Michael Conner: [00:00:00] Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome to another episode of Voices for Excellence. I am your host, Dr. Michael Conner, CEO, and founder of the Agile Evolutionary Group, and of course, the proud host of VFE and we are deeply immersed in our Black Excellence series celebrating black excellence during the month of February.

Michael Conner: 'cause of course we are celebrating Black History Month. And today's guest is just, I, I tell you this, the. His calmness, right, his, his calmness with leadership. I, I wish I had this, Dr. Jackson, because I tell you, the waves could be going up and down, up and down, and Dr. Lloyd Jackson, he is just like, no. We, we, we got this, and I always like to reference Dr.

Michael Conner: Jackson a quote from, or from a pressor, from Colin Powell where he stated that, you know, his colonel, you know, he [00:01:00] asked, there was a question about good leadership and the colonel has said, you know, you're a good leader. When people are curious to follow you and that, and Dr. Jackson, you bring that immense curiosity because people follow you because just your natural leadership, leadership style, and today's guest that we have during our Black Excellence series celebrating leaders like Dr.

Michael Conner: Lloyd Jackson, um, I can't. For my, for my audience and the participants here to be able just to engage in your leadership signature, engage and unpack specific leadership strategies, but more on the lines of that collective calmness that you have within your leadership signature. And Dr. Lloyd Jackson is the proud superintendent of Texarkana, Arkansas School District.

Michael Conner: And, and let me get this right, Texarkana, Arkansas. Right?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: You got it. Yeah. We're the, we're the twin city.

Michael Conner: The, the twin city, you say that fast about 10, 15 times. But again, I'm just so happy [00:02:00] to have him here and, and I can tell you where the calmness comes from because you know, he is a part of the oldest and the coldest fraternity.

Michael Conner: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. Listen, doc, you know, I gotta get that in, but

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: nothing like it. Nothing like it.

Michael Conner: I gotta get that in. But let's give a warm, warm, warm welcome to Dr. Lloyd Jackson appearing on our black excellent series, the Fourth Annual Black Excellence Series on VFE, Dr. Jackson. How you doing today?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: I'm wonderful. I appreciate that. I appreciate the introduction and you, you reminded me that you never know what people see and you point out the calmness and leadership and it's certainly a mantra of mine. My goal, as I, I've shared throughout my leadership journey. Has been, I'm kind of like that duck. I look real calm on top of the water, but underneath the, underneath that water, my feet are just flapping and moving and shaking and trying to stay afloat and making it happen.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Because there are, in education, as you very well know, there are waves and those waves sometimes come in crashing [00:03:00] in real high. Others, it's, there are calm waters, but at the end of the day, leadership has to stay. Consistent has to stay calm and has to be controlled. And, and people do follow those folks that they want have curiosity around, but also that they trust.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And, and you can't trust someone who is just a, you know, unpredictable or who's emotional high or emotional low at the end of the day, you know you're gonna get. So again, thank you for that. And a reminder that the work that we do is one seen, but it's important.

Michael Conner: Absolutely. Dr. Jackson, you exemplify consistency.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: I appreciate that

Michael Conner: you exemplify consistency and couple that with impact your leadership. I tell you, Dr. Jackson, I've been following you for a while now and it's just been remarkable seeing your growth, seeing you in the superintendent role and just seeing the impact that you're having To my audience, we were at napsi together and you know, I was walking by.

Michael Conner: Dr. Jackson, Dr. Jackson and I had said, hi, you know, really quick. And I'm like, [00:04:00] doc, we gotta get together. I'll call you it. It was like a line waiting for him. It was a line waiting for Dr. Jackson. I'm just happy I just walked by. He acknowledged me. But Doc, so good to have you here, but you're tenure education doc.

