Episode 7: Implementing The 16 Success Drivers and How They Can Be Holistically Enacted and Embodied in Schools and Across Learning Ecosystems

This podcast will examine the 16 Success Drivers and how they can be holistically enacted and embodied in schools and across learning ecosystems. Listeners will learn and be able to think about the drivers and their interconnections, understand why a holistic approach is essential for equity and thriving, and explore principles for implementation across roles and settings. Organizations, tools, materials, and research will be identified that can support implementation and adaptation.

Panelists and Commentators

Eric Gordon, Queena Kim, Vivian Gadsden, Jillian Ahrens, and Karen Quartz

Part	Title (with hyperlink to discussion)	Presenter	Short Description	Transcripts (with hyperlinks)
A	Introduction	David Osher	What the entire episode touches on and why	English Spanish
B	From Crisis to a Vision for Thriving Schools	Eric Gordon, Queena Kim, Jillian Ahrens, & Karen Hunter Quartz	What were people actually trying to create for young people? Working from very different positions: district, teaching and organized labor, school, as well as research and design.	English Spanish
C	Collective Agency, Autonomy and System-Wide Implementation	Eric Gordon, Queena Kim, Jillian Ahrens, & Karen Hunter Quartz	In this part, the conversation moves closer to the people who actually carry out the changes.	English Spanish
D	Making SEL the Foundation of the Learning Ecosystem	Eric Gordon, Queena Kim, Jillian Ahrens, & Karen Hunter Quartz	This part of the conversation is about learning while doing. Both Cleveland and UCLA had to make decisions without knowing in advance everything they would eventually learn.	English Spanish
E	From Voice to Agency: Building Democratic Schools	Karen Hunter Quartz	The conversation begins with teachers and unions, but it quickly becomes about something larger, what it means to organize a school democratically.	English Spanish
F	Seeing the Whole Child_ History, Culture, Family, and Place	Vivian Gadsden	The first part of this conversation with Vivian was about seeing children and family more fully.	English Spanish
G	Beyond Resilience_ Creating Conditions for Young People to Thrive	Vivian Gadsden	The second part turns to resilience, one of the matters Vivian helps us understand more deeply, and to a warning: don't let resilience become the answer.	English Spanish

Transcripts are all AI-generated and unedited.

Bios

Eric Gordon is the CEO of Positive Education Program, an organization that provides services—both direct and consultative in nature—for children challenged by complex developmental trauma, mental health issues and autism, their families, and the professionals who support them. Previously, Eric served as Senior Vice-President of Student Development and Education Pipeline at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C). Eric also served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) from July 2011 through June 2023. During his tenure CMSD saw dramatic improvement in academic performance, including a 29-percentage point gain in graduation rates to a record 80.9%. Among his many awards, CEO Gordon received the Green-Garner Award of the Council of the Great City Schools in 2016, distinguishing him as the top Urban Educator of the Year, and the Mary Utne O'Brien Social Emotional Learning Leader Lifetime Achievement Award from CASEL.

Queena Kim is the Principal of UCLA Community School, a TK–12 public school in Los Angeles operated in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies. In this role, she provides instructional and organizational leadership for a diverse, multilingual school community serving students and families in the Koreatown area, with a focus on academic excellence, equity, and community-centered schooling. Previously, Ms. Kim served UCLA Community School in multiple leadership capacities, including founding teacher, instructional leader, and assistant principal. Under her leadership, UCLA Community School has expanded from an initial elementary program to a full secondary pathway, with strong outcomes in student engagement, bilingualism, and college readiness. The school is widely recognized for its distributed leadership model, often described as "leading from every chair." Ms. Kim was honored with the Teacher-Powered Schools Extraordinary Achievement Award.

Vivian L. Gadsden, Ed.D., is the William T. Carter Professor of Child Development and Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) and Co-Faculty Director of the Penn Early Childhood and Family Research Center. She is also Director of the National Center on Fathers and Families at Penn. Gadsden's scholarship focuses on learning and literacies across the life course, with particular attention to equity, access, and social change for children and families in historically marginalized communities. A nationally and internationally recognized scholar, Gadsden is an elected member and Vice President of the National Academy of Education, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an AERA Fellow, and an inductee of the Reading Hall of Fame. She is a past President of AERA and serves as Co-General Editor of the 2023 and 2025 volumes of the Review of Research in Education.

Jillian Ahrens, MA, is 2nd vice president of the Cleveland Teachers Union, a union representing nearly 4,000 of Cleveland's teachers, paraprofessionals, and other related-service personnel. Ahrens, a 22-year veteran of the CTU Executive Board, currently serves as co-director of Grievances and is on the negotiations team. In addition to her union duties, Jillian is a first-grade teacher for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District at Memorial K-8 School. She has been recognized as a Master Teacher by the state of Ohio. In 2013, Ahrens was honored by CASEL with the Mary Utne O'Brien Award for Excellence in Expanding the Evidence-Based Practice of Social and Emotional Learning. She played a key role in Cleveland's Humanware efforts from its inception in 2008.

Karen Hunter Quartz, Ph.D., is an education researcher and practitioner-scholar based at the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, where she serves as an adjunct professor and directs the UCLA Center for Community Schooling. Her work focuses on how community schools and research–practice partnerships can strengthen democracy, equity, and public education, with particular attention to teacher autonomy, retention, and the social conditions that shape teaching and learning. Quartz has played a central role in the development of UCLA-affiliated community schools. She led the original design team for the UCLA Community School, which opened in 2009, and later served on the design team for the Mann UCLA Community School.

Episode 7- References

Irby, D. J., & Ishimaru, A. M. (Eds.). (2025). Doing the work of equity leadership for justice and systems change. Teachers College Press. https://doi.org/10.65528/9780807783290

Masten, A. S. (2025). Ordinary magic: Resilience in development (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849209543534

Osher, D., Poirier, J., Jarjoura, R., Brown, R., & Kendziora, K. (2014). Avoid simple solutions and quick fixes: Lessons learned from a comprehensive districtwide approach to improving student behavior and school safety. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 5(2), Article 16. https://doi.org/10.58464/2155-5834.1225

Osher, D. M., Poirier, J. M., Jarjoura, G. R., Kendziora, K. T., & Brown, R. (2013, January 2). Avoid simple solutions and quick fixes: Lessons learned from a comprehensive districtwide approach to improving student behavior and school safety. American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/Avoid_Simple_Solutions_and_Quick_Fixes_Osher_January_2013_0.pdf

Quartz, K. H. (2019). Community schools score key victory in LA teachers strike. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/community-schools-score-key-victory-in-la-teachers-strike-110149

Quartz, K. H. (2023). Community school leadership. Principal Leadership. National Association of Secondary School Principals. https://www.nassp.org/publication/principal-leadership/volume-23-2022-2023/principal-leadership-january-2023/viewpoint-january-2023/

Quartz, K. H. (2023). UCLA Community School: Celebrating language, culture, and community. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/shared-learning-ucla

Quartz, K. H., Daniel, J., & Maier, A. (2020). Classroom teachers in the community schools movement: A social justice perspective. American Educator. https://www.aft.org/ae/spring2020/quartz_daniel_maier