Disrupting the Status Quo of School Leadership with Amy Anderson
This is Season 5, Episode 19 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Amy Anderson; in this episode, we’re focused on what it means to rethink how we educate students in school systems around the world.
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Amy Anderson Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners
Amy Anderson co-founded RESCHOOL Colorado in 2013 and became the Executive Director in 2018.
Amy Anderson co-founded RESCHOOL Colorado in 2013 and became the Executive Director in 2018. Her life’s work has been to ensure that our systems of learning offer options that are responsive to the interests and needs of the families they serve, with a particular focus on families who face greater barriers to accessing opportunities.
Before that, Amy served as Associate Commissioner at the Colorado Department of Education, leading the Division of Innovation, Choice, and Engagement where she was instrumental in creating a statewide vision for personalized learning and expanded learning opportunities.
Earlier in her career, Amy led groundbreaking work in a variety of education-focused organizations, including online and blended learning initiatives at the DK Foundation, state and national education policy and school finance projects with APA Consulting, new school development for the Colorado League of Charter Schools, and working with educators to launch the nation’s first charter schools in the early ‘90s at Designs for Learning in St. Paul, MN.
Amy holds a Ph.D. and M.Ed. from the University of Colorado and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin.
FocusED Show Notes with Guest Amy Anderson
Amy starts the conversation with the fact that we need outside partners to do the best work we can on the inside. Don’t miss what she says about the time that students spend beyond the school walls and the need to engage the community to support all learners.
Dr. Anderson’s work is primarily with students who are typically marginalized by the system.
Joe asks Amy to go into more detail about building the ecosystem of partnerships versus the competitiveness that can ensue when resources are scarce.
She talks about a funding source called “LearningDollars,” which is an innovative approach for families to access money for learning providers that exist outside of the school system.
We love the concept of “MoonShot” that she mentions–curating ideas to support learners in new and different ways.
Amy believes that there are amazing educators who have the capacity to codesign new projects to do better for all students. She mentions a learning lab that’s doing some of that work now.
All we need is to give our educators the time and space to innovate and they will. ~ Amy Anderson
We talked a lot about how the education systems are not currently designed to support all learners so the need to go outside of the traditional spaces is critical.
Joe mentions a project in his own district where students are working to rebuild their own community through the use of their trade knowledge and credentials that they earned in school.
Amy explains some of her background during the onset of the charter school movement, which started with her involvement with housing efforts for refugee students.
We don’t have to accept the system the way it is. ~ Amy Anderson
Amy talks about what she reads and the people she follows to continue her own development. One book in particular is Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux.
She follows Clay Christensen’s work regarding disruptive leadership.
She mentions the work of Big Picture Learning. Check it out.
Amy ends the conversation with work that’s needed at the policy level in states around the country. She talked about getting a nugget of an idea on a ballot but that this type of thing is a learning experience and that power can come from a small group of people.
Call to Action: Look to adjacent organizations to be able to take the load off of schools and expand opportunities for all students.
Check out resources on the RESchool website.
Related Content from TheSchoolHouse302
Our FocusED interview with Dr. Doug Reeves
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