In this episode, Jethro Jones interviews Will Richardson, a veteran in the educational field for over 30 years. The discussion covers Will's new educational cohort initiatives, his manifesto addressing the need for educational reform in chaotic times, the role of politics in education, and the significance of long-term thinking for future generations. They delve into the necessity of reshaping educational goals to foster relationships and prepare students for a complex future.

• Constant Evolving, every five or so years. 
• Three C’s - Complexity, Chaos, and Collapse
• The Manifesto
• Will’s Substack
• There is still common ground here regardless of who is in political power.
• What do you want to still exist in 50 years? 
• We can go to our school communities and just ask to have a chat. 
• Parents are the fundamental educators in a child’s life. 
• Jethro on Stewardship
• What are we doing for our grandchildren? 
• It’s personal work first. 
• Soul work before school work. 
• Out of relation with each other and out of relation with other living things. 
• Join Will’s Workshops at https://futureserious.school 

About Will Richardson

Building capacity and community for educators (and others) ready to confront "complexity, chaos, and collapse." Founder, Future Serious Schools; Co-Founder, Big Questions Institute; Speaker, Author, Provocateur, Educator

In this episode, host Jethro Jones interviews Mike Cronley, founder and CEO of Class Composer, about how his software helps create equitable classrooms. They discuss the challenges faced by educators in balancing class compositions and how Class Composer addresses these issues.

• Getting the right kids in the right places in elementary school
• Focus on behavior and then start overloading based on other characteristics. 
• Rarely changed once the school year starts. 
• Classroom imbalance can impact the school for much longer than just the school year. 
• Teachers are happy with the output. 
• People weren’t starters but they make an impact. 

About Mike Cronley

While some big ideas are born in the boardroom, others are born in the lunchroom. In his 12 years teaching third grade near Denver, Colorado, Mike shared the frustrations of many colleagues enduring inequitable classes – for example, classes having an imbalance of low readers or students with challenging behavior. 

These imbalances weren’t surprising, given the student placement process was done with pink and blue paper cards. Over lunch one day in 2007, the school’s music teacher was venting to Mike about some unruly students who mistakenly ended up in her class together, even though they were supposed to have been separated based on their disruptive behavior the year before. 

Wouldn’t it be great, they mused, if there were some software to create class lists and avoid these basic errors? As a self-professed technology geek, Mike started dreaming about the possibility of creating his own solution. That dream grew into an obsession, and he found himself spending evenings and weekends consumed by research – driving his wife crazy. 

The result was Class Composer, software built on Mike’s tech savvy, his teacher’s perspective, and his commitment to creating positive learning environments. 

Mike, who received his B.S. in Psychology from the Ohio State University and an elementary teaching certificate from the University of Colorado Denver, is no longer in the classroom, but is an educator at heart who loves making a positive impact on the lives of teachers and students. 

He lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and two poodles, and he loves to ski, bike, and camp with his family, including his college-age son and daughter.

In this episode, Jethro Jones welcomes back Adam Geller, the founder and CEO of Edthena. They discuss the new Observation Copilot tool, designed to streamline principals' feedback processes for teachers, and delve into the challenges and solutions regarding teacher observations. Adam shares insights on how this innovative tool bridges the gap, saving valuable time for principals while maintaining meaningful and timely feedback for teachers.

• Observation copilot. 
• Streamlining feedback to teachers 
• Where are your pain points in observing teachers. 
• Making sure chickenscratch notes turn into valuable prose and you can generate valuable ideas.
• Quick turnaround time - Observe today and get feedback today. 
• How is streamlining the observation process transformative
• Human powered notes from the principal. 
• Focus is on reorganizing, not on filling in blanks. 
• Computer’s job is to show the evidence that a principal inputs. 
• System to help a principal make a first draft. 
• This service is free for anyone to use spring 2025. 
• observationcopilot.com free for spring 2025

In this episode, Jethro Jones introduces the Big Impact Mixer, where innovative minds gather to share and implement impactful ideas. Jethro discusses his approach of small, manageable experiments aimed at making significant changes and provides insights into some of his personal experiments, including supplements, workout routines, and productivity methods. He encourages listeners to join the mixer and his SchoolX Beta book study for collaborative growth and development.

This episode is a special From the Vault.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Robert Feirsen and Dr. Seth Weitzman about their new book From Conflict to Collaboration: A School Leader’s Guide to Unleashing Conflict’s Problem-Solving Power.