Michael Conner: Has influenced many, many, many stakeholders and students. You know, most recently you were appointed as a superintendent of Texarkana Arkansas School District, where you are not only the superintendent, but you're a proud alumnus. So for my VF, for my VFE audience who do not know Dr. Lloyd Jackson, what song unpacks your leadership signature and influence within this equal, within this equal spare?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: That, that, that, that, that's a wonderful question and I love it because it it, it makes you think, and this question makes me think, and, and I think the song I land on for this question and that unpacks my leadership and, and my signature around leadership is a, a change is gonna come by [00:05:00] Sam Cooke. The original change is gonna come by Sam Cooke because it, it really speaks to perseverance.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: It speaks to patience, it speaks to hope, and, and those are all things that we have to have in public education. And, and we start talking about leadership. The systems work that goes along with it. Uh, you're not gonna have quick wins. Uh, you're not gonna have all the applause, but this really is work that, that you have to believe deeply that change is possible.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: May not see it right now, and then even progress may feel slow, but change is going to come. And you start talking about being a, as a superintendent, especially an alumnus and leading in my home district. You gotta believe that that lead with that belief that the trans transformation is coming. It, it takes time for sure.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: It takes courage, it takes trust, it takes consistency. But if we're going to do this, this song reminds me that meaningful change doesn't happen [00:06:00] overnight. But it does happen when you're anchored in the purpose. And so Sam cook's a change is gonna come. Is is that mantra for me in this, in this leadership world?

Michael Conner: To my, to my VFE audience, that answer that Dr. Jackson provided to us. That is, I mean, that, that is basically your introductory course to defining what leadership is, and I really love how you unpacked it. Right? Change is gonna come very, very meaningful song, right when we think about it. I really love the, the themes, right?

Michael Conner: The notes that you presented, how a change is gonna come. When I think of this, especially this, this paradigm of the AC stage of education after COVID-19, where we have to have a intentional transformation to be in alignment with our, our new learners. I always say generation alpha, generation, beta, perseverance and hope.

Michael Conner: We have to [00:07:00] have kind of like this underlay of perseverance and hope as we're going through the transformation process. But within leadership, what I love, the phrase that you said is not going to is not, there isn't quick wins, right? Change is going to come when you're anchored in the purpose, but progress is slow.

Michael Conner: It take time. And when we think about. How our model, how the model is constructed, right? When we think about curriculum, when we think about instruction, when we think about pedagogy, sit systems and structures, the, the, the, the critical notes within the operating model. When we, when we think about transforming in that, to be in alignment with what I say, the, uh, this 22nd century lens, 22nd century systems in alignment to generation, alpha and beta, we have to have consistency.

Michael Conner: We have to have the courage. We have to take time. And again, what really resonates with me, Dr. Jackson, is you have to work your trans, your transformation work has to be anchored. [00:08:00] And purpose. Well stated. Good brother. A change is going to come, a

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: change is gonna come. It's gonna come.

Michael Conner: It's gonna come. It's gonna come no matter what.

Michael Conner: We have to, because our students generation alpha and generation beta. Now I know that this is, you know, you completed, you're completing your first year as superintendent of Texarkana Arkansas School District, but during your listening and learning tour, right? You frame these emergent trends into three strategic priorities, which I thought Dr.

Michael Conner: Jackson was Wow. Really captivating. Where now is really focused, right? When we, when we think about. I think it's, it's Fullen's work, right? That had focus or smoker, one of smoker Fullen's work around the, the book focus, right? Your work, the strategic priorities within your district is really focused to these three core areas of literacy behavior, and chronic absenteeism.

