Teacher attendance is the clearest early warning sign of teacher turnover, and Dr. Tommy Chang, CEO of New Teacher Center, says most school systems are not watching it. He was not watching it either when he ran Boston Public Schools. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Dr. Tommy Chang, CEO of New Teacher Center and former Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, to talk about what actually keeps new teachers in the classroom. Tommy immigrated from Taiwan at six without a word of English. His first grade teacher, Helen Cowles, taught him to read and write, and he traces his belief in public education back to that classroom. He came into teaching on an emergency credential in Compton in 1997, which is why he will not argue about pathways. Whether a teacher arrives through a traditional program or through a state that now allows almost no credentialing, his position is that the coaching has to be guaranteed either way. He and Mike get into the numbers most systems overlook, including why attendance predicts turnover twelve to eighteen months out and why district-level data hides what is actually happening school by school. Tommy also names the leadership shift he has made, away from the warrior superintendent who runs through walls and toward what Atul Gawande called pit crews rather than cowboys. He is honest that the tension between urgency and patience has never resolved for him. Tune in to hear why Tommy thinks the real job for leaders of his generation now is learning to get out of the way.   Chapters: 🌎 01:49 Tommy Chang arrived at six without English and later ran Boston's schools 📉 07:06 Teaching careers now run six to eight years, not fifteen 🏫 09:37 Why turnover only makes sense when you read it school by school 📊 15:33 Teacher attendance predicts turnover twelve to eighteen months out 🏛️ 21:23 The Carnegie unit and a school model still designed for 1908 🏁 30:33 From the warrior superintendent to pit crews instead of cowboys 🔀 39:20 From Strength to Strength and the pivot from doing to coaching 🧵 41:08 Find your role in the movement and lean into your strengths Links: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drtommychang New Teacher Center: newteachercenter.org New Teacher Center on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/new-teacher-center Connect with Dr. Tommy Chang on LinkedIn or explore New Teacher Center's work to see how school systems build the capacity to coach and mentor their newest teachers.   Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com Publish a Book That Matters:  booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters:  podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org  For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org Stay strong. 

Gold Chhim leads national partnerships at Education Pioneers. For years he kept his identity and his leadership in two separate lanes, and closing that gap is what he now means by authentic leadership. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Gold, Managing Director of Partnerships at Education Pioneers, to talk about what it costs to be the only one in the room and what changes when you stop paying it. Gold grew up on the east side of Compton, the son of a Cambodian refugee mother who told him his job was education. His schools were roughly 65% Latino and 34% Black. The remaining 1% was him. He got into UCLA and finished year one on academic probation, wondering whether he was smart enough to be there. Two days after graduating, he flew to Detroit with two suitcases and started teaching high school math. He founded the basketball team too, which made him the winningest coach in school history by default. Ron and Gold get into the part that does not fit on a resume. Gold's students in Detroit had never met an Asian person, and their only reference point was Jeremy Lin. The two of them compare notes on being judged by other Asian Americans for how they talk, and on why code switching eventually stopped being worth it. Tune in to hear the question Gold uses as a north star: is he living as someone 15 year old Gold would look up to?   Chapters: 🌏 01:53 Gold Chhim and the short list of Southeast Asian leaders in education 🧭 08:31 The hustle his mother taught him: education was the job 🎓 10:38 Academic probation at UCLA and the fear of not belonging 🧳 12:23 Two suitcases to Detroit two days after graduating 🔢 14:49 Growing up as the 1% on the east side of Compton 🏀 21:23 His Detroit students had never met an Asian person before 🏙️ 27:23 Teaching in a city that woke up bankrupt 💿 37:54 Music as a better entry point than what do you do 🚦 39:32 Why he stopped keeping identity and work in separate lanes 💬 49:57 The Ronderings question: create the conditions for authentic leadership Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gold-chhim-94b59a9a/  Connect with Gold Chhim on LinkedIn to learn more about his partnership work across the education sector at Education Pioneers. He asked for it directly on the episode: message him, and he will look for a way to partner.  Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473  Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org 

Jesse Melgares runs a TK-12 charter school network in South Los Angeles, and he argues teacher retention is not a teacher problem. It is a systems problem, and most school systems never built the systems. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Jesse, CEO of The Accelerated Schools, to talk about making good instruction repeatable instead of lucky. Jesse grew up in East Hollywood, a first generation Salvadoran-American in LAUSD schools in the nineties. He started as an English learner, reclassified in third grade, then tested into the gifted program, which he mostly remembers as the Thursdays when a few kids got pulled out to play with Legos in another classroom. He is blunt about what that sorting told the other 90 percent. A high school Spanish teacher put the community college transfer path in his head, he went from Glendale to UCLA, and he joined Teach For America in 2006. Twenty years later, two years into the CEO job, he describes the work almost like engineering. His teams build the master schedule by rostering English learners and students with disabilities first, because scheduling is usually what blocks that support. On the adult side, HR benchmarked pay across LA school systems against the top quartile, and operations replaced seven separate email addresses with a single help desk ticket carrying a 48 hour response commitment. The payoff he points to: English learners and students with disabilities posted the same gains as everyone else last year, which he says almost never happens. Tune in to hear about the broken camera that sat on a bureaucrat's desk for months, and what Jesse says it cost.     Chapters: 🎓 01:56 Meet Jesse Melgares: East Hollywood to UCLA by way of community college 🧩 04:39 Gifted programs decide who gets a chance and who does not 🍎 11:04 A complex profession that a 22 year old cannot just walk into 🌆 17:47 Building the Black and Brown middle class in South LA ⚙️ 23:14 The unglamorous systems work that breaks down silos 🗓️ 28:46 Build the master schedule around English learners first 🚧 33:09 Why the teacher gets blamed when the system was never built 💵 38:15 Benchmarking teacher pay against the top quartile in Los Angeles 📹 43:06 The broken camera that sat on a bureaucrat's desk for months 🤔 49:34 Anyone who says they have the one answer probably does not Links: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jesse-melgares-4878717 The Accelerated Schools on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/the-accelerated-schools Website: accelerated.org Connect with Jesse Melgares on LinkedIn to talk about building school systems that support teachers well enough that they stay, and follow The Accelerated Schools to see the TK-12 work happening in South Los Angeles.   Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com Publish a Book That Matters:  booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters:  podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org  For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org Stay strong. 