We talk about how to avoid conflict, the three A’s to approach conflict, and much more.

About the Guests
Dr. Robert Feirsen is currently an associate professor and coordinator of the Educational Leadership Program at Manhattanville College. Previously, he was assistant professor and chair of the Education Department at the New York Institute of Technology. A former SAANYS member, Dr. Feirsen enjoyed a distinguished career in P-12 schools. As a school building leader in Westchester and Nassau Counties, he served as an elementary school principal, a middle school assistant principal, and a middle school principal. At the central office level, he served as an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, deputy superintendent, and superintendent of schools. Dr. Feirsen taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels as a social studies and special education teacher in schools in New York City before moving into supervisory roles. Dr. Feirsen holds an Ed.D. from Fordham University. Dr. Feirsen’s research interests include addressing organizational conflict, the school principal-school counselor relationship, principal and teacher retention, the relationship between psychological ownership and professional learning, college readiness, and the applications of design thinking. His research and other articles have been published in a number of academic journals, as well as Educational Leadership and Education Week. Dr. Feirsen has led workshops at such venues as ASCD, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). With Seth Weitzman, he has presented at national and statewide conferences including ASCD, the New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS), and the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NYACTE). Seth Weitzman is also the co-author of From Conflict to Collaboration: A School Leader’s Guide to Unleashing Conflict’s Problem-Solving Power and How to Get the Teaching Job You Want.

Dr. Seth Weitzman sat in a middle school principal’s chair for 27 years in Nassau and Westchester counties. Leadership positions included co-president of the Mamaroneck administrators’ union, president of the Nassau County, and later, the Westchester County Middle School Principals’ Association, and a New York State Middle-Level Liaison (a working group of principals representing every county and BOCES in New York State meeting with NYSED officials). Together with Dr. Robert Feirsen, he is the co-author of two books: How to Get the Teaching Job You Want and From Conflict to Collaboration: A School Leader’s Guide to Unleashing Conflict’s Problem-Solving Power. He is either author or co-author of a number of articles published in national education journals including Educational Leadership and American Middle-Level Education Magazine. Drs. Feirsen and Weitzman have presented in numerous professional association conferences at the county, state, and local levels (e.g. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, American Association of School Personnel Administrators, New York State Middle School Association, New York State Association of Teacher Educators) and graduate-level classes (Teachers College, Bank Street College of Education). He is currently Senior Instructor in the Mercy College Educational Leadership Department. His 40-year education career began teaching elementary school and middle school in Connecticut and New York City. He holds an EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University.

In this episode of the Transformative Principal podcast, we introduce you to Dr. Trish Stoll, a transformative leader who played a pivotal role in the Mississippi Miracle—a remarkable effort to improve child literacy rates in the state. Dr. Stoll will share her insights on how to empower teachers, build their capacity for literacy instruction, and create a culture of learning where all students can thrive. She'll discuss the importance of focusing on teacher capacity, providing ample training and support, and involving teachers in decision-making. Dr. Stoll will also share her thoughts on how principals can be transformative leaders by observing classrooms, learning from students, and creating a culture of continuous improvement. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in improving literacy outcomes for all students.

• Mississippi Miracle
• Prior initiatives
  • Barksdale Reading Academy
  • Reading Universe 
  • Reading First - Literacy block was protected, pockets not the entire state
  • Literacy-Based Promotion Act - 3rd grade assessment
  • Mississippi Kindergarten Readiness
• Focus on Teacher Capacity on Literacy
  • State literacy programs
  • 3 Consortiums throughout the state to help teachers learn more
  • AIM Pathways partnering with the state
  • Lots of training and support for all teachers. 
  • If we focus on learning to read from Pre-K to second
• Empowering Teachers
  • State literacy coaches were teachers
  • Teacher advisory committee - created by state Supt. 
  • Teachers take ownership of their professional learning
  • TEDx talk for teachers
• How to be a transformative principal? Go into classrooms observe what students are doing and be a learner. Even district personnel are learners too

