318- Up Close with Nevada Succeeds: Leading State Learning Transformation

Welcome back to the Nevada Succeeds mini-series! This three-part series is all about leadership, innovation, and education opportunities within Nevada Succeeds — a Las Vegas-based education non-profit focused on empowering systems transformation through educator impact, policy, and design-thinking.

This third part with Nevada Succeeds marks the finale of the series. Tom is joined by return guest Jeanine Collins, as well as Dr. Marion Smith, Dr. Kaleb Rashad, and Eric Chagala.

Jeanine Collins is the founder and Executive Director of Nevada Succeeds; an Adjunct Faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and the Founder and Principal at Reflect Forward. Dr. Marion Smith is the Superintendent of Summit School District, Colorado. His Racial Equity Adaptive Leadership framework (R.E.A.L) is key to the Nevada Succeeds fellowship program design. Dr. Kaleb Rashad is the Creative Director of the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. Eric Chagala is the founding principal of the Vista Innovation & Design Academy (VIDA). Together, Kaleb and Eric have been hard at work on a new initiative called Unlocked, a Black-led 501(c)3 education non-profit, where they have had an instrumental influence on the mindset and methodology of the Nevada Succeeds’ InspirED Fellowship.

In this episode, Jeanine, Dr. Smith, Dr. Rashad, and Eric discuss the future of leadership, preparation, and development, how they all connected and came to be collaborators with Nevada Succeeds, what human-centered and equity-focused design means to them, the importance of creative leadership, and their thoughts on how we can all become more thoughtful school and community leaders.

Key Takeaways:

[:04] About the Nevada Succeeds mini-series.

[1:22] About the third and final part of the series.

[2:10] Tom welcomes special guest, Jeanine Collins, back to the podcast!

[2:44] Jeanine introduces Dr. Marion Smith and shares how they originally connected.

[4:29] Dr. Marion Smith shares about his career journey and rich educational history!

[5:43] How did Dr. Marion Smith develop his racial equity adaptive leadership framework? What is it about and what does it aim to accomplish?

[8:58] Jeanine shares why the framework resonates so much with her and why she wanted to incorporate it into the Nevada Succeeds fellowship.

[11:04] Tom welcomes Dr. Kaleb Rashad and Eric Chagala to the podcast!

[11:51] Kaleb shares how he and Eric came together to create Unlocked, a Black-led 501(c)3 education non-profit.

[14:03] Jeanine shares what she loves about Eric and Kaleb and why she wanted to get them involved with Nevada Succeeds.

[16:24] Eric explains what human-centered and equity-focused design means when it comes to VIDA and Unlocked.

[18:32] Eric shares some practical examples of human-centered and equity-focused design and the results that it brings.

[20:48] Marion speaks about what human-centered and equity-focused design means at a system level.

[24:27] What is creative leadership? And why is it more important than ever?

[28:22] Jeanine elaborates on how they keep the spirit and message of equity and justice alive amongst the Nevada Succeeds fellows!

[30:08] On the Unlocked website, there is a quote about inviting kids to do work that really matters to them and their community. Eric elaborates on this and shares how, at VIDA, they are “tending to the souls of schools.”

[31:24] Dr. Smith speaks about the kinds of experiences that people would benefit the most from in terms of preparing them to be thoughtful school and community leaders.

[34:58] Kaleb shares about the ways in which we can prepare people to be thoughtful school and community leaders.

[39:35] Eric shares how he believes people can become more thoughtful school and community leaders.

[41:20] Jeanine shares what is on Nevada Succeeds’ roadmap and what she hopes to accomplish in the future.

[43:11] Tom thanks everyone for joining the podcast!

[43:40] Shawnee concludes the Nevada Succeeds three-part mini-series!

Mentioned in This Episode:

Rashawn “Shawnee” Caruthers | Getting Smart

Nevada Succeeds

Nev...