Spotlight 4 Success
We're shining a light on education success stories and talking about current trends and topics of importance to the education community. Join us in conversation!
Episodes
143 episodes
How A Smart Board Sparked A Career In EdTech
A single smart board changed everything. That first taste of interactive teaching sent Jill White from a third grade classroom toward a master’s in educational technology and, ultimately, into the role of technology director for Porter Consolid...
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Season 1
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2:56
ABC Testimonial | Kari Damron | OKSTE 2025
Kari Damron gives her testimonial about her experience with ABC products. Website: spotlight4success.com
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Season 1
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2:23
Teaching ELA With Heart, Tech, And Targeted Test Prep
The energy of OKSTE buzzes in the background as we sit down with fifth grade ELA teacher Kari Damron from Sayre Elementary, and the conversation goes straight to the heart of classroom life. Kari paints a vivid picture of a pivotal year where k...
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Season 1
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6:16
Field Trips That Fund Futures
What if the best classroom is just down the road? We sit with Rebecca Barefoot from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to reveal how a million-dollar Field Trip Fund is sending students to museums, aquariums, state ...
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Season 1
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7:14
Middle Years Matter
Middle school isn’t the hallway between “cute” and “chaos”—it’s the proving ground where students decide who they’re becoming. We sit down with Anna Crooke, a veteran educator and board member for the North Carolina Middle Level Educators, to u...
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Season 1
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6:15
Six Sessions, One Mission
If you’ve ever wondered how a single moment can reroute a life, Joe Pizzo’s story will stick with you. We caught up in sunny Charlotte at NCMLE, where Joe and his colleague Ken Pasic submitted six session ideas—and were shocked when all six wer...
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Season 1
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9:56
Seeds Before the Harvest
A spark in a science lab. A brave ask for help in a lunchroom. A reminder from a keynote to keep planting seeds even when the harvest feels far away. This conversation from NCMLE in Charlotte brings the heartbeat of school to the surface as we ...
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7:40
Guardrails, Not Shortcuts
What if your classroom AI refused to write the paper—and taught students how to think instead? We sit down with Brittany Ordu from TrekAI at the Gacis conference in Athens, Georgia to unpack a teacher-built, student-centered platform that puts ...
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Season 1
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6:06
ABC Testimonial | Angie Alexander | KY Cont. Improvement 2025
Angie Alexander gives her testimonial about her experience with ABC products. Website: spotlight4success.com
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Season 1
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1:30
Inside Ferristown’s Playbook
Policy shifts don’t raise scores—people and routines do. From a busy hallway in Lexington, we sit down with Principal Angie Alexander of Ferristown Middle School to unpack how Kentucky’s new accountability pathway and the push for “vibrant lear...
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Season 1
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4:58
ABC Testimonial | Leigh Allison | KY Cont. Improvement 2025
Leigh Allison shares her testimony about how ABC products have impacted her students. Website: spotlight4success.com
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Season 1
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1:10
Teaching Roots & Student Growth
A partly cloudy day in Lexington turned bright when we met Leigh Allison from Garrison Elementary—a teacher facing her first year with an ELL student and embracing the challenge with heart and strategy. Lee opens up about the early spark that l...
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Season 1
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4:12
ABC Testimonial | Miranda Stockton | KY Cont. Improvement 2025
Miranda Stockton gives her testimonial about ABC Products. Website: spotlight4success.com
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0:46
Cloudy Skies & Clear Gains
Ever wonder what flips the switch from “I don’t get it” to “I can explain it”? We sit down with educator and leader Miranda Stockton in a bustling corridor at the Continuous Improvement Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, to trace how a college ...
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Season 1
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4:41
The Mentor's Path
What drives someone to leave a successful business career and dive into the challenging world of education? Dr. Karen Phillips, Assistant Principal at Houston County Schools, joins host Devin Pintozzi at the 2025 Gale Conference to share her re...
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Season 1
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8:07
ABC Testimonial | Krystin Pavey | ISTE + ASCD 2025
The specialist, who manages technology and state testing at their school, reveals how ABC resources have transformed their testing outcomes. "I know we've seen great success in our test scores over using the resources and stuff over the last co...
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Season 1
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0:49
Why Evidence Matters in EdTech
Ever wondered how educational tools and programs are evaluated to ensure they actually work? Dr. Rachel Schechter, founder of UXD Research, pulls back the curtain on this fascinating process during her conversation with Devin Pintozzi on Spotli...
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Season 1
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12:37
Never Stop Learning
What happens when a teacher returns to their own high school as an educator? Meet Janie Olivarri, who transformed from Pleasanton High School graduate to dedicated instructor with 26 years of experience in the same hallways where she once studi...
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Season 1
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6:55
Why Teachers Are Flocking to AI in 2025
Ever wonder what drives someone to become a teacher in our technology-driven world? Krystin Pavey's story begins with stuffed animals as her first students at age three, and now she's at the forefront of educational technology integration at Da...
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Season 1
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3:10
The Principal Whisperer
Ever wonder what happens when a lifelong educator with 18 years of principal experience decides to tackle the education system's biggest challenges? Dr. Zanthia "Dr. Z" Reddish brings her vibrant personality and practical expertise to this epis...
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Season 1
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5:33
Global Education Meets Excellence
How does a school transform from "satisfactory" to "good" in just four years? Sheldon Thomas, Jamaica's Principal of the Year for 2025, joins us from the ASCD ISTE Conference in San Antonio to share his remarkable leadership journey at Ferncour...
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Season 1
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6:12
Baby Steps to Big Confidence
Discovering the heart of education through the eyes of a seasoned teacher turned instructional coach—that's what awaits you in this enlightening conversation with Amber DiSilvio from Northeast Elementary School in Clarksville, Tennessee....
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Season 1
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3:12
From Basement to Breakthrough
A chance encounter on a train to Delhi changed everything for Manpreet Kaur. When a fellow passenger asked why she wasn't pursuing her dream of creating an educational platform for children, she made the bold decision to quit her job and return...
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Season 1
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7:36