About Trish Stoll

Dr. Trish Stoll is a dedicated and experienced educator who currently serves as the ELA Curriculum Specialist for the Gulfport School District in Gulfport, Mississippi. With over two decades of experience in the field of education, Dr. Stoll has held various roles including general education teacher, Visual Arts Instructor, Literacy Coach, and Instructional Coach. Her passion for implementing best practices in literacy education has made her a valuable asset in improving literacy for students in Mississippi and beyond. Dr. Stoll's commitment to continuous learning, research, and collaboration with other literacy professionals across the nation ensures that students receive the most effective literacy instruction possible. Holding an Ed. D in Educational Leadership, a Specialist Degree in Instructional Leadership, a Master of Science, and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, Dr. Stoll has a strong educational background that informs her work in the field. Furthermore, Dr. Trish Stoll is a Middle and Early Childhood Art National Board Certified Teacher, showcasing her expertise and dedication to the field of education. With her wealth of experience and qualifications, Dr. Stoll continues to make a significant impact on the literacy education landscape, striving to enhance learning outcomes for students and promote excellence in education.

School is becoming more hyper-localized. Parents’ choice is expanding, and public schools are already having to court new families to choose them, and this is going to become even more important as time goes on. John Mihalyo joins me to discuss how to improve your school’s branding. 

• Your identity and brand is an individualized school decision. 
• How to look at a school from a parent perspective
• What is the last parent perspective? 
• If you have a problem with enrollment, retention, and engagement, it might actually be a branding problem. 
• What are your teachers’ elevator pitch? 
• Give them topics of conversation. 
• Give people opportunities to discuss great things happening in your school. 
• Kids who start at your school want to finish at your school! 
• Two ways to look at things: “Tuition is so expensive” and “I’m getting all that for just $X in Tuition? Sign me up!”
• Word of mouth opportunities. 
• If you are not telling your story effectively
• Chaos to alignment to integration! 
• How to be a transformative principal? Ask this question: What is causing things to not go well? 

About John Mihalyo:

John Mihalyo is a distinguished education professional and the visionary founder of Elementary Advancement Solutions, a premier consulting firm dedicated to empowering Catholic and faith-based school leaders, and host of the excellent Catholic School Leaders Podcast. 

With over 20 years of administrative experience and 15 years as a Catholic school principal, John has become a trusted expert in navigating the complexities of Catholic education, including leadership development, advancement, and enrollment growth.

Throughout his career, John has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to supporting Catholic school leaders as they address the unique challenges of faith-based education. His extensive collaborations with pastors, bishops, superintendents, and dioceses across multiple states highlight his ability to develop innovative strategies that align with Catholic mission and values while driving measurable success.

John’s expertise in advancement is evidenced by his instrumental role in establishing two successful Advancement Offices, securing over $1.8 million in funding, and leading impactful initiatives such as a $6 million renovation project. Under his leadership, schools have experienced transformative growth, including an average enrollment increase of 24%, all while building stronger communities rooted in faith and mission.

🎯 What’s in This Episode?

I’m on the lookout for 10 beta testers to join me in shaping the future of the SchoolX Book Study. This isn’t just another course—I’m transforming the live book study into an asynchronous, self-paced experience, and I’d love for you to be part of the process.

💡 Why Should You Join as a Beta Tester?

• Early Access: Get hands-on with the SchoolX Book Study before anyone else.

• Behind-the-Scenes Insights: See how I’m using AI to refine and enhance the content.

• Direct Feedback Opportunities: Your input will help shape the final product.

• Personal Touchpoints: Exclusive one-on-one check-ins with me to discuss your growth and feedback.

I released SchoolX back in 2020 (yes, during the height of the pandemic), and revisiting it recently blew me away. The content is still incredibly relevant, and the feedback so far has been phenomenal—one participant even watched a 2-hour recording and sent me a 1,000-word response! 🤯

Here’s the two videos I mention in the episode: 

Original Video and Refined Video

💸 Bonus Perk:

As a thank-you, beta testers will receive a $50 discount (regular price: $200). You’ll also get full access to worksheets, frameworks, and bonus content.

📝 How to Join:

Spots are limited (max 20 participants), so if you’re interested, head over to Jethro.site/beta  to sign up!

🎧 Don’t miss this chance to be part of something transformative.

Thanks for listening—and as always, thank you for being part of this journey with me. ❤️

In this episode, host Jethro Jones chats with Mike Caldwell, the founder of LinkEd Leaders. They discuss the importance of on-demand mentorship for school leaders, the benefits of having an outside perspective, and the significance of creating a brave space for vulnerability and growth. Mike shares insights on the unique challenges faced by principals and the power of peer-to-peer mentoring.

