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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Episode 83: Mattering LIVE Episode With Jennifer Wallace

Available January 22, 2026

What if we could unlock the secret to a life of deep connection and purpose? That’s the premise of Jennifer Wallace’s new book, Mattering. In this special live edition of New View EDU, recorded on January 15, 2026, Jennifer shares everything she has learned about the importance of mattering with NAIS President Debra Wilson.

Guest: Jennifer Wallace

Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes

In This Episode:

• “Researchers who study it say that after the drive for food and shelter, it is the drive, the motivation to matter, that shapes human behavior for better or for worse. So when we feel like we matter, we show up fully, we engage, we connect, we contribute. When we are made to feel like we don't matter, we can either turn against ourselves, become anxious, depressed, turn to substances to try to alleviate the pain, or lash out in anger, right? Road rage, online attacks, political extremes, these are desperate attempts to say, oh, I don't matter? I'll show you I matter.” (10:03)
• “Something like 70% of the workforce, employees are reporting feeling disengaged. The way I view disengagement through the lens of mattering is that when we feel, as individual workers, like we don't matter, for whatever reason that is, it's a painful feeling. It releases these painful neurochemicals in our brains, and to stop that, if we don't feel like we have a voice or agency, to stop it, is to disengage. That's the coping strategy that we employ.” (16:40)
• “And so what I argue in the book to leaders, again, not just school leaders, to anybody, is that mattering at work is critical. If we want to support, if we know that children's resilience rests on the resilience of the adults in their lives, and we know that adults spend the majority of their waking hours in the workplace. If we can go and make adults feel like they matter at work, that is how we can bring caregivers and parents home to their kids as their best selves, sturdy adults, so that they could act as the first responders to those kids' struggles. You cannot do it if you are constantly beaten down at your job. You cannot show up as your best self.” (52:19)

Related Episodes: 79; 78; 77; 72; 60; 54; 51

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.