Michael Conner: Right now, those are being leveraged within your strategic plan, but. How, now I wanna, I wanna really [00:09:00] unpack your, your strategy or your strategic approach to this. How did you start concretizing those three strategic priorities into the cultural frames of your district? So now every single stakeholder, leadership, classroom practitioners, your executive cabinet team, your board of education, how did you create that culture around those organizational essentials?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: So we started thinking about the work that we do. I did a lot of listening and I did that intentionally when I first got here. I said, I'm gonna do three things. I'm gonna listen. I'm gonna learn from what I've, what I'm, what I've heard, and then we're gonna lean in. And so we're certainly in that lean in phase now after we listen and, and there were a lot of aspirations within our system.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: People are excited, one about change, but they also recognize, and certainly when you get in the middle of it, that change can be challenging. And so how do you focus that so it doesn't feel overwhelming? [00:10:00] And so the smokers work as you just shared, really fo you gotta focus it in and, and when you get that focus, and we, the whirlwind as you learn through Covey's four disciplines of execution.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: A whirlwind is always around you, but what are you, what are you trying to land? What's coming to the runway that you're trying to land? And what I kept, kept hearing over and over again, or that our students weren't consistently reading on grade level, I, I, I heard that behavior was interrupting learning and, and that too many of our students were simply not present in school and that it may for various reasons.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And so. If those were consistent things, how do we address them? And that's when I start leveraging four dx, the four disciplines of execution so that we all were using the same frame as we operationalize this plan with clear goals, some lead measures. We even have visible scoreboard across our system and [00:11:00] at the building level, even at the district level.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And then have that weekly accountability rhythm. And we're talking about these three things. And if the work is not tied to these three things, then that becomes an ancillary conversation. But the major conversations now, do other things still have to happen? Yes. The whirlwinds of the work has to still go on.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: We're still dealing with parent engagement, we're still dealing with communications, we're still dealing with all those other pieces, but our data is focused in, and we're having clear conversations. We're having purposeful conversations and consistent conversations around literacy. Attendance and behavior and the actions that we're taking, we're measuring those, putting those on a visible scoreboard.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: When we talk openly about those three priorities at every level, as you just shared, I meet every month with four different partnership groups. Our, our students, our teachers, classified staff, as well as our parents. Well, guess what we're talking about? We're [00:12:00] talking about both the decisions the district is making, but also what, what things we're doing around literacy behavior.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And our chronic absenteeism, so that that becomes just a daily routine. And what I've heard from our leadership over and over again, and ironically, every, every Monday morning, our executive team, which includes all of our principals and department heads, sit at a table, hour and a half. At most, we try to do no more than two hours of sitting at the table talking through our plans for the year, having an accountability conversation and and making sure we're all collaborating and coordinating our efforts.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Every first Monday of the month, we do a leadership focus, and so we have one of our leaders. We'll share out some of their learning. We almost get a a 15 minute book study every month that we get the whole book in 15 minutes where we get to expand our knowledge. And this just this Monday, one of our leaders brought the book Focus.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And [00:13:00] in their conversation they shared authentically that, you know, when I brought this book back out to kind of refresh my me, my mind around it and present this presentation on it, I thought I had to have a big, old, long checklist. You know what? We need to start doing this. We need to start doing this.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And what I found was. It was affirming some of the things that we have been doing with the last year and a half. I see that we are focused in, we are being intentional around our work, and so that was affirmation that our focus on those three, what we call big rocks or those three wildly important goals.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Speaking to our leaders, and if they're speaking to them, then they're speaking that same language within on their campuses, and then that trickles down to our students and families and, and it's been impactful and certainly a shift for us as, as people finally see how their daily work, everything they do every day is connected to student outcomes and student success.

Michael Conner: Dr. [00:14:00] Jackson Lucid. Concise, right, because as you were stating your, your answers or strategies that you were providing, I was putting it more in this kind of scientific frame around operationalize and performance management. One thing about strategic performance management is the focus around specific core priorities and anything else that deviates outside of those core priorities would be considered exception processing, right?

Michael Conner: Work that's not focused towards the organizational objectives and goals, and the three big priorities of literacy. Behavior and attendance. And what I love about this into my VFE audience, Dr. Jackson calls it the visual score, uh, scoreboards, right? When we think about the emulation, those are the same thing as scorecards, where now we're monitoring and measuring the specific KPIs within that scorecard.

Michael Conner: And what I love about it, right, is measurement focus. But Dr. Jackson, [00:15:00] you have your leaders, you have your teachers, you have the weekly leadership focus meetings, intentional to create organizational alignment. Organizational coherence where now the acceleration, the explicit on the explicitness of the acceleration to be able to increase literacy outcomes, to be able to decrease chronic absenteeism and to be able to improve behaviors within the classrooms.

