New View EDU

Hosted by National Association of Independent Schools

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100

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Oct 2026

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About the show

The NAIS New View EDU podcast heads into its ninth season seeking fresh perspectives on the skills and dispositions that students—and school leaders—need to thrive in a shifting world. As external factors like AI, global instability, and polarization continue to change education, we're turning to experts from inside and outside independent schools to help chart a positive, purpose-driven path forward. Co-hosts Debra P. Wilson and Morva McDonald dive deep into the opportunities and challenges that rapidly evolving technology presents for schools, and they speak to experts like Vriti Saraf and Peter Nilsson about how to approach the changing landscape. They examine how to make learning meaningful and neurologically enriching, guided by new research from Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and her team at USC CANDLE. Authors Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop provide insight into engaging adolescents in the learning process while caring for their well-being, and Eleanor Daugherty and George Abalekpor from Georgetown share how centering student voices and perspectives creates the conditions for thriving in higher education and beyond. Conversations with Jason Craige Harris and Kenji Yoshino bring in the bigger picture for school leaders this season, as they discuss how to grapple with questions about leadership, human dignity, and maintaining inclusive and welcoming environments in a tumultuous moment. And Jeff Selingo returns to help make sense of what these years of ongoing cultural and educational shifts mean for college admission and our students' futures. Packed with insights and steady, future-focused guidance, Season 9 of New View EDU is not to be missed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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October 20, 202640 min

Educational Design in the Age of AI With Carl Hendrick

Episode 93: Educational Design in the Age of AI With Carl Hendrick Available October 20, 2026 “I think the big rupture that's happened in education recently is AI.” That’s how Carl Hendrick begins his conversation with host Debra Wilson, identifying a clear dividing line between the educators who approach AI as “this is the end of the world,” and those who see the potential for its use. Coming from a background in the science of learning, Carl has a unique perspective on exactly what he thinks the exciting opportunities are to advance our understanding of learning in new ways, and where he believes a more traditional, human-centered approach remains invaluable. Guest: Carl Hendrick Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “I think probably in 10 years' time, we're gonna see a world in education where a lot of the stuff that teachers do that they instinctively know is not effective, you know, marking books, grading books, a lot of administrative stuff, is just not that important. And we'll probably free up a lot of that and hopefully we'll see a world, we'll see a classroom or a school environment where teachers can really do the thing that teachers are so good at, which is being a mentor, being a coach. Inspiring, motivating kids, 'cause that's the thing that is the sort of hard constraint in schools.” (5:49) “The accountability is very much front loaded with the teacher for things that they're really unaccountable for, whether that be student motivation, poor curricular materials, bad behavior, a whole range of things. So we could create a system where the accountability is a lot more like, in that model where you have – and by the way, when the kids are working on laptops, there's no chatbots. They're doing a knowledge-rich curriculum, used spaced retrieval practice. They're, you know, they're kind of doing the same thing as like a lesson would be, you know, or a really well planned lesson, but they're just getting, they're cognitively, like learning happens when you think hard, when you have to take knowledge and apply it. And in a lot of our lessons, kids are not thinking at all. They're daydreaming, they're cosplaying thinking,” (24:25) “And so that's the kind of birthright of kids. I think we owe it to the kids to pass on that knowledge and give it to them. Now, whether they like it or not is irrelevant. You don't look at a science curriculum and go, you know, Darwin's a bit boring, so we'll do something else this year. Or we'll, you know, we'll leave out Newton and we'll you know, we're doing physics, but we you know, we don't like that, so we'll do something else. And so in literature and culture there's these kind of hugely important points that, just to be a kind of citizen and to be a part of our democracy, it's really helpful to know what these things are.” (29:15) Related Episodes: 91 ; 90 ; 81 ; 75 ; 71 ; 68 ; 49 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