• Telecoaching for school leaders
• Helpful to have a detached leader
• A place to go and be real
• Safe space vs. brave space
• Being vulnerable sometimes leads to being excluded from opportunities. 
• In 30 minutes, you can have affirmation, support, and clear goals for going forward.
• Retention problem at the school level. 
• Exhausterwhelmulated
• Needs change over time. 
• Power in curiosity
• Understanding Principal Turnover
• LinkedLeaders.com

In this episode, Jethro Jones interviews Dr. Nason Lollar, author of 'The Five Principles of Educator Professionalism'. They discuss the erosion of trust in the education system, the impact of educational fads, and the importance of professional development and teacher morale in rebuilding trust.

• Chasing fads leads to a lack of trust. 
• COVID exacerbating issues. 
• Technology could be a fad.
• Take ownership of our own morale. 
• Morale is a personal decision, but admin still have an impact. 
• Negatives vs. Negativity.
• Damon and I made a commitment to never complain about our leaders. 
• The ways to create a positive culture.
• Don’t entertain negativity. 
• Looking for problems is easy. 
• Strong collaboration to stay away from negativity
• Isolation is the enemy of improvement - Richard Elmore
• How to be a Transformative Principal? Get teachers to share where they need support. Listen to them and have empathy. 

About Nason Lollar:

Having served twenty-four years in the field of education, Dr. Nason Lollar has leveraged those experiences into his first book, The Five Principles of Educator Professionalism. 

  Nason began his career in the classroom, serving as a high school math and social studies teacher and as a baseball coach for fourteen years. He then transitioned to administration, serving as a high school assistant principal for nine years. He is currently serving in his 2nd year as principal at the Madison Career & Technical Center in Madison, Mississippi.

 His journey as a student of Educational Leadership began with graduate work at Mississippi College, and culminated with a Doctorate of Education from William Carey University in 2018. In 2023, Nason was honored by the Mississippi Association of Secondary School Principals as state Assistant Principal of the Year.

  Connect with Nason: On X, @nasonlollar, through his Facebook page, Personal Development, or on his blog, nasonlollar.wordpress.com. 

In this episode, Jethro Jones interviews Dr. Layne Dillard, an educational leader with over 27 years of experience in transforming schools and empowering leaders. Dr. Dillard shares insights on achieving 100% reading proficiency among third graders, the importance of teaching at grade level, and strategies for effective school improvement.

• Cast a vision, shoot for the moon, maybe you’ll hit the stars
• With 37% special education students. 
• We realized we just changed lives. 
• First state report card was an F. 
• Looking at our “Why” 
• Going to have to do things that are hard for adults and right for kids. 
• Tier 1 at grade level. 
• How can we expect them to be proficient if they never see that content?
• Every year they don’t see grade level, they’re even further behind. 
• Fill in gaps from last year, then you never get to current year. 
• Look at data like blood work, not personal. 
• Data can feel like we’re blaming people. 
• Data can be used as a weapon. 
• True differentiation is…
• Intentional grouping of students. 
• Teaching a skill. 
• Knowing your data. 
• Your data is like skeleton. 
• Nobody is a queen bee. 
• How to be a transformative principal? Get a clipboard and go down the halls and look for everything in your building going right. 

Dr. Layne Dillard
Transformative Educator | School Turnaround Strategist | Creator of the LEAD Framework

Dr. Layne Dillard (X, LinkedIn, Web Site) has dedicated over 27 years to transforming schools and empowering leaders to create environments where students thrive. With 18 years of experience as a principal, she led a high-poverty school from an "F" to a "B" on the state report card, earning recognition as a CLAS Banner School and a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. Under her leadership, all 3rd graders at her school achieved 100% proficiency in reading on state assessments.

Layne’s extensive career spans every level of education, from Pre-K to high school seniors. She has also served as the principal of an alternative school, where she worked to ensure that even the most at-risk students could succeed.

Her journey inspired the creation of the LEAD Framework—a student-centered, research-backed approach designed to help schools make meaningful, sustainable progress. Currently serving as an Educational Administrator in the Office of School Improvement with the Alabama State Department of Education, she specializes in data-driven strategies, leadership development, and building positive school cultures.

Layne is a passionate speaker who loves motivating districts, schools, and educators to be the absolute best they can be every single day—because students deserve nothing less. Her mission is to help principals turn challenges into opportunities and imagine the possibilities for their schools and students.

Layne earned her B.S. in Secondary Education and an M.A. in Educational Leadership and Administration at the University of North Alabama. She earned a Doctor of Education in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee