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Jeff Wetzler, Co-founder of Transcend, on Innovation in School Design

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This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Jeff Wetzler, co-founder of Transcend, a nonprofit focused on innovation in school design that works with hundreds of school communities in over two dozen states in America. He shares his background and what motivated his interest in helping to bring about transformational changes to improve student outcomes. They discuss some of the features of classroom redesign, including school-based examples of how it can modernize our industrial model of education, to bring it in line with the upgrades we have all witnessed in other aspects of society such as transportation and technology. Wetzler talks about how school and role design can help teachers more effectively engage students in learning and maximize their potential. He offers recommendations for policymakers and school leaders seeking to implement classroom design.

Stories of the Week: In San Antonio, a high school student won a prestigious award for her work founding a non-profit that offers free online STEM courses to underserved students. Should we eliminate school boards? An EducationNext article questions whether they are capable of addressing 21st-century K-12 education challenges, or merely an obsolete mechanism for maintaining political power?

Guest

Jeff Wetzler is a co-founder of Transcend, a nonprofit organization that fuels innovation in school design in close partnership with visionary school operators around the country. Prior to co-founding Transcend, Jeff spent a decade in senior leadership roles at Teach For America. For the majority of that time, Jeff served as EVP of Teacher Preparation, Support, and Development and Chief Learning Officer, where his teams focused on optimizing the training and ongoing support of TFA’s thousands of corps members nationally. Before that, Jeff worked at Monitor Group, an international consulting firm, where he focused on adult and organizational development and created a technology product to extend the impact of learning experiences. Wetzler is currently Board Chair for New Classrooms Innovation Partners and has also served on the boards of Uncommon Schools NYC, and the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education.

The next episode will air on Weds., October 19th, with Dr. Maryanne Wolf, the Director of the Center for Dyslexia and Diverse Learners at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and the author of Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World.

Tweet of the Week:

News Links:

San Antonio high school student wins national award for helping bring STEM education to underserved communities

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2022/10/05/san-antonio-high-school-student-wins-national-award-for-helping-bring-stem-education-to-underserved-communities/

It’s Time to Eliminate School Boards - Education Next

https://www.educationnext.org/its-time-to-eliminate-school-boards/

Hosts:
Cara CandalGerard Robinson
Guest:
JWJeff Wetzler