October 13, 202641 min

Reducing Harm in a Digital World With Dr. Barry Davis and Laura Tierney

Episode 92: Reducing Harm in a Digital World With Dr. Barry Davis and Laura Tierney Available October 13, 2026 As technology advances at an unprecedented pace, school leaders have to make rapid decisions about how to manage the risks and opportunities in real time. What can we learn from the history of public health prevention strategies about proactive risk management, and how can we help kids continue to grow and develop while living in an increasingly digital world? Host Morva McDonald brings together two experts from disparate backgrounds to share their thoughts on AI, social media, and navigating the delicate balance between preparing kids for the future and mitigating harm. Guests: Dr. Barry Davis and Laura Tierney Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “Now, there's this whole thing in prevention about personal responsibility versus societal responsibility. And I think of this, you know, many of the times this has come up and they talk about is this social media's big tobacco moment? And I've written a lot about big tobacco. What happens is that there's so much that can be done from a personal level, whether it be the students or the parents or the teachers. But there's also the opposite thing where the people, the companies who make this stuff, whether it be AI or social media, they have responsibility. And the government has a responsibility to rein companies in to do things.” (5:33) “You really need to create this, you know, team-oriented, I think, culture and environment where you're getting everyone on the same page. And I think that's harder to do when technology is throwing you curveball after curveball every week. But I think the, what's hopeful, I think, about this is that the same skills are required, you know, that we needed 10 years ago to navigate social media. As you see the evolution of AI happening, you need proactive communication, you need common standards, you need frequent communication to families and teachers. And so I'm hopeful that you can get alignment, but you do have to think about those three groups very thoughtfully.” (11:49) “I think having rules and standards is always a good thing for students and adults, not just the students. So I think of it as a both and – have the rules in place at a school and combine that with education, combine it with practice, because the rules are not there when the bell rings and a fourth grader goes home on their family tablet or starts playing in a multiplayer, you know, video game with their friends. And the rules are not there. And they're left with what standards did they build with the institutions and communities that they're part of?” (24:08) Related Episodes: 91 ; 90 ; 81 ; 75 ; 71 ; 68 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

October 6, 202645 min

The Digital Delusion With Jared Cooney Horvath

Episode 91: The Digital Delusion With Jared Cooney Horvath Available October 6, 2026 “Our children are less cognitively capable than we were at their age.” This startling premise begins Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath’s book, The Digital Delusion, and is the starting point for his conversation with New View EDU host Debra Wilson. From there, they delve into the neuroscience behind the claim, and how an education steeped in technology is changing the way students learn and engage with the world. Guest: Jared Cooney Horvath Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “One of the greatest things I've learned over my 20 years of studying the brain is, it might only take you three years to learn how to speak, but it takes decades before you have anything meaningful to say. Learning how to use a tool is easy. I could learn how to use a hammer in 10 minutes. But surely building something meaningful with that hammer is gonna take years of experience. And none of that has to do with tool training. It has to do with cognitive training.” (23:25) “So that's, I think, going to be the greater danger of AI is, whether or not kids use it to cheat is irrelevant. Of course they do. Whether or not it's gonna harm learning, honestly, is irrelevant. Of course it does. I don't think there's any debate about any of this. How is it going to impact our children's development of who they are, what they believe, and how they interact with the world around them? That is the scarier question to me. And that, that's the one I don't hear a lot of people talking about.” (29:24) “This comes not from mimicking humanity. This comes from being a human. One of the biggest metaphor mistakes we make is people think the brain is a computer, the human is a machine. Those are metaphors, baby. Nobody genuinely thinks, no neuroscientist worth his or her salt genuinely thinks the brain is a computer. We know it is a lot more than a computer. A computer is a very weak version of what we have. But people take that stuff seriously. And the scary thing is, the more serious you take that, the more you elevate technology above humanity. You start to think technology is a better form of us. Therefore, it should take over. We invented technology. Not only is it not a better form of us, we created it.” (39:01) Related Episodes: 90 ; 81 ; 79 ; 78 ; 71 ; 68 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 5, 202639 min

