The EdLeadership Pair: Real Conversations for Today’s School Leaders
A Marzano Resources and Solution Tree podcast. As two long-time school leaders, we discuss contemporary issues that today's school leaders face. We offer insights and advice for leaders and share some of our favorite leadership experiences. You will also catch a few married couple jokes sprinkled throughout : )
Episodes
GUEST: Nathaniel Provencio https://www.provenprincipalllc.com/
A parent walks up to your school and gets greeted with “ID.” A teacher walks into the front office and feels like they’re interrupting. A family sits down for an IEP meeting already braced for conflict. None of that shows up on a benchmark report, but it shows up in enrollment, staff retention, and trust, and it’s exactly why custo...
Your school might be trying to solve 2026 problems with a 2006 professional development plan. When we step back and look at who is actually teaching today, the staffing math can be surprising: Baby Boomers and Gen X are no longer “most of the building,” and that reality changes how our messages land, how our PD is received, and how we keep teachers engaged.
We dig into the article “How to En...
Your school building is already teaching, before any lesson plan starts. The walls, the signs, the noise level, the clutter, and even the first 30 feet after the front door send a message about who belongs and how this place works. We dig into a simple but eye-opening practice from an Edutopia article, “What Is Your Building Communicating to Students?” and translate it into real school leadership moves y...
We break down seven leadership behaviors that decide whether people trust us enough to follow, even when our systems look solid on paper. We share real stories and practical moves to show up present, consistent, and coachable in schools and education teams.
• strengthening presence through preparation and clear tech boundaries
• managing body language so emotion does not derail the room
• building trust by ...
A leadership team can do everything right and still get blindsided by the one thing nobody said out loud. That’s why we love the daily huddle: a three to five minute touch base that keeps principals, assistant principals, counselors, and coaches aligned without stacking yet another meeting onto an already impossible schedule.
We unpack how the huddle started as a weekly central office practice and...
Trust doesn’t break in one big moment. It breaks in the small ones: the email that never gets answered, the policy link that’s broken, the “you should know where to find that” response that leaves a family feeling alone. As the school year ramps up, we sit down with a panel of parents from across the United States to talk candidly about what schools are doing well, where families are struggli...
Your school year is going to follow a system whether you design it or not. We sit down with our own opening-of-school planning documents and talk through the tactical moves that keep a campus calm, clear, and focused once students arrive and the pace accelerates. If you are a principal, assistant principal, or district leader building a back-to-school plan, this is a practical checklist you can pause, replay, and tu...
The first days of the school year feel like logistics season, but we think the real work starts earlier: the culture and climate you set before students ever arrive. If we get those wrong, the best calendars, schedules, and initiatives won’t survive contact with real classrooms. So we slow down and talk about how school leaders can intentionally build a campus experience that supports adults and students from ...
Guest: Todd Whitaker www.toddwhitaker.com
Every great leader has been shaped by someone who challenged the way they think. For Mario and Courtney, that leader is Dr. Todd Whitaker.
In this special conversation, one of education's most influential authors shares timeless leadership principles that are more relevant today than ever. Rather than focusing on what's broken in schools, Dr. Whitaker challenges leaders to ide...
🎧 Episode Overview
Instead of introducing a brand-new topic, this special Best of Season 1 episode revisits one of the conversations that resonated most with school leaders across the country.
Throughout Season 1, principals repeatedly told us they were trying to rebuild something that quietly disappeared during years of survival mode—not because educators stopped caring, but because schools had to rapidly adap...
🎧 Episode Overview
Policies tell people what they can do.
Playbooks show people how to do it.
In this Summer Shorts episode, Mario and Courtney explore one of the most overlooked leadership systems in schools: the operational playbook.
Too often, principals become the answer to every question because expectations only exist inside the leader's head. Every email, interruption, hallway conversation, and office v...
🎧 Episode Overview
Most school leaders feel buried in meetings.
Too many committees.
Too many conversations.
Not enough movement.
But the problem usually isn’t the number of meetings.
It’s the lack of clarity and purpose.
In this Summer Shorts episode, Mario and Courtney break down one of the most overlooked leadership levers in schools: intentional teams designing for shared leadership.
Who should be i...
🎧 Episode Overview
In this special event episode, Mario and Courtney bring together a panel of principals from across the country for a raw, honest conversation about what school leadership feels like right now.
From Iowa to Texas to North Dakota to Nevada to New Mexico, these leaders unpack the real weight of the principalship:
- crisis management
- public perception
- staff accountability
- marketing scho...
🎧 Episode Overview
Every school has job descriptions.
But very few schools have true accountability frameworks.
In this episode of the Summer Shorts Series, Mario and Courtney unpack one of the most overlooked leadership moves of the summer: building Pillars Documents.
These are not just role descriptions.
They are clarity systems.
They define:
- Why each role exists
- What success looks like
- W...
🎧 Episode Overview
Every leader has encountered it:
“Everyone is upset.”
“Nobody likes this.”
“The staff is furious.”
But what if “everyone” is actually three people?
In this episode of the Summer Shorts Series, Mario and Courtney unpack one of the most dangerous leadership traps in schools: the exaggerator.
Exaggerators aren’t always malicious. Often, they a...
🎙 The EdLeadership Pair Podcast
Now brought to you by Marzano Resources & Solution Tree
🎧 Episode Overview
A resignation from one key leader can create far more disruption than most school systems are prepared for.
In the first installment of The EdLeadership Pair Summer Shorts Series, Courtney and Mario tackle one of the most overlooked leadership realities: transition planning for single-point-of-failure roles.
W...
Hosts: Courtney Acosta & Mario Acosta
Bios: https://www.theedleadershippair.com/about-us
Podcast: The EdLeadership Pair – Unfiltered Conversations for Today’s School Leaders
Join our growing community of school leaders navigating today’s challenges together. Let us know what topics you want us to tackle next.
Episode Overview
Many school leaders are feeling the same p...
Hosts: Courtney Acosta & Mario Acosta
Bios: https://www.theedleadershippair.com/about-us
Podcast: The EdLeadership Pair – Unfiltered Conversations for Today’s School Leaders
🎧 Episode Overview
“Back to basics” can sound like criticism, but that is not what this episode is about.
In this episode, Courtney and Mario talk about what schools lost when COVID forced leader...
Hosts: Courtney Acosta & Mario Acosta
Bios: https://www.theedleadershippair.com/about-us
Podcast: The EdLeadership Pair – Unfiltered Conversations for Today’s School Leaders
🎧 Episode Overview
The school year may be winding down, but for principals, the work is not slowing down. While teachers and students are counting down to summer, school leaders are carrying the pressure of making sure Augu...
Hosts: Courtney Acosta & Mario Acosta
Bios: https://www.theedleadershippair.com/about-us
Podcast: The EdLeadership Pair – Unfiltered Conversations for Today’s School Leaders
🎧 Episode Overview
Most leaders prepare for interviews the wrong way.
They memorize questions. Practice polished answers. Study accountability ratings. Try to sound impressive.
But the leaders who actually get hired prep...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!