If your idea of “partnerships” is guest speakers and career fairs… you’re playing small.

In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack the uncomfortable truth: partnerships don’t scale by hope — they scale by design. And if districts want real work-based learning, internships, and community-connected pathways, they can’t keep treating partnerships like a PR checkbox.

This conversation ties together the “boundary spanning” framework from Chris Brida’s work and turns it into a practical leadership lens: how do we fund, staff, protect, and scale programs so they outlive one superhero leader? How do we rebuild trust when education has broken promises to industry? And what does it actually take to shift from event-based partnerships to real outcome-based systems?

You’ll hear why naming your program matters (because what’s named can be funded), how trust is built through consistent design, and why schools that refuse to staff partnership work don’t really want partnerships — they want optics.

And yes… Alli brings a chicken into the episode to prove the point: you don’t get “cuddly chickens” unless you’re willing to get in the coop and do the work.

In this episode:

Why most school partnerships fail (and how to fix it)Partnership design vs. partnership “events”Funding + staffing + scaling programs through clear namingRebuilding trust with industry and community partnersBoundary spanning as the missing leadership frameworkThe chicken coop metaphor you won’t forget

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YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

What happens to a school system when boundary spanning doesn’t exist?

In Part 2 of this Disrupt Education Podcast conversation, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl go deeper with Chris Brida (CTE Director, Portland Public Schools) to unpack what’s at risk when education stays siloed—by departments, by bell schedules, by “that’s not my lane.”

Chris shares what his dissertation research is revealing about partner ecosystems, including what actually changes partner perception (hint: it’s not tenure) and why engagement intensity matters if we want real alignment between classrooms and industry. He also breaks down how to teach boundary spanning without a textbook—by designing experiences where leaders “trip over the truth” through role-based practice (and he previews how he’s doing this at SXSW EDU).

This episode zooms out to the bigger disruption: moving beyond “partnership management” toward partnership design—and ultimately building CTE as a civic engagement engine where students work on real problems, with real partners, producing real impact.

If you’re a district leader, CTE leader, principal, teacher-leader, or anyone trying to build work-based learning, internships, industry partnerships, and deeper learning, this one will give you language, structure, and a direction to move.

Key topics in this episode:The risks of NOT doing boundary spanning in educationWhat partner survey data says about alignment + student experienceWhy “time barriers” aren’t the whole storyHow to teach boundary spanning through experience-based learningBreaking silos: interdisciplinary learning and “erasing the edges” of class periodsScaling CTE partnerships into real community impact projects

✅ Subscribe for more episodes on CTE, internships, work-based learning, and building education that actually connects to the world students are walking into.

A quick thank you to our sponsor, YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Chris Brida, CTE Director in Portland Public Schools, to unpack a concept most education leaders do the work of… but rarely have language for: boundary spanning. Chris breaks down how CTE leaders sit between K–12, higher ed, workforce, nonprofit, and government systems, and why “partnerships” can’t just be guest speakers and career fairs if we’re serious about student opportunity.

Chris walks through six boundary spanning skill-sets that show up in high-impact CTE leadership: broker, translator, trust builder, convenor, buffer, and integrator—explaining how each one helps reduce friction between systems, protect educators from chaos, align stakeholder expectations, and build partnerships that actually produce shared value.

The conversation goes deep on a big shift: moving from partnership management to partnership design—starting with real problems, using data, and bringing the right mix of partners together to solve them. The episode lands with a powerful example: a multi-partner design lab initiative that puts Black engineering students at the center of a real civic redevelopment project—showing exactly how intentional systems-level collaboration can expand access, build relational capital, and create authentic learning that matters.

Connect with Chris Brida on LinkedIn

A quick thank you to our sponsor, YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

What happens after you hit stop on a conversation that challenges everything you thought you knew about grades, college, and internships?

In this recap episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl unpack their recent conversation with Brandon Busteed and go even deeper into what it all means.

Peter shares the full circle moment of first hearing Brandon speak a decade ago and how that research on experiential learning helped shape the Disrupt Education movement. Alli connects the dots between her own early work experiences and the idea that we need to value the learning from all work, not just what happens in a classroom.

They wrestle with big questions.

If grades are inflated, what are they really measuring?Why are internships still not scaled in higher education?Are students going into debt for something employers are not prioritizing?

What would happen if we treated work as learning from day one?

This episode is about mindset shifts, internships, work based learning, and redefining what signals real readiness. If last week’s conversation made you think, this one will push you further. The data is there. The opportunity is there. The question is whether education and industry are ready to align.

A quick thank you to our sponsor, YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.Check out more at DisruptEducationPodcast.com

What if the “A” isn’t proof of learning anymore?