The Future of Digital Literacy With Yvette Renteria of Common Sense Media

Episode 90: The Future of Digital Literacy With Yvette Renteria of Common Sense Media Available May 5, 2026 So much of our focus as educators has begun to turn towards the digital space. How we can leverage technology and innovation to improve educational outcomes, but also how to keep students safe and thriving in a fast-paced digital world, are overwhelming and sometimes seemingly contradictory concerns. As the pace picks up, it’s hard to keep up with the latest information and cutting-edge research to help us make informed decisions. Morva McDonald speaks with Yvette Renteria of Common Sense Media about how her team is helping educators and parents stay on top of everything they need to know. Guest: Yvette Renteria Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “Something that I grapple with as somebody who's been an educator, like none of the adults, at least now– it will soon shift– have experienced this educational world that our kids do. Like the idea of getting to school, getting on the computer, getting online, doing some work and then, you know, pen to paper as well. And just kind of the mix of that day. And so, I mean, shout out to educators who are navigating this new space of how to teach.” (8:25) “One is like, this is our world. So we often say their digital life, or their digital world. And we often hear students and kids in this conversation be like, no, this is our life. Like we don't see a separation between digital life and real life. The second thing we often hear is, things are being done to us…when quite frankly, they might know more than what those policymakers or those decision makers are doing to them. So there's like a little bit of a frustration or like, leave me alone.” (14:22) “I sit in these focus groups and I listen to students, like I said, I'm so optimistic. They know, I think about this, I'm like, as a seventh grader myself, even my former seventh graders, the way they articulate this world is beautiful, to be honest with you. I just, I really do believe that our students, our kids will be okay. They're gonna, because they are...forming their thoughts and their opinions, and they are utilizing strategies, and they are trying things. And I do, they're even highlighting the risks and the concerns with their own mental wellness. They're downloading the apps that keep them offline. They're doing the things. And so that makes me hopeful.” (31:31) Related Episodes Episode 81 ; 71 ; 70 ; 47 ; 31 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 28, 202643 min

Lessons from Retiring Heads With Joan Hill and Russell Shaw

Episode 89: Lessons from Retiring Heads With Joan Hill and Russell Shaw Available April 28, 2026 School leadership has always been a dynamic, evolving role, but never more so than in the past several years. As everything about education and the surrounding landscape changes rapidly, the role of a head of school requires more flexibility, tolerance for ambiguity, and innovation than ever before. On this episode of New View EDU, host Debra Wilson invites retiring heads of school Russell Shaw, of Georgetown Day School, and Joan Hill, of the Lamplighter School, to share their learnings and lessons for future heads. Guests: Joan Hill and Russell Shaw Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “ I think that at our best, our schools can be counter-cultural and can sort of cut against the tide. And we have a world that is turning away from community, right? Our attention is being atomized. People are joining less things. Our schools do community really well. They give kids a model of what does it look like to collaborate, to engage with people who see the world a little bit differently than you do.” (9:53) “I’ve found young faculty members bring an esprit d’corps, a let's do this. It's so fun to witness because sometimes the senior faculty are a little jaded. They're a little, you know, sick around the gills, if you will, but the young faculty know that they've overcome big things in their generation, maybe more so than in any other generation at such a compressed time. Global pandemic, that was a big thing. These deep economic difficulties and huge societal changes. And they persist. They continue to get up every day. They see the joy and the hope in their students, and they want to be part of it. They want to lead it.” (26:04) “I watch some of the young aspiring heads want it so badly. They'll say and do anything, but man, you got to live that. And until you're able to really put one leg in the pant leg and the other and be willing to live it, and find that hill that you can all together rally around, then you become an imposter, you see? And when you're an imposter, you've got a short shelf life, because people don't want Memorex. They want the real thing.” (32:44) “But if you don't love the school with everything in you, if you don't feel deeply called to the mission of the school, the job is just too hard. You've got to believe in the place…These jobs, it's really hard. And you have to show up every day with this. I am doing important purposeful work. And I am going to persevere through the lawsuits and through the enrollment shifts and through the really knotty discipline issue, because I am, on behalf of this institution and mission, trying to serve some greater purpose.” (34:11) Related Episodes: 87 ; 83 ; 81 ; 77 ; 67 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 21, 202638 min

Navigating Disruption through Collaboration With Chad Tew

Episode 88: Navigating Disruption through Collaboration With Chad Tew Available April 21, 2026 It’s no secret that independent schools face ongoing challenges, from enrollment to governance to changing norms and social pressures. The schools that continue to thrive are generally the ones that adapt and innovate without losing their sense of tradition and identity. But that’s certainly easier said than done, especially when solutions like mergers enter the picture. Chad Tew, “Chief Disruption Navigator” for LearnCollab, joins host Morva McDonald to talk about his views on the market and landscape for independent schools, why he thinks of merging as more of a unification process, and how different levels of collaboration can shore up school communities in disruptive times. Guest: Chad Tew Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “One thing that is a challenge for schools, I think, is their governance model, and boards that are focused on kind of like, stability. And we're here to just kind of hold the mission for the future, which is true. And at the same time, sometimes that means that you're so focused on stability that you don't see the flip side of homeostasis, which is kind of apostasis. It's that idea that kind of like programmed, regulated cell death is what the real definition is, where any multicellular organism eliminates either damaged or unwanted or aged cells so that you can maintain a healthy balance. That's a challenge for independent schools.” (5:30) “I think every school should be thinking about a merger or some kind of collaboration. And sometimes some of the most exciting school collaborations come out of a strong school looking at opportunities where they can expand, by kind of helping out or absorbing or merging with another school. The word merger is something that can be scary to people. I like unification better, unifying two schools, unifying two faculties, two student bodies, two cultures, and how do you unify? So you think about it as like, you know, when two families come together, you know, as a result of a marriage, kind of. You want to try and set it up for success by thinking about unification instead of an up-down thing.” (20:28) Related Episodes: 86 ; 74 ; 57 ; 38 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 14, 202642 min