Philanthropy does not fail for lack of money. It fails when nobody in the room has the courage to put the issue on the table. Marvin L. Smith has spent twenty years watching that happen from the inside. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Marvin, founder of the advisory practice and podcast Funding Bravely, for a conversation about what it costs to keep your voice inside systems that were never built for you. Marvin grew up outside Boston, a Black and brown kid in a predominantly white, upper income town, with a hoarse voice that made read alouds something to survive. Tennis is where he found leadership before he found words. In third grade a teacher had him beating sixth graders in a math contest and feeling invincible. In eighth grade, an algebra teacher pulled him out of history class and threatened his place at the school for letting a friend copy his homework. He bombed the state test that year and did not get his confidence back for decades. He and Ron get into philanthropy from close range. Funders who quietly bankroll advocacy but will not attach their names to it. Rooms convened to solve a problem with nobody present who has lived it. Marvin's read: the deciding factor was rarely the size of the check or the polish of the pitch deck. It was whether courage showed up. They also talk about what comes after a role elimination, and why Marvin will not shrink to fit somebody else's job description.   Chapters: 🎾 04:05 Meet Marvin L. Smith: a hoarse voice and a tennis court ➗ 05:54 Feeling invincible in math, then threatened over a shared homework 📉 08:28 The state test never made for him and the repair nobody offered 🎒 09:58 The kids were never the problem, so he asked what they wanted 🏆 18:19 Learning tennis etiquette, then deciding to play his own way 💸 26:23 What twenty years close to donors actually showed him 🔑 28:26 Courage was the variable, not the money or the pitch deck 🌊 30:56 The great wealth transfer and the advisory practice built for it 🛡️ 32:58 What makes people act bravely, and why nobody wants to go first 🎯 35:40 The tennis coach question that became his advising model 💼 41:45 A role elimination, and refusing to let the market set his value ✊ 45:10 I cannot shrink myself to fit someone else's job description 🔁 53:41 Reparative philanthropy and why no donor should do this alone Links: Website: fundingbravely.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marvin-smith-a2672012 Substack: open.substack.com/pub/fundingbravely Funding Bravely podcast: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts Connect with Marvin on LinkedIn or follow Funding Bravely to hear the conversations he is having with grant makers and fundraisers about where courage actually shows up in philanthropy, including a coming miniseries on donor advised funds. He also works directly with wealth holders and nonprofit leaders on philanthropic advising and storytelling. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473  Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org 

Economic mobility programs usually arrive with a plan for parents. Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio starts by believing them. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio, Executive Director of LIFT-DC, to talk about what it takes to break the cycle of poverty. LIFT treats parents as the CEOs of the household and pairs direct cash with financial coaching. Over 90 percent of LIFT's members are women, many of them single mothers, and some arrive holding master's degrees. Neils traces that conviction to his own K-12 years in the DMV, where he moved six times between kindergarten and ninth grade. A tenth grade counselor told him he could not get into his dream school and gave no reason why. The next year, a different counselor told him he could, and then helped him do it. He also makes a blunt case about the sector's habit of studying what it already knows. Pilots are supposed to test whether something works, and cash transfers work. LIFT's DC members pushed a local child tax credit into the city budget, then told Neils they were not done, because cash without coaching is only half of it. Mike and Neils also get into the consulting practice Neils built after friends kept asking him how to start a nonprofit, and the short book he wrote so the answer would fit in an hour. Then there is the comic book habit that has outlasted every job he has held. Tune in to hear why Neils believes the people closest to the problem are the ones already holding the solution.   Chapters: 🌍 00:50 Meet Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio, son of Ghanaian immigrants and lifelong DMV resident 🎓 07:55 Six moves before ninth grade and the teachers who believed in him 💵 11:11 Parents are the CEOs of the household: LIFT's cash and coaching model 🤝 14:57 Financial coaching rooted in dignity instead of a document checklist 🏛️ 16:51 Members set the policy agenda: DC's child tax credit fight 🔁 19:35 Pilots are supposed to test what works, and cash transfers already do 📘 22:34 Turning friends' questions about starting a nonprofit into a short handbook 🌱 26:26 Do not let the idea just stay in your head 🦸 31:12 What comic books taught him about hope and not giving up 💬 38:05 Society will tell you the problem never gets solved, believe yourself anyway Links: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nryemofio LIFT: whywelift.org LIFT on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/lift-inc Connect with Neils on LinkedIn or explore LIFT's work to learn more about investing in parents through cash, coaching, and policy shaped by the families themselves.   Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com Publish a Book That Matters:  booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters:  podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org  For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org Stay strong.