Teaching Matters Podcast

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Teaching Matters Podcast Podcast and information resource on teaching and learning in an information-rich world.

“Teaching Matters” is an audio series exploring the unique needs of students. It's hosted by Scott Titsworth, Dean, Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.

10/08/2026

New episode of Teaching Matters drops this weekend.

Schools are still working out how to respond to AI: ban it, allow it, or something in between. My guest this week, Alex Bronson, focuses on a different question: what thinking skills do students need so they can use AI well, and know when not to? Her answer starts in kindergarten, with a Bee-Bot, a small programmable robot that students direct across a mat, and runs through an eighth-grade research unit.

Bronson is Director of K-8 Science at Uncommon Schools, a network of public charter schools in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. A 2007 Teach For America corps member with nearly twenty years in education, she taught middle school science for eight years, then served as dean of curriculum and instruction and as principal, before moving to network-level curriculum work.

Watch for the full episode lover the weekend. We'll share the link right here.

New episode of Teaching Matters is live: More Data, Less Time.Districts today generate more student assessment data than...
09/29/2026

New episode of Teaching Matters is live: More Data, Less Time.

Districts today generate more student assessment data than at any point in American education history, and teachers routinely say they don't have time to turn any of it into a specific plan for next week's lesson. At the same time, trust in assessment itself is under real strain — opt-out movements persist, and families are asking sharper questions about how student data gets used, especially as AI moves into more classroom tools.

In this episode I talk with Sabine Wallis, General Manager of NWEA (a division of HMH), about her path into K-12 assessment leadership, the real difference between formative and interim testing, how assessment providers earn educators' trust rather than assume it, and what genuine data integration looks like from a district's point of view.

Listen now on NPR or watch on YouTube. Links to both in page info.

Teaching Matters is produced in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact at Ohio University.

New episode of Teaching Matters: What Report Cards Were Never Built to MeasureA traditional report card tells you whethe...
09/24/2026

New episode of Teaching Matters: What Report Cards Were Never Built to Measure
A traditional report card tells you whether a student can read, write and do math. It was never designed to tell you whether that student is becoming a confident communicator, an empathetic collaborator or a resilient risk-taker. The Durango School District in southwest Colorado decided those qualities belonged in their promise to every student, and then did the harder part: they built a way to see whether it's happening using Abre.

This week I talk with Dr. Karen Cheser, Durango's superintendent and the 2025 EmpowerED Digital Superintendent of the Year, about operationalizing the district's Portrait of a Graduate across 11 schools and roughly 4,500 students. We talk about how students upload their own evidence of growth into Abre, how a kindergarten "empathetic collaborator" differs from a high school one, and why she calls the approach "yes…and."
"Our mission is that every student can find and live out their ikigai." — Dr. Karen Cheser

🎙️Listen on NPR (or your favorite podcasting app)

👀Watch on YouTube

Teaching Matters is produced in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact at Ohio University.

09/24/2026

New episode of Teaching Matters drops Monday!

Sabine Wallis's father grew up in a small farming village in Tamil Nadu, India, teaching himself to read under a single street lamp because his family had no electricity. He went on to a PhD and a career in aerospace engineering — and made sure his own daughters knew education could change a life.

Today that daughter is the General Manager of NWEA, one of the most established names in K-12 assessment and research. She's joining me this week to talk about a problem every teacher recognizes: schools are generating more student data than at any point in American education history, and almost no one has time to turn it into a plan for Monday morning.

Watch for the full episode Monday morning on YouTube, NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Natalie Campana set out to teach aerospace engineering at Steubenville High School. She didn't set out to change the tra...
09/22/2026

Natalie Campana set out to teach aerospace engineering at Steubenville High School. She didn't set out to change the trajectory of a student's life — but that's exactly what happened.

In the newest episode of Teaching Matters, Natalie — recently named the 2025–2026 National Project Lead The Way Engineering Teacher of the Year — talks with her former student Sarah Ostovich, now an aviation major at Ohio University who walked onto campus with more than 90 credit hours already earned. Together they trace the mentorship that connected them, how PLTW's hands-on curriculum shaped Sarah's path, and what it takes to build a career in a field where women remain underrepresented.

This conversation follows up on our July episode with PLTW - Project Lead The Way's Katie Minihan on the organization's national mission — this time from the classroom, up close.

