The Learnit Podcast

Thirteen years ago Michael Sorrell saved Paul Quinn College, a historically Black Methodist college in Dallas, Texas, from financial collapse, transforming it into America’s first urban work college. Today, he explains why he won’t welcome students back on campus this fall unless he can keep them safe, what America’s anti-racism protests mean for higher ed, and why the single best piece of advice he ever got was to “lead with love.” “At the end of the day we are fighting for something bigger than the perpetuation of ourselves as an institution. We are fighting for the salvation of our students. That’s a bigger cause.”
Show notes:
- Twitter: @michaelsorrell | @jandersonQZ | @Learnit_World
- Paul Quinn College website for more information on their work: https://pqc-edu.squarespace.com/
- More details regarding the reality of social mobility in US college system, available via corresponding Quartz article, written by Jenny Anderson: https://bit.ly/3e0jOhs
- Michael Sorrell, ranked 34 in Fortune's 50 Greatest Leaders: https://fortune.com/worlds-greatest-leaders/2018/michael-sorrell/
- Michael Sorrell's SXSW Edu 2018 talk: https://bit.ly/3fxj4B5

Omega Schools is a network of 35 low cost, pay as you go, private schools in Ghana, serving 8,500 students. Joining as interim CEO in 2014, Alain Tanefo was brought in to turn around the business. Last year, Rising Academies bought Omega. We discuss the challenges with the low fee private school model, ways they stay committed to the most marginalized kids, and how Omega managed to increase its enrolment after the pandemic.
This episode is sponsored by SMART Technologies: https://www.smarttech.com/education/profile
Show notes:
More about Omega Schools: https://omega-schools.com/
More about Rising Academy Network: https://www.risingacademies.com/
Rise of expenditure on education: https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/507681613998942297-0090022021/original/EFWReport2021219.pdf
Favourite book about learning: James Tooley, ‘The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How the World's Poorest People Are Educating Themselves’ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6147197-the-beautiful-tree

Money is pouring into edtech. In 2010 there was $500 billion of venture funding; last year it was 32 times that. As Co-founder and Managing Partner of Juvo Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early stage technology-enabled education companies, Maia Sharpley makes a compelling case for why this acceleration is here to stay. We discuss everything from how frothy the upskilling and corporate market is, to the tutoring and test prep market, to why she left an established firm to start her own venture.
Show notes:
- More about Juvo Ventures: https://www.juvovc.com/
- Global edtech unicorns: https://www.holoniq.com/edtech-unicorns/
- Growth of edtech market: https://www.holoniq.com/notes/global-education-technology-market-to-reach-404b-by-2025/
- Portfolio companies:
Onramp, https://www.onramp.io/
NewCampus, https://www.newcampus.co/
SchooLinks, https://www.schoolinks.com/
- Favourite book about learning ‘Grasp: The Science of transforming how we learn’, Sanjay Sarma, Luke Yoquinto https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49348224-grasp’
- Favourite book not about learning: ‘ Cleopatra: A Life’, Stacy Schiff https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7968243-cleopatra

Wisdom and Olivia founded Empower High School to develop young leaders who can transformatively resist systems of oppression and build new systems of liberation. With a school led by students, guided by educators and co-created with the community, things can get messy, but they’re committed to being comfortable with continual change and to resisting the impulse to revert to a broken system.
Show notes:
- Twitter - @EmpowerHS, @BrotherAmouzou
- More about Empower High School - https://empowerhighschool.org/
- Education as a means of liberation - https://globallearninglab.teachforall.org/video-page/465/wisdom-amouzou-education-is-a-means-for-liberation
- Explanation of transformative resistance - https://empowerhighschool.org/blog/2019/10/28/what-do-we-mean-by-transformative-resistance
- Teaching Community, Bell Hooks - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/833590.Teaching_Community
- Pedagogy of the oppressed by Paulo Freire - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/72657.Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed
- Another Country, James Baldwin - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38474.Another_Country
- This is How you Lose Her, Junot Diaz - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13503109-this-is-how-you-lose-her
- Queen’s Gambit - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10048342/
- The Mandalorian - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8111088/

The Circulus Institute offers the first competency based, adult social and emotional learning certification; a set of courses and coaching built around teacher well being. As CEO and Co-founder, Ellen Mahoney’s work supports teachers in order to better support children. We discuss the motivations behind their work, navigating resistance and the impact of Covid-19.
This episode is sponsored by SMART Technologies: https://www.smarttech.com/education/profile
Show Notes:
More about Circulus Institute - www.circulusinstitute.org
More about Sea Change Mentoring - www.seachangementoring.com
Mentoring work by Dr Carla Herrera - https://greatlifementoring.com/team/dr-carla-herrera/
The Hemingway scale, Dr Michael Karcher - http://adolescentconnectedness.com/
The work of Michael J. Nakkula - https://www.gse.upenn.edu/academics/faculty-directory/nakkula
The abuse of Devonte Hart - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/us/hart-family-crash.html
Adultification of Black girls - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/parenting/adultification-black-girls.html
Teacher well being index - https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/research-reports/teacher-wellbeing-index-2020
RAND Corporation, report on teacher related stress - https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1108-1.html
More about CASEL - https://casel.org/