K12 Confidential: Steadfast Leadership in Uncertain Times

Meet Dr. John VanWagoner, Superintendent for Traverse City Area Public Schools in Michigan. In this episode, John shares his insightful take on the future of teaching, the future of learning, and what’s truly needed to lay the groundwork for education leaders across the nation. 

The Aspirations Academies Trust in England is committed to raising students’ aspirations so that all young people reach their fullest potential and achieve the success they desire. CEOs Steve and Paula Kenning joined the podcast this week to discuss what truly makes Aspirations Academies different from other schools in the UK. We also discuss how they see the future of education and the role of their students in that future. K12 Confidential is presented by Compass Group and produced by Corey Inscoe and Jen Fisher. Your hosts are Dr. Clayton Wilcox, Vice President, Ambassador Relations at Compass Group, and Ray McNulty, President of the Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center.

Join Ray and Clayton as they pause to take a look back. Together, they make connections between lessons learned in previous episodes, share leadership insights, and offer a path to better outcomes for students, teachers, and school communities.  K12 Confidential is presented by Compass Group and produced by Corey Inscoe and Jen Fisher. Your hosts are Dr. Clayton Wilcox, Vice President, Ambassador Relations at Compass Group, and Ray McNulty, President of the Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center.

If schools are going to educate all learners for the future they will live in, they need to be future-focused. But do we abandon all of our current best practices to try unknown strategies? How do we research whether a new strategy works and its impact on our system? New types of leadership strategies are very important for ensuring success. With our guest Dr. William Daggett of the Successful Practices Network, we will share the concept of “controlled innovation” and the need to balance the culture in our systems to embrace both the tradition of our core work and the need to innovate and create a different future for our learners. K12 Confidential is presented by Compass Group and produced by Corey Inscoe and Jen Fisher. Your hosts are Dr. Clayton Wilcox, Vice President, Ambassador Relations at Compass Group, and Ray McNulty, President of the Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center.

So little of our work in education is focused on the future. We often look back in a year to determine where our system underperformed and devise strategies to improve performance. This is essential work, but we must also look ahead to the future – something many of us in education were never trained to do. Don Haddad, superintendent of St. Vrain Valley Schools in Colorado, joined us to discuss essential strategies to understand the importance of both the future and the past in how we make decisions today. K12 Confidential is presented by Compass Group and produced by Corey Inscoe and Jen Fisher. Your hosts are Dr. Clayton Wilcox, Vice President, Ambassador Relations at Compass Group, and Ray McNulty, President of the Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center.

This episode features Superintendent Sean McKenna and Technology Integration Specialist, Sarah Dolan-Adamec of Griswold Public Schools in Connecticut. Sean and Sarah share with us how the district team empowers teachers, brings the student experience into focus, and ultimately positions their schools to represent the future possibilities of education. K12 Confidential is presented by Compass Group and produced by Corey Inscoe and Jen Fisher. Your hosts are Dr. Clayton Wilcox, Vice President, Ambassador Relations at Compass Group, and Ray McNulty, President of the Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center.

How can VUCA leadership impact the K12 world for the better? How can we start educating kids for their future instead of our collective past? Meet Dr. Jeff Dillon, Superintendent of Wilder School District in Idaho. By truly listening, keeping students at the center, and having a clear vision, we’ll hear how Dr. Dillion and his teachers are making waves in their district and uncover how other leaders can model their success. For more info on Dr. Dillon and Wilder School District, you can email Jdillon@Wilderschools.org. K12 Confidential is presented by Compass Group and produced by Corey Inscoe and Jen Fisher. Your hosts are Dr. Clayton Wilcox, Vice President, Ambassador Relations at Compass Group, and Ray McNulty, President of the Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center.

We live in a VUCA world. But what does that mean, and how does it affect how we approach K12 education? In the first episode of this two-part series, Clayton and Ray define VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) and discuss strategies school leaders can use to drive success in this complex world. K12 Confidential is presented by Compass Group and produced by Corey Inscoe and Jen Fisher. Your hosts are Dr. Clayton Wilcox, Vice President, Ambassador Relations at Compass Group, and Ray McNulty, President of the Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center.

Today’s K12 education leaders face wickedly complex challenges that present polarities, headshaking conundrums, and seemingly unsolvable dilemmas. With K12 Confidential, Ray and Clayton hope to help school leaders meet those challenges head-on. In our first episode, Ray and Clayton explain the “why” behind starting this podcast and share the school leadership experiences that helped shape the way they approach those challenges today. 

Today’s K12 education leaders face wickedly complex challenges that present polarities, headshaking conundrums, and seemingly unsolvable dilemmas. In K12 Confidential, Ray McNulty and Clayton Wilcox will focus on steadfast leadership in these uncertain times. Using their robust education experience as a foundation, Ray and Clayton host a series of conversations designed to help school leaders meet these challenges head-on. Through thought-provoking discussions with today’s brightest industry leaders, listeners will hear stories and strategies to better understand how to successfully navigate the many nuances of 21st-century leadership. K12 Confidential is presented by Compass Group and produced by Corey Inscoe and Jen Fisher. Your hosts are Dr. Clayton Wilcox, Vice President, Ambassador Relations at Compass Group, and Ray McNulty, President of the Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center.