The Education Equation with Jeremy Singer

Jeremy Singer sits down with Rebecca Winthrop, senior fellow and director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution and co-author, with Jenny Anderson, of The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better. In a Brookings survey of more than 65,000 U.S. students, 75% of third graders say they love school. By 10th grade, it's 25%. Winthrop explains why disengagement is still hard to spot, starting with how she misread her own two sons during COVID. The book's core finding: engagement isn't a yes-or-no question. Students move among four modes (Passenger, Achiever, Resister, and Explorer), and these are states, not traits. More than half of middle and high schoolers spend most of their time in Passenger mode. Fewer than 4% regularly experience Explorer mode. Key Highlights: • Achievers aren't the goal. They follow instructions well but avoid risk, focus on grades over learning, and cheat at high rates. • Autonomy moves disengaged students fastest. More…

In this episode of The Education Equation, host Jeremy Singer talks with former and current Executive Directors of Partners in School Innovation: founder Julien Phillips, Becky Crowe, and Derek Mitchell. The conversation covers the organization's 30-year history in public education, tracing its transition from an early AmeriCorps talent model to a fee-for-service continuous improvement partner. Key Topics: 🌱 Origin Story: Founder Julian Phillips explains how combining his background in the Peace Corps, McKinsey, and Ashoka led him and co-founder Kim Gross to launch the organization alongside the creation of AmeriCorps. 📊 Navigating Policy and Funding Shifts: Former ED Becky Crowe details managing through the No Child Left Behind era, handling federal funding instability, and shifting to a fee-for-service model with experienced School Improvement Fellows. 🚀 Geographic Expansion: Current ED Derek Mitchell outlines expanding the model outside California into districts like Philadelphia and Battle Creek using an…

In this episode of The Education Equation, host Jeremy Singer talks with Trevor Muir—an educator, author, speaker, and founder of Epic PBL. Recorded at College Board's Advanced Placement Annual Conference, this conversation explores how project-based learning (PBL) can address the ongoing relevance crisis in today's classrooms and prepare students for the durable skills needed in an AI world. Trevor shares his journey from a classroom teacher to a leading advocate for "main course" PBL—learning experiences that require students to think critically, collaborate, and solve real-world problems. They discuss the difference between meaningful applied learning and "dessert" projects, how AI can serve as a powerful project-planning partner, and practical ways for AP teachers and school leaders to effectively incorporate and scale PBL while maintaining content mastery. Key Highlights: Dessert vs. Main Course Projects: Trevor explains the difference between projects tacked onto the end of a unit (like a model…

Global Tech, Local Impact: Unlocking Classroom Bottlenecks with Emma Dorn How can we let data drive student success? On this episode, host Jeremy Singer talks with Emma Dorn, a Senior Knowledge Expert at McKinsey & Company, about how school systems improve and sustain progress at scale. While the US debate focuses on whether to use technology, the Global South innovates out of necessity due to resource constraints. From solar tablets in Malawi to WhatsApp coaching in Pakistan, Emma shares how to solve the core instructional bottleneck. Emma outlines five case studies from around the world where technology solves real instructional problems: • First, design for the instructional bottleneck, not the tech. In Malawi, where class sizes reach 150, Imagine Worldwide deploys offline, solar-powered tablets running adaptive software, doubling literacy and math fluency. • Second, technology designed for teachers can be more transformative than direct-to-student devices. McKinsey's analysis of global PISA data shows…

AI and the Future of Learning with Ethan Mollick Jeremy Singer sits down with Ethan Mollick, professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and author of Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, a New York Times bestseller and a best book of the year from The Economist and Financial Times. Mollick is a defining voice in the AI space, testing generative tools in real-world classrooms and authoring the widely read newsletter One Useful Thing. He is the Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Rowan Fellow, and Associate Professor at the Wharton School, where he directs the Generative AI Lab and studies the effects of AI on work, entrepreneurship, and education. He was named one of TIME Magazine's Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence. Despite the rapid pace of development, Mollick argues that the AI we use today is the worst it will ever be, necessitating a proactive shift from denial to engagement. In this episode, he explains why the "homework apocalypse" is already here…

Cognitive Science in the Classroom with Dan Willingham Jeremy Singer sits down with Dr. Daniel Willingham, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and author of Why Don’t Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. Despite decades of robust research into how the human brain learns, a significant gap remains between laboratory findings and daily classroom instruction. In this episode, Dr. Willingham shares the origin story of his career pivot from memory researcher to educational translator following a transformative 2001 conference with teachers in Nashville. The discussion moves beyond the hype of educational trends to explore the fundamental constraints of the human mind. Willingham and Singer break down why students are naturally averse to thinking, explaining that the brain is designed to save effort by relying on memory rather than slow, hazardous problem-solving. They discuss why spacing—revisiting content…

Jeremy Singer, president of the ⁠College Board⁠, is joined by Jennie Magiera, Google’s Global Head of Education Impact, to discuss the transformative role of AI in schools. Magiera, who began her career as a math teacher and tech skeptic at Chicago Public Schools, explains her shift toward viewing technology as a powerful vehicle for educational equity when it is used to addressspecific instructional challenges. The discussion highlights ⁠LearnLM⁠, Google’s family of AI models fine-tuned specifically for education and grounded in five core learning science principles: active learning, managing cognitive load, adapting to learners, stimulating curiosity, and deepening metacognition. Magiera shares ⁠a study⁠ showing that students who used LearnLM for short tutoring sessions experienced a 5.5% performance boost on novel topics compared to those working with human tutors alone. ⁠A six-month Northern Ireland pilot⁠ further demonstrates AI's impact, with teachers reporting an average of 10 hours saved per week on…