Michael Conner: Wow. It doesn't matter what school you go to within the district, you're gonna see that level of focus and that level of coherence. Those three critical areas. Very intentional. Dr. Jackson. That's why I said that, you know, the strategy is lucid, but throughout your first year as superintendent, right of schools, you intentionally analyze the district assessment practices.

Michael Conner: I love this Dr. Jackson. Absolutely love this, right? Because I believe that this is an necessity in the context of having clarity on [00:16:00] obtaining clean data to improve systems and outcomes based off of your three priorities. But Dr. Jackson really wanna unpack your ip, your intellectual property with this.

Michael Conner: First, from a lens of inquiry. Doc, how did you, how did your investigation lead to. Systemic organizational changes to improve instructions and system level outputs. And then second doc, what does effective data literacy look like in your district after your findings and recommendations were disseminated to the board and to your stakeholders within the organization?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Well, I, I'll tell you as I, in this listing conversation, I listen to students, I listen to parents, I listen to our educators and certainly our district leadership. And what, what I learned was. We had the drip and not the drip in the good way. Right. But we were, we were data rich and, and, and we were information poor.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: We had a lot of information, I mean, a lot of data, but we didn't use that data to really drive [00:17:00] instruction. And for a kid, for a district that has 3,700 students, seven K, 12 campuses, and a pre-K center. We were literally a system of schools. So what one school was using as a data point, another school may or may not.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And so you may have had accelerated reader over here, but not another campus. You may have seen it iReady approach at this campus, but it was not systematic across our system. And so even within our data approach, we say, how can we make this a system where there it is a school system. Instead of a system of schools, uh, that, that are individuals.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: So we had to streamline our assessments and certainly make sure that they had instructional relevance, if we're gonna give it, what are we gonna do with this particular data and how it's gonna impact instruction or student outcomes at the end of it. And so we had to have [00:18:00] clear assessment purposes, you know, why are we giving this?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: What, how are we, and then we had to. Normalize or calibrate our vocabulary around it. What is a common formative assessment? Because it looks different depending on who you were talking to. But we all had to have the same language and then the same expectations around that, which helped our data literacy.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: What are we looking at? Why are we looking at it, and what is it that we hope to get from this? And then if we're given an assessment. Not using the data from the assessment, then let's stop giving the assessment because there's no point in the assessment. And so when we get to this space of what does effective data, data literacy today and TASD taking Arkansas School District look like and what does it mean?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: It really means that our teachers and our leaders in, in large part can explain what the data says. Why it matters and what they're going to [00:19:00] do with it next, without necessarily having to have a whole spreadsheet in front of 'em to do that. It is, they studied the information, they understand it, they have really assessed it in a way that they've internalized it.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And then from there they're able to talk through it and put it into practice in their classroom. And, and data is no longer this compliance exercise where I gotta give this assessment, but it becomes a conversation tool focused on improving instruction. Not necessarily judging people. We're not pit schools against schools saying what practices are going well.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: 'cause if we can see that this particular instructional material is working really well across our system, we keep moving that forward. But in this data review, we also realized that our curriculum had some shortcomings. And so we're saying students are, are failing on the same standards. Well, that can't just be a teacher issue.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: It, it if across our system we have a, a deficit, where is this being taught? How's it being taught? Wait a minute. [00:20:00] Our curriculum doesn't contain that explicit, particular standard. And so it really has caused us to contain the table to have a lot refreshing, a lot more refreshing, a lot deeper, a conversation around our, even our curriculum, what we're putting on the table as resources.

Michael Conner: Love that Dr. Jackson and I find that many learning organizations domestically and even internationally, 'cause we have international viewers as well as I say the same thing, it's pretty much a problem of context with the drip. Right? And we're not talking about the, you know, pop the college drip, not the alpha drip.

Michael Conner: Right? Not the alpha drip. But you're so right with that because a lot of learning organizations, a lot of networks are data rich, but information. Core, and that's where creating, I like to say the shared capital around efficacy with the utilization of the data to make sure that we're asking these high level, catalytic.

Michael Conner: Asking catalytic level questions, right? [00:21:00] Where now not only are we creating this alignment, as you did so nicely, strategically, uh, building data literacy, right? Embedding that within the cultural trends of your district to build that data literacy. What I love the statement that you stay, that you said.

