The 10th season of the NAIS New View EDU podcast is drilling down into strategies and tactics that make a difference to the day-to-day leadership of schools. When the external conditions that impact our work are constantly changing, we need practical, hands-on tools we can use to stabilize our communities and reinforce our values.
We're talking to experts in key areas such as governance, strategy, financial management, and conflict resolution to get insights on how to grow and strengthen purpose-driven leadership in a climate of instability. Co-hosts Debra P. Wilson and Morva McDonald, along with guest host Ann Snyder, guide New View EDU through a season dedicated to making the big ideas approachable and turning theory into accessible practice. From a special live episode with author Jennifer B. Wallace that reminds us why we matter, to a series of conversations that illuminate the daily challenges of this work, Season 10 is going deep.
Find New View EDU on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many other podcast apps.
Season 10 Episodes: Spring 2026
Episode 90: The Future of Digital Literacy
Available May 5, 2026
So much of educators’ focus has turned toward the digital space. How to leverage technology and innovation to improve educational outcomes, but also how to keep students safe and thriving in a fast-paced digital world, are overwhelming and sometimes seemingly contradictory concerns. It’s hard to keep up with the latest information and cutting-edge research to help make informed decisions. On the season finale of New View EDU, host Morva McDonald speaks with Yvette Renteria of Common Sense Media about how her team is helping educators and parents stay on top of everything they need to know.
Yvette shares some of the challenges and opportunities she has observed as schools across the country try to adapt their digital literacy curricula and policies to the current landscape. Ultimately, she says, there is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but there are some best practices and mindsets that can help guide educators through this rapid evolution.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 89: Lessons from Retiring Heads
School leadership has always been a dynamic, evolving role, but never more so than in the past several years. As everything about education and the surrounding landscape changes rapidly, being a head of school requires more flexibility, tolerance for ambiguity, and innovation than ever before. On this episode of New View EDU, host Debra P. Wilson invites retiring heads of school Russell Shaw, of Georgetown Day School (DC), and Joan Buchanan Hill, of the Lamplighter School (TX), to share their learnings and lessons for future heads.
Joan and Russell reflect on the changes they’ve seen across their tenures, both within their school communities and in the external environment. As they both approach retirement, their lessons of love, patience, engagement, and humility resonate for the next generation of school leaders.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 88: Navigating Disruption Through Collaboration
It’s no secret that independent schools face ongoing challenges, from enrollment to governance to changing norms and social pressures. The schools that continue to thrive are generally the ones that adapt and innovate without losing their sense of tradition and identity. But that’s certainly easier said than done, especially when solutions like mergers enter the picture. Chad Tew, “chief disruption navigator” for LearnCollab, joins host Morva McDonald to talk about the market and landscape for independent schools, why he thinks of merging as more of a unification process, and how different levels of collaboration can shore up school communities in disruptive times.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 87: Making How Matter
Leadership sometimes feels like a lonely job with lots of competing tasks but few clear guideposts. Even with the most meticulous planning, leaders can know conceptually what needs to happen but falter in articulating how all the pieces will come together. Author, strategist, and consultant/coach Julie Williamson joins host Debra P. Wilson to talk about the challenges and opportunities of leadership and what it means to make “how” matter in our work.
Julie and Debra discuss the challenges of turning a strategic plan into an actionable framework that sets an organization up for success. Julie points out that most leaders are comfortable with investing in a plan and the tools and resources needed to support the associated tasks, but falter in changing their leadership styles to create alignment across their team in a way that allows for sustainable change.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 86: Exploring Community Collaborations
As independent schools strive to expand the impact they have on their communities and the world, what creative models exist to help them achieve their public purpose? On this episode of New View EDU, host Morva McDonald invites Guybe Slangen (pictured) of Horizons National to speak about the innovative summer programming the organization designs in collaboration with schools nationwide, expanding equity, access, and community spirit. They are also joined by Jennifer Cherney of the Gateway School in New York City, one of the local partners who can speak to the school experience of working with this unique model.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 85: Securing Legacy Through Endowment
In a time of constant uncertainty, planning for the future of a school community can feel like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. Big-picture strategy and mission dominate our aspirations, but it’s the day-to-day tactical decisions that carry immediate weight. George Suttles of the Commonfund Institute joins New View EDU guest host and NAIS Vice President of Strategy Ann Snyder to share his insights on how financial planning can seamlessly blend the aspirational and the practical, securing the future legacies of schools through careful stewardship of resources.
While much of the conversation focuses on the nuts and bolts of endowments as a financial strategy, George and Ann acknowledge that endowments are a topic relevant to only a small proportion of independent schools. The bigger idea is that financial stewardship should always be an interdisciplinary challenge, bringing in multiple staff and stakeholders across the school community to truly engage a future-thinking perspective.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 84: Good Conflict
Is conflict always something to avoid? Amanda Ripley, left, and Hélène Biandudi Hofer, journalists and trained conflict mediators, are on a mission to answer that question and to help shift how we recognize and engage with conflict in our everyday lives. They join host Morva McDonald to reflect on how conflict shapes everything from our news cycle to our relationships and why we need to develop new skills to move toward healthier forms of resolution.
Amanda and Hélène began their work at Good Conflict because they realized they could no longer engage in the business-as-usual journalism that shaped their careers. They share their journeys from working within the news cycle to stepping out of it and questioning how stories in the media are actively contributing to deeper polarization. They eventually began working with other journalists, news outlets, government officials, corporations, and nonprofit organizations to upend the system and rewire the way dominant cultural narratives fuel conflict. And very quickly, Amanda says, they realized that educators were actually their number one clients.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.
Episode 83: Mattering: The Next Big Idea Transforming School Communities
What if we could unlock the secret to a life of deep connection and purpose? That’s the premise of Jennifer Wallace’s new book, Mattering. In this special live edition of New View EDU, recorded on January 15, 2026, Jennifer shares what she has learned about the importance of mattering with NAIS President Debra P. Wilson.
Building on the work of her first book, Never Enough, Jennifer says she wrote Mattering almost simultaneously as she uncovered the link between combating achievement culture and building a sense of mattering. She defines mattering as a fundamental human need to feel valued and to have an opportunity to add value to the world. Her research, she says, demonstrates that mattering is a drive that shapes human behavior at a fundamental level—second only to the needs for food and shelter. Yet despite its vital importance to human flourishing, it’s often misunderstood or overlooked entirely.
- Go to the episode page for highlights, discussion questions, key takeaways, and additional resources.