The Growth Over Grades Podcast

Welcome to the Growth Over Grades podcast, a show connecting you with thought leaders, pioneers, and change agents who are leading the charge to support schools and districts in making the shift toward competency-based education and to promote growth, over grades.

The Growth Over Grades Podcast is a education podcast hosted by SpacesEDU by myBlueprint, with 89 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

SpacesEDU by myBlueprint hosts The Growth Over Grades Podcast, a education show with 89 episodes published.

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  Episode #1

  Making Learning Visible: Releasing Responsibility, Actionable Feedback, and Cultivating Student Efficacy with Dr. Doug Fisher

  Sep 16, 202647 minS5

  How do we move students from passive compliance to true ownership? In this episode, educational leader Dr. Doug Fisher reveals how to make visible learning actionable in every classroom. Discover concrete strategies for implementing the Gradual Release of Responsibility, delivering feedback that prompts immediate student action, and building genuine self-efficacy. Whether you're refining daily formative assessments or building collective teacher credibility across your district, Doug shares exact steps to shift focus from chasing grades to driving authentic mastery. Tune in to sharpen how your students learn, self-assess, and succeed!

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  Episode #20

  Designing for Connection: People-Based Learning and Entering Education’s Human Era with Jane Shore

  Jul 22, 202657 minS4

  In this episode of Growth Over Grades, host Jordan Lewis sits down with Jane Shore—a lifelong educator, learning scientist, visualizer, and the founder of School of Thought—to explore how we can intentionally design learning environments around human connection. Jane breaks down her concept of people-based learning—an approach that goes beyond basic relationship-building to treat people as essential resources that make learning more inclusive, durable, and tangible. From connecting algebra to video game coding to studying democracy through real-world ethnographic interviews, Jane shares inspiring stories of how human interactions ground abstract concepts into meaningful experiences. Together, Jordan and Jane challenge listeners to rethink traditional school structures and embrace actionable shifts toward a more human-centered education system. In This Episode, We Cover: Defining People-Based Learning: Why viewing people as intentional learning resources makes lessons more durable, emotional, and relevant. Designing for Connection vs. Disconnection: How traditional front-facing rows alienate students, and how simple design tweaks—like flexible seating or peer-citation—build a genuine foundation of belonging. Warm vs. Cold Technology: Utilizing AI and digital tools to foster collaborative "burstiness" and real-world connection rather than isolation. Grading Less vs. Going Gradeless: Avoiding the trap of tying a student's whole identity to a single rigid metric, and shifting toward continuous feedback and growth. Entering Education’s Human Era: Evolving past historical factory and knowledge-acquisition models to focus on what we want students to become.

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  Episode #19

  Redefining Future-Focused Schools: Integrating Executive Functioning Habits for Lifelong Student Independence with Shira Woolf Cohen and Nicole Franchi

  Jun 24, 20261h 4mS4

  What does it truly mean to prepare students for a rapidly changing world? In this episode of the Growth Over Grades podcast, host Jordan Lewis connects with educators and authors Shira Woolf Cohen and Nicole Franchi to redefine future readiness in today's educational landscape. Rather than limiting career readiness to an annual career day, Shira and Nicole discuss how to build a whole-school ecosystem that embeds future-ready habits into daily culture. Together, they break down the critical combination of system-level leadership and classroom-level routines necessary to build a strong sense of self and lifelong student independence. What We Cover in This Episode: The Core Mindset Shift: Shifting the foundational school question from what content students need to know to what capabilities they actually need to thrive today and in the future. Tier 1 Executive Functioning: Why explicit instruction in organization, task initiation, and time management must start as early as kindergarten to create a wave of momentum all the way through 12th grade. Navigating AI & Screen Time: The practical realities of the modern classroom, including how to teach students to use AI as an added-value learning tool and how to manage the surge of physical papers as schools decrease screen time. Distributed Leadership: Why school leaders shouldn't carry this work alone, and how fostering a team of school-wide teacher leaders creates shared cultural buy-in. Partnering with Families: Simple, actionable home routines—like using a five-minute shower timer to combat time blindness and designating a permanent spot for a backpack near a plug—that build shared responsibility and student ownership.

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  Episode #18

  Learning Over Grading: Reframing Systems Transformation with Antonia Rudenstine

  Jun 10, 20261h 1mS4

  In this episode, host Jordan Lewis sits down with Antonia Rudenstine, the founder and executive director of reDesign, to tackle the monumental mountain of educational systems transformation. Antonia leverages her extensive background as a primary architect for state and district change to explain why leaders must reframe the shift toward competency-based education as a conversation about teaching and learning first, rather than rushing into new grading and tracking systems. Episode Highlights The Bike-Riding Analogy: Why building an apparatus to measure and penalize students before intentionally helping them develop core competencies is fundamentally backward. Three High-Leverage Teaching Practices: How traditional classroom habits shift when shifting focus entirely to specific competency skills through explicit strategy instruction, conferring with students, and expanding peer talk opportunities. Real-World Policy Feedback Loops: Insights from a five-year partnership with the South Carolina State Department of Education, where state leaders modeled an adult learner mindset directly inside classrooms. Bridging the School-Industry Divide: How simple, free AI tools can create a shared language between educators and workforce mentors to seamlessly capture student demonstrations of competency. Selecting the Right Framework: Key questions districts must ask regarding audience, purpose, and learning science, featuring an overview of reDesign’s open-source, customizable "Future Nine" framework.

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  Episode #17

  Implementing Gradeless Classrooms, the BC Proficiency Scale, Sustainable Portfolio Documentation, and AI-Resistant Learning Targets with Tim Cavey

  May 27, 202649 minS4

  <p>What happens when you eliminate numbers and percentages from the grade book entirely? In this episode of the Growth Over Grades podcast, host Jordan Lewis sits down with educator, author, and podcast host Tim Cavey. Tim is currently an elementary vice principal in Vancouver, British Columbia, and highlights his experience running a completely gradeless classroom for eight years. In this conversation, Tim shares how the British Columbia Proficiency Scale is transforming the way teachers, students, and parents view academic progress by moving away from arbitrary percentages toward clear, evidence-based learning targets. Together, they unpack the profound paradigm shift from...

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