Michael Conner: Was that we're moving beyond data compliance, and that's where we see a lot of practices, embedded practices within our learning organizations where it's just more data compliance. IIE, I have to administer this formative assessment. I have to review this benchmark data. But what I love with the practice that you implicitly articulated was that now that data literacy, that data alignment around shared mental models that we're saying the same thing.

Michael Conner: Across the learning organization where it became problem seeking to problem solving, right? Because that's what data always does. When you start to really unpack the layers, move from that symptom level to get to that root cause level. You start now, I. [00:22:00] Analyzing the data, synthesizing that information where it becomes a problem seeking endeavor to now problem solve, to be able to curtail the problems of practice within your learning organization.

Michael Conner: I always say this doc data is much more richer than money to a learning organiz. Indeed.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Indeed.

Michael Conner: You know, and people, when I say that and I'm like, well, if you think about it, the information that you have that is embedded within the data. Data is having a transparent conversation with us. We can find, like you said, practices.

Michael Conner: That become outdated, where that we can, they can become obsolete practices where now we're putting in more resources or repurposing resources back into our strategic priorities. IE literacy, chronic absenteeism and behavior. So, but Doc, I want to start, I want to talk about the AC stage of education and the rationale of why I always wanna talk about the AC stage of education because I'm trying to create the strategic urgency that we [00:23:00] have.

Michael Conner: Two new set of students, generation alpha and generation beta, within the pre-K 12 continuum. So, and to support generation alpha and generation beta, we have to have strategic partnerships and alliances to truly advance this overarching theme of global readiness. These partnerships, right, that, you know, alliances, they have to be rooted in innovation to shift away from the legacy paradigm.

Michael Conner: You know me, doc, I'm this disruptive where we have to move away from the fossilized industrial model, but what approaches that you have used to leverage strategic partnerships with community organizations, nonprofits, innovative stakeholders, higher education, or even other entities for impact to advance the organizational objectives around behavior literacy and chronic absenteeism.[00:24:00]

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: You know, so every leader when they come into a new system, and I would encourage every leader annually, even if you're in the same system for several years, should do a real review of those partnerships. What are you doing? Why do you have those? And what is it benefiting? And as you look through that, I think there are three.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Lenses from which you should look. One is, is it mission aligned? Does it align to our mission and our vision for where we're headache headed? Because oftentimes people always have a solution before they even have what the problem is. And so they wanna sell you a solution. Well, let's talk. All my issues are first, so does this align to my mission?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And then is, how do we make sure that this relationship is outcome based and outcome driven? And so, uh, that third lens is how do we make sure that we have mutual accountability, that we are mutually accountable to the outcomes that are on [00:25:00] the table? Because you can spend a lot of. If not money, a lot of time with partners and there'll be no benefit to that, that aligns to a mission or aligned to something that's outcome.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: One of the things is, as an ancillary note that we are doing this year, and, and it's a, a, a. Innovation and certainly a disruptor is outcome-based contracting. And so bringing in people to provide services like tutoring or things of that nature. And we're saying, what 70% of this contract you're gonna get?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: The 30 other, th other 30% is gonna be based on your outcomes. And so what do you, what do you, what can you guarantee? So you get us the 10%, you get, you get another 10%, you get. So we have outcome based contracting to ensure that it is mission aligned, outcome driven, and that we have mutual accountability in this work.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: So whether it's a community organization, higher education, [00:26:00] or if it, even if it's industry, we have to start with one question. What problem are we solving together that we as a system cannot solve alone? And there are some problems out there that you know are bigger than us. We need some additional partners.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And then that becomes our jump off point to finding those partners instead of what we oftentimes see in education is, I have this beautiful solution now help me come find the problem that's in your system that will make this solution fit. Uh, and then. When you do those things, have a mission aligned, focused, outcome driven, and then neutral accountability.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Innovation happens. It happens within those partnerships because those partnerships are embedded in instruction. They're embedded in student supports. They're embedded in real world learning. And they're not just something that just laying on top of those things, but they're embedded in a part of that work.[00:27:00]