In this episode of The Education Equation, host Jeremy Singer, President of the College Board talks with Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, about the evolution of their decade-long partnership and the transformative role of AI in the classroom. They reflect on the early days of providing free, world-class SAT practice to tens of millions of students and share the "beast mode" origins of Sal’s instructional videos. The conversation moves into the launch of a new collaboration between the College Board and Schoolhouse.world, which provides free, peer-to-peer SAT tutoring to help students stay accountable and motivated. Sal discusses insights from his book, Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (And Why That’s A Good Thing), and describes his first experience with GPT-4 as a "benevolent alien moment" that signaled a new era for educational technology. He explains how AI tools like Khanmigo serve as Socratic tutors that nudge students toward answers without doing the work for them, while…

🎧 The Education Equation: Dr. Janice Jackson on Scaling Solutions On this episode of The Education Equation, host Jeremy Singer speaks with Dr. Janice Jackson, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Executive Director of the Aspen Institute's Education and Society Program. Dr. Jackson, a CPS alumna, discusses her journey leading one of the nation’s largest school districts. She notes that her time as a principal provided the best preparation for the superintendency. Under her leadership, CPS boosted its graduation rate from 55.8% in 2010 to 82.5% in 2020. This dramatic turnaround was driven by intentional work, including making students take a college entrance exam to graduate and implementing the Freshmen on Track system, which was informed by data from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. This success was built on data transparency, accountability, principal empowerment, and strong public-private partnerships. The conversation moves to Hope Chicago, the two-generation debt-free…

In this special live episode, Jeremy Singer interviews Liz Cohen, author and VP of Policy at 50Can, as part of the College Board Forum 2025. Cohen, an expert in K-12 education, discusses her new book, The Future of Tutoring: Lessons from 10.000 School District Tutoring Initiative. She argues convincingly that tutoring is one of the few interventions with clear evidence of improving educational outcomes. The conversation explores how the COVID-19 pandemic and federal ESSER funds created a unique opportunity for the research and scaling of tutoring, which Cohen refers to as an "accidental experiment". By May 2023, 80% of U.S. school districts were offering some form of tutoring. Cohen shares data on significant academic gains from initiatives in places like Washington D.C. and Guilford County, North Carolina. Key Takeaways: Defining High-Impact Tutoring (HIT): Effective elements include tutoring at least three times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes, a student-to-adult ratio of no more than 4:1 (ideal), and…

A Reimagined Internship with Dan Gonzalez Welcome to the Education Equation, a new podcast focused on what the evidence says actually moves the needle in education. In this episode,Jeremy Singer talks with Dan Gonzalez, co-founder and co-CEO of District C, a national nonprofit reimagining the internship experience. Dan's career spans engineering, the classroom, and corporate leadership, In 2016, Dan and his wife, Ann Jones, launched District C to address a crucial gap between academic learning and the collaborative skills students need for the modern workforce. Their solution, called Teamship, offers a new internship model where student teams solve real-world problems for real businesses. Referenced in the Episode: Dan C talking about the "3-point economy" - https://www.districtc.co/point-of-view/ Dan’s Education Book: Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol: https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Inequalities-Children-Americas-Schools/dp/0060974990 Finding Purpose: Dan explains how he found purpose in the "unlikeliest…

Jeremy Singer shares why we're starting The Education Equation and what you can expect in upcoming episodes as we kick things off! Be sure to like and Follow The Education Equation with Jeremy Singer wherever you get your podcasts.

Education Innovations and The Charter School Impact In this episode, Jeremy talks with Jim Manly, Chief Schools Officer at the KIPP Foundation, about his over 30-year career in education, his insights on charter schools, and his vision for the future of learning. Jim's career spans more than 30 years and includes roles as a teacher, school leader, and system leader at innovative organizations like Teach for America and Success Academy. Jim shares his journey from a struggling teacher to a founding principal of Success Academy Harlem Two, where the school became the top-performing school in its district. In talking about evidence of KIPP and charter school impact he highlights this CREDO study: https://ncss3.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Credo-NCSS3-Report.pdf His favorite Education book: Why Don't Students Like School? by Daniel Willingham Key Takeaways: > The Power of High Expectations: we discuss how Success Academy’s early success was driven by an "unwillingness to listen to old conceits of what…

Transforming Education: AI in the Classroom with Dacia Toll In this episode of The Education Equation, host Jeremy Singer talks with Dacia Toll, the co-founder and co-CEO of Coursemojo, an AI-powered teaching assistant platform. Dacia is also the co-founder of Achievement First, a prominent charter school network with around 40 schools across the Northeast. The discussion focuses on how Coursemojo addresses two critical challenges in education: reading achievement and teacher retention. Toll explains that the reading data for eighth graders is at a 30-year low, which she describes as a "national emergency." She also emphasizes the urgent need to make teaching a profession that more people want to join and remain in. Coursemojo tackles these issues by making the core English Language Arts (ELA) instruction that teachers are already doing more effective, engaging, and easier. Unlike many other EdTech products, Coursemojo is not a supplemental tool; it integrates directly with schools' existing instructional…

The People Systems Behind Educational Change In this episode, host Jeremy Singer speaks with Sari Factor, Vice Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer at ⁠Imagine Learning⁠, a company dedicated to providing high-quality educational experiences. Factor, who began her career as a math teacher, has over 40 years of experience in the education sector and has held leadership positions at major companies such as Kaplan, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin. Sari and Jeremy discuss the significant challenges of implementing change in K–12 education, which Factor describes as "people systems" that are inherently difficult to change. The conversation also touches on the sobering results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which showed a widening performance gap in both math and reading. Factor shares her insights from ⁠a Forbes piece she wrote in Marc⁠h, where she advocated for rethinking K–12 curricula to improve student outcomes. They also delve into the effectiveness of knowledge-based literacy…