Taylor Swift Clubs, Data Rooms, and Teacher-Led PD: The Best of Fall 2026 Artwork

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The Making Schools Work Podcast

Taylor Swift Clubs, Data Rooms, and Teacher-Led PD: The Best of Fall 2026

December 09, 2025 • SREB • Season 2 • Episode 16

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As the Fall 2026 semester comes to a close, it is time to look back at the schools and strategies that challenged our thinking.

In this special wrap-up episode, Daniel is joined by SREB’s Jason Adair and Ashley Shaw to interrogate the "Best Of" ideas from the last few months. From a high school in South Carolina that lets teachers design their own professional development to a "Taylor Swift Club" that solved an attendance crisis, the team breaks down why these innovations worked and how other leaders can replicate them.

They also tackle the big debates: Is a physical "data room" actually better than a digital dashboard? And does teaching "workplace skills" mean we have to sacrifice the humanities?

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Teacher-Led PD: How West Side High School flipped the script by giving teachers time to plan and lead their own professional learning, creating true peer-to-peer buy-in.
The Leader’s Role: Why a principal needs to be a "gardener" (preparing the soil for growth) rather than a "chess master" (controlling every move).
Selling the Process, Not the Content: How academic teachers at the Career Academy of Decatur infuse workplace skills into core subjects—like teaching email etiquette during an English writing lesson.
The Power of Niche Clubs: Why letting a teacher host a "Taylor Swift" or "Play-Doh" club isn't a waste of time—it's a critical tool for humanizing teachers and building attendance-driving relationships.
The Great Data Wall Debate: The team discusses the pros and cons of physical data rooms (like those at Floyd Johnson Tech Center) versus digital dashboards, and why a data wall only works if it is "The Thing" rather than "Just Another Thing."

Featured Schools & Concepts

West Side High School (SC): Visible Learning Teams
Richland Middle/High School (MS): Teacher Autonomy & Flex Time Clubs
Career Academy of Decatur (AL): Infusing Workplace Skills
Floyd Johnson Tech Center (SC) & Indian Valley Elementary (AL): Data Rooms

The Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works with states and schools to improve education at every level, from early childhood through doctoral education and the workforce.