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And so that accelerates everything. It accelerates the work that you're doing and it does not create a distraction. 'cause sometimes you gotta stop the real work to go do this partnership. Whatever that partnership may be. I gotta go do this total op, I gotta go do this particular compliance piece as a part of this grant or as a part of this particular industry need that we have out here.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: But we embedded into the work that we're doing, and again, the problem we're trying to solve. Then go find that partnership and make sure that contractually, uh, if not contractually, within a memorandum of understanding, here are our expectations to ensure that we have mutual accountability in this process.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: We're bringing this to the table and expecting, and then you're bringing what to the table and expecting that, how can we ensure that at the end of the day. We're focused on the outcomes. How is this driving more students to be at school and to be at school on time? How is this driving better behavior in the classroom and teachers being able to get [00:28:00] further along in instruction?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And how is this driving improved literacy? And we have a. Just in our short time, a year and a half here, we have some real tangible partnerships that have just been phenomenal and, and I, I look forward to seeing the fruits of those, uh, just if I said them, people wouldn't understand it that they're local things.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: But we had a community organization that works with first through seventh graders called We Are Washington. They're pouring into care to build, and they're pouring into developing students within the. Team sports world and working as a team and collaborating that directly impacts students. 'cause you know, if the students are engaged and they're active, they're more likely to show up to school, they're more likely to get engaged in school, and they're certainly more likely to graduate.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Then we just launched what we call bright tracks. For our Razorbacks. And what that is is that really is little backs, bright tracks is what we called it. Little backs, bright tracks, little Razorbacks and well, that is us [00:29:00] partnering with the local hospital and our United Way. Every newborn is getting a QR code to connect with us.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: So those parents we're saying, sign up and when you sign up, we're gonna ship you off. A nice little box that has. Onsie for the baby that has our logo on it. It has a nice little blanket that's warm and fuzzy for the baby, but more importantly, and the real connecting piece we want to have is that that child from age zero to age five will get a book every month.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And that's the partnership we have with the Texarkana Greater United Way, as well as the Dolly Parton, uh, imagination Library. And so those are the kind of partnerships we're saying, how does it impact us? One, I got students reading early, getting involved in literacy. Their first teachers are their parents, so how do we ensure that they have the success or the tools they need to be successful along that?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: So. You can go on and on. But when you start talking about those partnerships, how are they [00:30:00] meaningful? How are they mission driven? How are they outcome based and outcome driven? And then certainly, how do we have this mutual accountability in that process?

Michael Conner: Yeah, to my audience. Dr. Jackson, we use this, and I say this pretty much every single episode.

Michael Conner: We use this as an asynchronous professional learning tool for leaders, for teachers, for ed tech companies, startups, organizations, and this is a professional learning tool that's self-directed learning. And to my audience who are EdTech organization leaders, CEOs, startup founders, organizations, um, please rewind this answer back, right?

Michael Conner: Because Dr. Jackson essentially contextualize. How organizations, how ed tech companies should form partnerships with learning organizations, superintendents and boards of educations. Uh, Dr. Jackson, you [00:31:00] essentially kind of basically took every single sentiment and statement I said at Ed Tech Week to ed tech founders and CEOs and companies because I, I, I stated this in at EdTech week, is that if.

Michael Conner: If a company does not know my kids or do not understand my kids or understand the priorities, then there's no, the, the partnership is not even gonna form before you even come in. You, you need to have a baseline understanding of what the core problems or the core kind of drums that we're facing as a learning organization and to be.

Michael Conner: Aligned IE going back to your first focus, which is being mission aligned so that now the solution can accelerate the outcomes, accelerate the partnership, where now we're closing specific gaps, where we're accelerating literacy, where we're looking at chronic absenteeism intentionally. I really love this innovation.

Michael Conner: I hope all of our [00:32:00] superintendents across the country move to more of outcome-based contracts. Right? Because it goes back to your third principle that you highlighted, which is around this, I like to say reciprocal accountability between partner and learning organization. Well stated, Dr. Jackson, because again, the essential questions, again, back to my audience, to the EdTech Founders, companies, organization, organizational leaders, CEOs, this is exactly what learning organization leaders, superintendents, CEOs, are looking for.

