Leaders Learning From Leaders

About Leaders Learning From Leaders

Leaders Learning from Leaders is an engaging and insightful educational leadership podcast designed exclusively for leaders in the field of education. This dynamic podcast is created by seasoned leaders for leaders, providing a valuable platform to exchange ideas, share effective strategies, and explore the stories of education leadership challenges and success. Each episode features distinguished guests, including experienced education leaders and superintendents, who generously impart their knowledge and first-hand experiences. Through thought-provoking discussions and inspiring stories, this podcast equips education leaders with practical tools, innovative approaches, and invaluable insights to thrive in their roles. Whether seeking fresh perspectives, expert advice, or inspiration to transform your leadership journey, Leaders Learning from Leaders is the go-to resource for educational leaders striving to continue learning and growing while positively impacting the communities they serve.

Publisher

SuperEval

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Jul 2023

Latest episode

18 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

24 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   18 Sept 2026

   A Conversation with Aaron Bayer, Superintendent of the Oregon Trail School District

   Executive Summary In this episode of Leaders Learning from Leaders, host Steve Barkley speaks with Aaron Bayer, Superintendent of the Oregon Trail School District and current chair of the Clackamas ESD Chief Administrators’ Council.  Now in his sixteenth year, Superintendent Bayer reflects on the language a leader puts on the work and the harder discipline of standing on that language when conditions change. Oregon Trail spans roughly 424 square miles at the base of Mount Hood, reaching from Government Camp to Boring.  Superintendent Bayer describes a community reshaped by growth, where legacy families and newer residents bring differing perspectives to the same schools.  Within that change, the district agreed on one conviction: the single greatest advantage it can afford its children is a high quality public education.  When that work began, the graduation rate stood near 62 percent.  It is now 96.3 percent, an outcome he credits to the whole system rather than to himself. District planning rests on a small set of fundamental truths about children, held as immutable: every child learns to read by third grade, every child reads to learn by fifth grade, and every child is deserving of graduation.  The district chose a few truths rather than a long list, recognizing that a three to five year plan must survive board turnover, policy shifts, and changes in funding.  Superintendent Bayer describes the destination as fixed and the vehicle as replaceable.  When policy makes one approach untenable, the team builds another vehicle, with the truths serving as its axis. That conviction extends to how the district evaluates people.  Steve surfaces a quote from an earlier presentation, that we evaluate people on how they make decisions and not on the outcome of the decision, and Superintendent Bayer explains that outcomes carry too many uncontrollable variables to measure a person fairly.  He recounts a drone program launched on a compressed timeline, when his team proposed working backward from an existing product and a single question returned them to their own process.  The result was a partnership with a regional drone manufacturer and students who graduate with Part 107 licensure. The conversation closes on reflection.  Superintendent Bayer’s present curiosity is metacognition extended across a lifetime, and he cautions that certainty has no trajectory.  His counsel to superintendents is to reserve the hardest conversations for themselves, so that students, families, and staff see only the easiest parts of their leadership. Main Topics Covered 1. A District at the Base of Mount HoodOregon Trail School District spans roughly 424 square miles, reaching from Government Camp to the town of Boring and sitting about thirty minutes from Portland.  Its diversity is primarily socioeconomic, and rising housing density has brought legacy families, first-time homebuyers, and renters into one community holding differing perspectives on public education.2. Putting Language on Your LeadershipSuperintendent Bayer draws a clear line between naming what a district believes and living by it.  Putting the words into the world is one part of the work.  Standing on that language, despite the influences and variables a leader encounters, is the far harder part.3. The Single Greatest AdvantageThe district organizes its work around the conviction that the single greatest advantage it can afford its children is a high quality public education.  The statement serves as a description of the present and a claim about the future, holding one third to who the district is at its core and reaching with two thirds toward what it believes is most true for its children.4. A Graduation Rate TransformedWhen the district committed to that conviction, its graduation rate stood near 62 percent.  It now stands at 96.3 percent.  Superintendent Bayer credits the result to bus drivers, food service workers, custodians, teachers, administrators, district office staff

2. 

   12 Aug 2026

   A Conversation with Dr. Randy Poe, Executive Director of the Northern Kentucky Education Council