Making How Matter With Julie Williamson

Episode 87: Making How Matter With Julie Williamson Available April 14, 2026 Leadership sometimes feels like a lonely job with lots of competing tasks, but few clear guideposts. Even with the most meticulous planning, we often know conceptually what needs to happen, but falter in articulating how all the pieces will come together. Author, strategist, and consultant/coach Julie Williamson joins host Debra Wilson to talk about the challenges and opportunities of leadership, and what it means to make “how” matter in our work. Guest: Julie Williamson Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “Changing how you lead means changing some deeply embedded habits about how you're showing up together as a leadership team. How you, as the head of the organization, how you're behaving and what you're doing in the organization to drive the strategy forward. If you're not transforming how you lead, you will not transform your organization, no matter how good the strategy is.” (7:31) “The hard things that you want to work on, whether you're a CEO or a head of school, the hard things you want to work on is how do we be in better service to our students, to our families, to our customers, whatever that looks like for you. You don't want the hard things that you're working on to be, got to go wrangle the board again, or I've got to go convince my team that this is the right direction to go. Right? That's not what you want to spend your time on. And that will cause turnovers.” (27:11) “So if a leader is feeling a real sense of anxiety or trepidation about meeting with the board in any way, in my mind, the board is failing. Because you should be creating an environment where whether it's good news or bad news, that person feels confident that they have a group of people who are there to support their success and that they are going to partner with them and hold them accountable, yes. You know, challenge them, yes, push them, yes, but make them feel small or make them feel anxious or make them feel unworthy of the role? No.” (31:53) Related Episodes: Episode 77 ; 67 ; 65 ; 38 ; 25 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 7, 202642 min

Exploring Community Collaborations With Guybe Slangen and Jennifer Cherney

Episode 86: Exploring Community Collaborations With Guybe Slangen and Jennifer Cherney Available April 7, 2026 As independent schools strive to ever expand their impact on their communities and the world, what creative models exist to help them achieve their public purpose? On this episode of New View EDU, host Morva McDonald invites Guybe Slangen of Horizons National to speak about the innovative summer programming the organization designs in collaboration with schools nationwide, expanding equity, access, and community spirit. They are also joined by Jennifer Cherney of the Gateway School in New York City, one of the local partners who can speak to the school experience of working with this unique model. Guests: Guybe Slangen and Jennifer Cherney Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “You don't have to look far to the same headlines now, that we are still a divided nation. Opportunity is not equal for everybody. And then you put that in the context of these independent schools that are all mission driven. And every independent school, regardless of the context or the setting or the history, has, in their mission statement, some version of civic engagement, social impact, global citizenship, 21st century skills, you name it. I mean, that is what independent schools do. It's not just about educating the students while they are within the campus of that independent schools. No, you're setting them up for life, and also to be change makers in the greater community.” (12:19) “People really want to feel like they are part of the collective, that it's not just, and there is this old notion that, okay, if you're raising money for an independent school, you have people there that have deep pockets, you don't need my contribution. This is the kind of initiative that brings people to your door. Let's say I want to be able to contribute. I don't have $100,000 to give to you, but I do have something and I want to contribute. I want to be part of something.” (17:32) “We have a host of public school teachers, charter school teachers who obviously are coming into our program. They're more familiar with serving this population. Maybe they actually teach those same students during the school year. They're also seeing the benefits of this, you know, where it's smaller classrooms. There's more hands-on experience, with assistants, with literacy instructors, you know, and they're able to really kind of roll up their sleeves and focus in ways that unfortunately they just can't during the school year. So that's kind of also giving them this kind of renewed energy, renewed creativity, renewed sense of purpose.” (34:05) Related Episodes: 85 ; 77 ; 74 ; 73 ; 69 ; 15 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March 30, 202643 min