🎥 Watch "Cleared for Takeoff" on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LUvR2R2ekYU
🎧 Or listen on NPR: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/514312608/teaching-matters

Teaching Matters is produced in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact at Ohio University.

09/22/2026

New episode of Teaching Matters: What Report Cards Were Never Built to Measure

A traditional report card tells you whether a student can read, write and do math. It was never designed to tell you whether that student is becoming a confident communicator, an empathetic collaborator or a resilient risk-taker. Durango School District in southwest Colorado decided those qualities belonged in their promise to every student, and then did the harder part: they built a way to see whether it's happening.

This week I talk with Dr. Karen Cheser, Durango's superintendent and the 2025 EmpowerED Digital Superintendent of the Year, about operationalizing the district's Portrait of a Graduate across 11 schools and roughly 4,500 students. We talk about how students upload their own evidence of growth into Abre, how a kindergarten "empathetic collaborator" differs from a high school one, and why she calls the approach "yes, and": the six competencies and grade-level academics, not one or the other. It's also a follow-up to our spring conversation with Abre's founders, since this time we hear from a district actually running the platform.

"Our mission is that every student can find and live out their ikigai." — Dr. Karen Cheser

Listen on NPR, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts. This episode will release on September 24 (Thursday)!

Teaching Matters is produced in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact at Ohio University.

09/21/2026

Coming soon on Teaching Matters: "Cleared for Takeoff."

Natalie Campana teaches aerospace engineering at Steubenville High School and is the 2025-2026 National PLTW - Project Lead The Way Engineering Teacher of the Year. Sarah Ostovich was her student. Sarah's first time in an airplane was a cross-country flight her class planned, and it ended with pie in Carrollton. She got to Ohio University with about ninety college credit hours already earned. Today she's an aviation student there, working toward a career in airport management.

On that flight, Sarah says she was terrified. Natalie told her, "You can't be scared. You have to go and get it." Sarah calls that the moment she decided to pursue aviation.

In the episode, Natalie and Sarah talk about the mentorship behind that moment, the hands-on learning that got Sarah there, and what it takes for a woman to build a career in aviation.

The episode takes flight on Wednesday. Watch for it on YouTube, NPR, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Teaching Matters is produced in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact at Ohio University.

New episode of Teaching Matters is out.Roughly 70% of fourth and eighth graders in the U.S. are not reading proficiently...
09/21/2026

New episode of Teaching Matters is out.

Roughly 70% of fourth and eighth graders in the U.S. are not reading proficiently, according to the 2024 NAEP results. Most of the national conversation about reading stops at third grade. Louise Baigelman thinks that's the problem.

Louise is the founder and CEO of Storyshares, a Philadelphia-based public benefit corporation that publishes decodable, age-appropriate books for striving readers in grades 3–12. She started as a middle school English teacher whose students were reading far below grade level. The only books that matched their skills were written for little kids, so her students wanted nothing to do with them.

In our conversation we talk about:
📚 Why learning to read is a continuum, not a finish line at third grade
📚 How you design a decodable book a teenager will read in front of their friends
📚 Why students have to be won back to reading before they can learn to read
📚 What the science of reading movement needs to do next for grades 4–12

Watch here: https://youtu.be/ebmFHT_xVNs
Listen on NPR App or wherever you find podcasts.

Teaching Matters is produced in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact at Ohio University.

09/16/2026

📚 Are you concerned about reading recovery for older students? Louise Baigelman of Storyshares says it's hard to solve — but absolutely solvable, and we can't throw our hands up past third grade. 🎧 New Teaching Matters episode coming soon — keep an eye out.

🎙️ New Episode Out!Listen to the full episode with Dr. Tara Valoczki, Assistant Vice President of Education and Student ...
09/16/2026

🎙️ New Episode Out!
Listen to the full episode with Dr. Tara Valoczki, Assistant Vice President of Education and Student Life at Milton Hershey School (HMS) in Pennsylvania. Dr. Valoczki explains how HMS provides holistic support for students and how that support extends past graduation. The MHS case-study teaches us what highly intentional student support looks like and how it is effective.

Listen on your favorite podcasting platform or watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/f4PfDgxSnXw

Teaching Matters is produced in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact at Ohio University.

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