational / trades, by Daniel Christian

The Public Microschool Playbook — from gettingsmart.com

School systems today face a complex challenge: how to personalize learning while responding to the rapidly shifting needs of students, families, and communities. Enter the Public Microschool Playbook—a new, field-tested resource co-created by Getting Smart, Learner-Centered Collaborative, and Transcend to help public education leaders reimagine learning from the ground up.

This isn’t just about launching new schools. It’s about designing dynamic, student-centered ecosystems that live inside our public systems and reflect the aspirations of the communities they serve. With an intentional focus on access and opportunity, microschools offer more than just flexibility—they offer a path to more relevant, sustainable, and empowering learning for all.

Grounded in three key phases—Planning, Designing, and Implementing—the Playbook equips district leaders, charter networks, and innovators with real-world tools and insights to launch microschools that meet local needs and drive systemic transformation. From policy navigation and budgeting to learner-centered design elements like advisory, PBL, and multi-age cohorts, this guide is a blueprint for creating purpose-built environments that make learning personal and powerful.

Also from Getting Smart, see:

The Reboot of Readiness: It’s Time to Take Action in Renovating CTE from the Ground Up — from gettingsmart.com by Adam Kulaas

Key points:

CTE programs need to move beyond traditional frameworks and adopt the Career Clusters Framework to better prepare students for real-world opportunities.
It’s crucial to integrate career readiness into the entire educational experience, making it an intentional and structured pathway from early education through high school.

Rethinking Accreditation for Emerging Models [Raphael Gang]

On 05/18/2025, in accreditation, education, education reform, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, leadership, strategy, student-related, teachers, youth, by Daniel Christian

Rethinking Accreditation for Emerging Models — from permissionlessed.substack.com by Raphael Gang

What’s Next: Middle States’ Next Generation Accreditation
Inspired by the Iowa project, we teamed up with the Middle States Association (MSA)—a national accreditor that shared our belief that the process had become more of a hurdle than a help.

Together with partners like the National Microschooling Center, Kaipod, and Getting Smart, we’ve built something new: Next Generation Accreditation (NGA)—a faster, more flexible, more affordable process that respects school founders’ time, budgets, and models.

Flexible evidence: Schools can demonstrate quality in ways that fit their model.
More relevant standards: Built for founders, not bureaucrats.
Affordable: Annual dues of $650–$775 and a flat $500 site visit fee—no upsells or hidden costs.
Narrative-driven: Focused on how schools serve families and students, not just ticking boxes.
Fast: We’re piloting this in 2025, aiming to accredit schools in time for ESA eligibility for the 2026–27 school year.

Gifted article: “What Happened When Trump Altered the Deal With Law Firms and Universities” [Taub]

On 05/12/2025, in game-changing environment, law schools, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

What Happened When Trump Altered the Deal With Law Firms and Universities — from nytimes.com by Amanda Taub; this is a gifted article
Does the prisoner’s dilemma still apply when the rules break down?

A few weeks ago, several prominent American universities and law firms found themselves in what seemed to be a classic prisoner’s dilemma, courtesy of President Trump.

His campaign of retribution against law firms that represented or hired his political opponents, and against universities that engaged in “woke” policies or purportedly fostered antisemitism, was forcing them to make an unappealing choice.

Those who capitulated and struck an early deal with the White House, it seemed, might be spared the worst of Mr. Trump’s wrath, but at the cost of jeopardizing their independence. Standing up to the president risked even harsher punishment, particularly if other institutions stayed silent.

Columbia University made a deal with the administration. So did some of the largest law firms in the country. Recent changes, however, suggest that the dilemma is starting to look very different.

In the real world, however, instead of rewarding those who capitulated early, the Trump administration pressured them even more.
…
“Capitulation has a track record,” said Ms. Saunders, “and it’s not pretty.”

Learning Ecosystems

Will July 4th, 2025 mark the downfall of the Republican Party? Time will tell. [Christian]

“If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe.” [Newsom]

Is America being humbled? Or is it being destroyed?

Navigating Career Transitions [er.educause.edu — James, Richichi, Buszka, & Johnson]

The skills defining leadership in 2030 [Moioli]

A deeply troubling item from the NY Times (gifted article)

This Baltimore program shows how to fight generational poverty [Wen] + Lost boys, trapped men, and the role of lifers in prison education [West]

Gifted article: “What Happened When Trump Altered the Deal With Law Firms and Universities” [Taub]

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