The Making Schools Work Podcast
Join us each week as we talk to different SREB team members and educators across the country to find out the latest in school innovations. From classroom instruction to school leadership, we are going to examine what it is that makes schools work!
Episodes
As another incredible season comes to a close, hosts Daniel Rock and Erin Anderson Williams sit down for a candid look at the major themes, tensions and breakthrough moments shaping our classrooms today.
In this wrap-up episode, the team dives deep into how schools are redefining student data, shifting the conversation around classroom engagement and navigating the rapidly evolving world of AI in education. From pow...
Student engagement is at an all-time low, while student anxiety and behavioral challenges are at an all-time high. How do we turn the tide? Mark Perna, a public speaker, best-selling author and founder of TFS Results, joins Daniel Rock and Chris Bailey to offer a game-changing framework: competitive advantage.
By moving beyond a singular focus on high academic grades, Perna outlines how schools can blend robust acad...
What are you actually wired to do? Betsy Wills, co-founder of YouScience and author of Your Hidden Genius, joins Daniel Rock and Jason Adair to disrupt the traditional follow your dreams model of career counseling. In this episode, Wills breaks down why self-reported personality tests fall short, how unused biological aptitudes drive adult burnout and how educators can use performance-based data to uncover the uniqu...
"Help me work with resistant teachers." It’s a major request for instructional coaches, but Becca Silver, founder of The Whole Educator, says it's often a misdiagnosis.
In this episode, Silver joins Daniel Rock and Jason Adair to explain why resistance isn't a personality trait—it's a human response to unmet needs. Discover how to move your staff past simple compliance and toward true owners...
Bethany Wilson, principal of the #1 ranked middle school in Wilson County, Tennessee, joins the podcast to share the secrets behind five consecutive years of Level 5 TVAAS growth. From opening a new school just months before COVID to being named Tennessee's Principal of the Year, Wilson discusses the shift from doing to leading and how intentional culture-building turns data from a boogeyman into a life-changin...
Why do so many high-quality professional development units end up sitting on the shelf? Jason Adair and Debbie Robertson join the podcast to discuss the HOPE Protocol, a multimillion-dollar grant initiative designed to transform math instruction in North Carolina.
By flipping the traditional PD model on its head, the HOPE framework—Hear, Observe, Plan, Enact—ensures that teachers don't just learn about new stra...
How does a school move from a low-performing list to the top 5% in the state for academic growth? Natasha Brown, principal of Westover Middle School and author of Underdog Leadership, joins Daniel Rock and Erin Anderson Williams to discuss the "Three S’s" of school improvement: stance, systems and support. From data-driven PLCs to boisterous student restorative practices, Brown shares how she built a cultu...
What do great leaders and great educators have in common? They are exceptional communicators. Thomas Murray, Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, joins Daniel Rock and Erin Anderson Williams to dive into the curse of knowledge, the speed of modern communication, and why the most important part of any message is how it’s understood—not just how it’s phrased.
Key Takeaways
- The Stoplight Email: Why rapid-...
How do we ensure the skills students build in the classroom translate to the world of work? In this episode, Dr. Nicole Cobb, Professor of the Practice at Vanderbilt University and member of the Governor’s Council for CTE, joins Daniel Rock and Ashley Shaw to discuss the intersection of school climate and career readiness.
We move beyond "checking boxes" to explore how teachers can model the human skills—c...
In a rapidly changing workforce, students need more than just technical skills—they need the analytical thinking and adaptive problem-solving abilities to apply those skills in real-world contexts. In this episode, SREB Instructional Coach Deb Cullen joins us to discuss how educators can blur the lines between "shop" and "theory" to create a more powerful, integrated learning experience.
Deb sha...
In the conclusion of our two-part series with Principal Baruti Kafele, we move from the leadership mindset to the tactical execution of instructional coaching. This episode is a deep dive into the "Grow You" model, focusing on the sophisticated people skills and communication nuances required to turn high-stakes observations into transformative growth.
We explore the psychology of the feedback loop, the imp...
In the first half of this powerful two-part series, we sit down with Principal Baruti Kafele, a renowned school leadership expert and best-selling author. This conversation moves past the daily logistics of school management to challenge administrators with a foundational question: What is your instructional value to the teachers you supervise?
Kafele dives deep into the "locker room" of school culture, t...
What happens when you stop treating the community as a "field trip" destination and start treating it as a classroom? In this special episode, we are joined by Dr. Lisa Bonelli, the assistant principal at Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville, and three of her students: Melanie, Allison and Niamh.
Hume-Fogg is a high-achieving academic magnet, but their secret sauce isn't just test scores—it’s pu...
How do we move students from simple compliance to authentic engagement? In this episode, Senior Instructional Coach Daniel Rock and Leadership Coach Erin Anderson-Williams sit down with Dr. Tony Johnson, founder of Captivate Perspectives. With over 25 years of experience across K-12, CTE and higher education, Johnson shares how educators can bridge the gap between generational value systems and redefine student moti...
How do you move a high school graduation rate from 60% to 87% in a few short years?
In this high-energy episode, Senior Instructional Coach Daniel Rock and Leadership Coach Erin Anderson-Williams sit down with Dr. Marck Abraham, CEO of MEA Consultant Services and author of What Success Looks Like.
Abraham challenges the traditional, "mushy" definition of school culture, replacing it with a "Culture of ...
Teaching is often viewed as a "solo gig," but the work of student learning is far too heavy for any one person to carry alone. In this episode, SREB Senior Instructional Coach Daniel Rock sits down with Leadership Coaches Erin Anderson-Williams and Susan Simpson to discuss the transition from isolated classrooms to collaborative school cultures.
Our guests dive into the essential traits of high-functioning ...
As the Fall 2026 semester comes to a close, it is time to look back at the schools and strategies that challenged our thinking.
In this special wrap-up episode, Daniel is joined by SREB’s Jason Adair and Ashley Shaw to interrogate the "Best Of" ideas from the last few months. From a high school in South Carolina that lets teachers design their own professional development to a "Taylor Swift Club" ...
The "first-year teaching blues" are real, but they don't have to be a career-ender. In this episode, Daniel explores the impact of the GREAT Grant (Georgia Residency for Educating Amazing Teachers), a program designed to turn career-changers into thriving educators through a paid residency model.
We sit down with Jillian Degan, a former "problem child" student who swore she’d never teach, and...
What really happens to students after they graduate? Does a diploma equal a plan?
In this episode, Daniel Rock and Susan Simpson sit down with the innovative College and Career Readiness team from Tuscaloosa City Schools to find out how they answered their superintendent's single, powerful question: "How do we know they're ready?"
The answer was a comprehensive, K-12 plan built on three E's (...
What happens when English and social studies teachers join a career academy — and every lesson connects to the real world?
In this episode of the Making Schools Work podcast, SREB’s Daniel Rock and Debra Cullen talk with Angie Maples and Wes Stephenson, teachers at the Career Academies of Decatur (CAD) in Alabama. They share how academic teachers are helping students build essential workplace and life skills — from w...
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