   Executive Summary In this episode of Leaders Learning from Leaders, host Steve Barkley speaks with Dr. Randy Poe, Executive Director of the Northern Kentucky Education Council, former superintendent of Boone County Schools in Kentucky, and an at-large member of the Kentucky Board of Education.  Drawing on nearly four decades in Boone County, Dr. Poe reflects on the strategic alignment, community trust, and continuous learning that carried one of Kentucky's most recognized school districts through extraordinary growth. Dr. Poe describes Boone County's transformation from a small rural district of roughly 3,000 students into a diverse system of 21,000, once among the fastest growing districts in the nation.  That growth demanded a united strategic direction.  Adopting the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP) framework from Harvard, the district aligned vision, resources, and daily practices around the instructional core: the student, the teacher, and the curriculum, animated by rigor, relevance, and relationships.  Rather than chasing test scores, the district measured student hope, well-being, and grit and found that growth there corresponded directly with academic gains. Working with Ken Kay of the 21st Century Skills movement, Boone County became one of the first districts in the nation to develop a portrait of a graduate, expanding the four C's into a broader set of essential skills.  More than 2,000 teachers were trained in project-based learning, with students defining their own projects.  Dual credit partnerships allowed students to accelerate based on academic performance rather than chronological age, and a student board member, elected by students across the district, brought student voice to every board decision. Steve and Dr. Poe explore how leaders innovate without creating initiative fatigue.  Dr. Poe's answer is alignment: the core does not change, the work changes.  He recalls coach Bobby Knight's counsel that hard work without results is just hard work, and describes an evaluation system in which listening flows upward, from students to teachers to principals to a superintendent who listens.  He also recounts how trust built in calm waters, through open book studies with the board and genuine community engagement, carried the district through its most difficult storms. The conversation closes with Dr. Poe's current work leading the Northern Kentucky Education Council, aligning eighteen school districts with postsecondary and business partners around dual credit, career pathways, and student well-being, and his charge to aspiring leaders: if adults are not learning in the building, children are not learning either, so be the lead learner. Main Topics Covered 1. The Transformation of Boone County SchoolsOver Dr. Poe's 39 years of service, Boone County grew from a small rural district of roughly 3,000 students into a suburban, rural, and urban system of 21,000, at one point among the fastest growing districts in the nation.  That growth brought increasing diversity and a shift in expectations toward college, career, and life readiness for every student.2. A United Strategic Direction and the Instructional CoreBoone County adopted the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP) framework from Harvard and aligned its vision, resources, and daily practices around the instructional core: the student, the teacher, and the curriculum.  The district held to a small number of strategic goals, keeping the focus on rigor, relevance, and relationships.3. Measuring Hope, Well-Being, and GritRather than focusing on test scores, the district set student well-being goals at the district, school, classroom, and individual level.  Work conducted with the University of Cincinnati showed that growth in hope, well-being, and grit corresponded directly with gains in academic performance.4. A Portrait of a Graduate and Accelerated PathwaysWorking with Ken Kay of the 21st Century Skills movement, Boone County was among t

3. 

   24 Jun 2026

   A Conversation with Dr. Elida MacArthur, Superintendent of the Mount Pleasant Elementary School District

   In this episode of Leaders Learning from Leaders, host Steve Barkley speaks with Dr. Elida MacArthur, Superintendent of the Mount Pleasant Elementary School District in East San Jose, California.  A leader who has served the same district for more than two decades, beginning as a kindergarten dual language immersion teacher, Dr. MacArthur offers a portrait of community-centered leadership grounded in her own experience and in a deep commitment to the students and families she serves. Dr. MacArthur describes Mount Pleasant as a small district of approximately 1,500 students that sees itself as a beacon and anchor for its community.  She traces her commitment to bilingual and dual language education to her own journey, having immigrated from Mexico as a young student whose academic strengths went unrecognized because she did not yet speak English.  That experience shaped her conviction that every student deserves to be treated as capable, held to high expectations, and empowered to use their voice. Throughout the conversation, Dr. MacArthur returns to several connected commitments: building self-efficacy in students, creating a sense of belonging for every child and adult, and inviting students and parents to advocate for themselves.  She explains how community-centered leadership brings stakeholders into the work of the schools, citing a teacher workforce housing initiative being designed with parents, staff, and community members.  She also describes how civic learning takes shape in practice, from cross-age reading and monthly food distribution to mock trials and students speaking before legislators in Sacramento. Dr. MacArthur reflects on sustaining district-wide commitment through alignment with a supportive school board and a shared vision of community, equity, and success.  She shares the district's current focus on early literacy, with a goal that today's kindergarten students read at grade level by third grade, and the shift from reading intervention teachers to literacy coaches who support strong instruction in every classroom.  Underlying this is her belief that equity happens in every classroom and that assessing implementation, not only plans, is essential to improvement. For superintendents new to the communities they serve, Dr. MacArthur counsels patient listening, genuine humility, and a willingness to hear difficult news.  She encourages leaders to seek the wisdom of those who have navigated similar challenges, recognizing that the superintendency is learned through relationships and shared experience. Main Topics Covered Mount Pleasant Elementary School DistrictA small K-8 district of approximately 1,500 students in East San Jose, Mount Pleasant serves a primarily Latino community and sees itself as a beacon and anchor for its families. MacArthur describes a learning community centered on belonging and recognized at the state and local levels. A Personal Journey into Bilingual EducationMacArthur traces her commitment to dual language learning to her own experience immigrating from Mexico, when her academic strengths went unrecognized because she did not yet speak English. A summer program that treated students as capable and held them to high expectations confirmed her belief in what education should be. Student Voice and Self-EfficacyA central commitment is creating learning experiences where student voice is heard and where students develop the confidence to advocate for themselves. MacArthur connects this to her own path as the first in her family to attend college. Community-Centered LeadershipMacArthur describes leadership that invites stakeholders to be active participants in the schools, from budget focus groups to a teacher workforce housing initiative designed with parents, staff, and community members. Civic Learning in PracticeIn a district recognized with the California Civic Learning Award of Distinction at two schools, students see themselves as contributors to their community through

Who has been a guest on Leaders Learning From Leaders

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Dr Patrick Keeley
• Dr. Jim Lloyd
• Dr. Steve McCammon
• George G. Thompson

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 10 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

8

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

27

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