In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Brandon Busteed to challenge one of education’s biggest sacred cows: grades.

Brandon drops a stat that should stop every educator and parent in their tracks: 60% of grades at Harvard are A’s (up from about 25% two decades ago). So… what does an A even mean now?

From there, the conversation goes exactly where schools need to go next:

Why grades and GPA often don’t predict real job performance

Why students need internships and work-integrated learning more than “perfect transcripts”

The internship gap: millions of students want internships, but far fewer actually get them

Brandon’s bold solution: the 5% Internship Pledge—and how it could scale opportunity fast

How we shift the culture to value learning from all work (yes—even retail and “starter” jobs)

Brandon also shares what he’s building through Edconic: immersive industry learning experiences that are co-designed and co-taught by educators and industry experts—giving students real exposure, real feedback, and real skill-building that actually transfers.If your school is still living and dying by grades… this episode is your wake-up call.

Connect with Brandon Busteed at https://www.linkedin.com/in/busteed/A quick thank you to our sponsor, YouScience Brightpath — the next-generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you’re serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

A spicy LinkedIn post about field trips lit up the internet—and this episode is the why behind the fire.

Here is the post that started it all - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peterhostrawser_disrupteducation-cte-careerreadiness-activity-7382071108952498176-O__x?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAAm03zEBGi3ZOO_BO8D4Sr3zhuz2I4cEmLI

In this conversation, Peter and Alli unpack the unpopular opinion that traditional high school field trips often miss the mark. Not because experiences don’t matter—but because too many trips are disconnected, passive, and designed as checkboxes instead of catalysts for growth.

This episode goes far beyond buses and permission slips. It’s about intentional design.

You’ll hear:- Why most high school field trips don’t actually change student direction or outcomes- The difference between career awareness and career readiness—and why timing matters- How “field trips” should evolve into field experiences, micro-experiences, and real community work- Powerful real-world stories involving Hyatt, Coca-Cola, Calamos, and students performing in front of real executives- Why reflection, durable skills, and value creation matter more than tours and sit-and-gets- How districts can reduce burnout by shifting from isolated teacher efforts to system-wide experience design

This is not an anti-field-trip rant.It’s a challenge to rethink them.

If you care about student engagement, work-based learning, durable skills, or connecting school to real life—this episode is for you.

Head to www.disrupteducationpodcast.com for more!

What happens when you ask 500+ CTE leaders one simple question: “How are you disrupting education in 2026?”

At ACTE CareerTech VISION in Nashville, Alli Dahl and Peter Hostrawser put that question on the screen, dropped a QR code, and let the field speak. This episode is the result — real responses from real leaders who are done with “CTE as a second choice” and ready to treat schools like talent hubs.

In this conversation, we break down the biggest themes we heard:

CTE isn’t a side pathway — it’s infrastructure for relevance

If learning isn’t real, it doesn’t stick (experience are greater than worksheets)

Industry partnerships are shifting into co-design

AI/VR aren’t “flash” — they’re a force multiplier for personalization (when used with purpose)

The hardest disruption is adult disruption: hard conversations, real accountability, real readiness

Success metrics are getting rewritten (hint: “college enrollment” isn’t the whole story)

If you’re building pathways, work-based learning, youth apprenticeships, or just trying to make school matter again — this one will hit.

🎧 Subscribe for more “Bold 2026” conversations📌 Drop a comment: What’s ONE way you’re disrupting education this year?

www.DisruptEducationPodcast.com

Episode 4 is the pause-and-process moment after a truly disruptive series.

Peter and Alli step back to unpack the emotional, mental, and professional reactions sparked by the pega6 conversation. This episode isn’t about selling a model — it’s about acknowledging the discomfort that comes when a system you trusted, went through, and maybe even thrived in… starts to crack.

They explore why failure is still treated as something to avoid in education, how perfection quietly kills progress, and why the hardest part of disruption isn’t the model — it’s the zero-to-one mindset shift required to even consider it.

From chemistry labs to internships, pull-ups to professional growth, this episode connects the dots between experiential learning, real-time coaching, intentional friction, and what it actually takes to prepare learners for a fast-moving, AI-driven workforce.

Big questions tackled:

- Why does disrupting education trigger fear and nostalgia at the same time?- What does “workforce engineering” really mean — and why does it make people uncomfortable?- Why high engagement and accountability still require humans, not systems- How zero-to-one learning shows up everywhere, not just careers

This is the episode for educators, parents, and leaders who felt something during the series — even if they didn’t fully agree with it yet.

If you came this far... head to www.pega6.com/dep You won't be disappointed!

Check out www.disrupteducationpodcast.com for more!