Securing Legacy Through Endowment With George Suttles

Episode 85: Securing Legacy Through Endowment With George Suttles Available March 31, 2026 In a time of constant uncertainty, planning for the future of a school community can feel like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. Big picture strategy and mission dominate our aspirations, but it’s the day-to-day tactical decisions that carry immediate weight. George Suttles of the Commonfund Institute joins New View EDU guest host and NAIS Vice President of Strategy, Ann Snyder, to share his insights on how financial planning can seamlessly blend the aspirational and the practical, securing the future legacies of our schools through careful stewardship of resources. Guest: George Suttles Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “I'd also be remiss if I didn't, if we didn't have this conversation in the context of the times we're in, right? And so I think a lot of institutions and independent schools aren't shielded from this, are navigating uncertainty and turbulence, both persistent and emergent. And so when I say that, I mean, you know, independent schools have been trying to wrap their arms around persistent challenges that we've been having conversations about for years.” (8:11) “Don't make the mistake of siloing the endowment management work with the finance committee or the investment committee without including other school leadership, right? So you mentioned the advancement office, you know, the fundraising development team, they should have a strategic seat at the table, right? Because think about it, they're going to be one of, if not, they're going to be one of, if not the most important, lever or partner that you need to engage with to grow the endowment, right? Because we're going to invest this pool of capital for long-term growth and the markets are going to do what they do, but you're also going to need to equip the advancement team with information and narrative storytelling capability around what possibilities the endowment is going to create for the institution.” (20:05) “So when I think about endowment building sparking a culture of philanthropy, I immediately began to think about, right, it's about legacy. It's about securing the future of an institution we all care about. And that can be connected to legacy planning as it pertains to bequests and other vehicles. So I was like, right. Like if you're not having those legacy gift conversations already, that actually might be a nice entree into beginning to have them.” (36:04) Related Episodes: 74 ; 57 ; 38 ; 20 ; 9 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March 18, 202645 min

Good Conflict with Amanda Ripley and Hélène Biandudi Hofer

Episode 84: Good Conflict with Amanda Ripley and Hélène Biandudi Hofer Available March 24, 2026 Is conflict always something to be avoided? Amanda Ripley and Hélène Biandudi Hofer, journalists and trained conflict mediators, are on a mission to answer that question, and to help shift both narratives and practices around how we recognize and engage with conflict in our everyday lives. They sit down with Morva McDonald to reflect on the stories we tell, how conflict shapes everything from our news cycle to our relationships, and why we all need to develop new skills to help us move towards healthier forms of resolution. Guests: Amanda Ripley and Hélène Biandudi Hofer Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes In This Episode: “So with good conflict, we might have these conversations where our emotions are all over the map, but at least we're experiencing them, than just stuck in this loop of, you know, feeling revenge and wanting revenge and deep anger. But there are these flashes of surprise and good conflict when we're having these good conflict conversations. There are these moments of clarity, opportunities for humor. Who would have thought that potentially that could happen, but there are sparks of that. There's this openness to, that I mentioned, to hearing the other side. So our emotions kind of go on this roller coaster ride, but we get to a place of understanding and it's understanding something on a deeper level about ourselves, about the other person, or about the situation that we're facing.” (12:29) “One of the things that we work with people to identify in that map are these four fire starters, which are things that tend to really distort conflict and make things go sideways very quickly. And so one is humiliation. And another is conflict entrepreneurs. These are people who exploit and inflame conflict for their own ends. And then corruption. So when institutions aren't trusted, whether they should be or not, that's another kind of trip wire into high conflict. And then false binaries or splitting, kind of when you separate people into two camps, good and evil. So you see that in how we talk about people, right?” (17:46) “Oftentimes with conflict entrepreneurs, there is some kind of internal pain that just has not been dealt with, right? And they are spreading that internal pain around and around and around. And I think, to this idea of, well, my gosh, they're so destructive. How in the world do we even think about managing them? I think just recognizing first that there is some deep pain there that they are not aware of, that's a helpful first step in thinking about developing a plan to manage them.” (23:32) Related Episodes: 80 ; 78 ; 77 ; 66 ; 64 ; 62 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.