Michael Conner: If your product or solution's mission aligned. The outcomes, right? Ensuring that's outcome based and outcome driven. But more importantly, as Dr. Jackson stated, that mutual accountability, there's a, Dr. Jackson I, there's a lot, there's a lot of new solutions that are out there. And seeking in partnerships, right?

Michael Conner: Seeking partnerships with learning organizations. But [00:33:00] again, the intentionality to see if there's a direct alignment and how you can actually close specific gaps or problems of practices, problems of practice. Within a learning organization. So essential. So thank you for that answer, Dr. Jackson, because again, my audience can be able to take that and be able to now start looking at what are those critical issues that we're trying to address within the learning organization.

Michael Conner: So, Dr. Jackson, I wanna talk about artificial intelligence because a, a AI is becoming, I always like to say it's becoming ubiquitous within education simply for the fact of the impact that technology have. Within generation alpha, generation beta in their, in their naturalized economic demand or economics.

Michael Conner: But AI is transforming every single sector do. Now, within my 22nd century model, I always wanna bring this up, right? I always state that we have to have this systems level shift. [00:34:00] To now creating learning environments that are rooted in what I call learning ecosystems that are AI centric. So now from your lens as a superintendent doc, what do you believe is the vision of AI and education for these next two generations, generation, alpha, generation beta, to be AC 2035?

Michael Conner: Ready? And the rationale, I say this doc and doc. Uh, that means both you and I we're getting old. Our kindergartners right now, they're anticipated now listen to this doc. You're gonna, you're gonna laugh. They're anticipated to retire from the workforce in 2080. 2080. Our babies right now, our K babies, 2080 is when they're gonna be like, I'm retiring, I'm

Michael Conner: done.

Michael Conner: I'm

Michael Conner: done. So, right. Right. That's a long time.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Oh, that's a long time. That's a long time.

Michael Conner: Long time. But, but here's the thing. We have to create learning environments that are preparing them for this retirement age [00:35:00] or this retirement year of 2080. So. How are you approaching this? Right? How are you now approaching disruptive technologies in AI to become the utility within your learning organization?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Yeah, and I, I, I'm the lead learner in all of that. My, my, my mantra in this is that AI and education has to be viewed as a force multiplier and not a replacement. And, and so there, there, it, it, it is allowing for. Generation, alpha and beta to have personalized learning. So how do we, how do we facilitate that?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: It, it, it's gonna reduce and it's certainly already, I think if you use it now, reduce the administrative burden. There's some things that I used to have to do, I don't have to do anymore, and I leverage artificial intelligence to help me. Draft that soft email because I, I'm a math guy and so I'm one of those, you need to sit down, you need to stop and don't do it [00:36:00] again.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And I ask AI now, make it sound professional and cute because I don't wanna offend anybody. And so it, it, it reduces some of that administrative burden. It, it expands our access to high quality instruction if we use it well. I've been using Notebook, LM and in Notebook, Google Notebook LM I'm able to create from, we're doing a book study as a leadership team, so I'm creating podcasts that I'm not having to sit there and do myself.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: I let AI generate those and so now I have this personalized learning. You can go in there, you can pass forward, you can pause it, you can double the speed if you need to. And then I, if you don't like listening to it, I put a video together. All in the same vein. And so how do you leverage those to have high quality instruction with I our classrooms?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: And I think if we use it well, it can strengthen and, and certainly not replace human relationships because I'm not having to spend as much time doing those, the administrative tasks. I can spend a little more time building that [00:37:00] trust, building those relationships. But I can also, again, if you, if you leverage it, well, you can use it in order to find out the best gift for my wife.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Or, or think through what are some potential, you know, one thing we did was pretty interesting. Last Christmas break, we, we, we did, took a cruise, this one, but the last one we took a trip to Savannah and, and it was really my introduction to how do I use AI differently? And so I, I, I leveraged AI and I said, I'm taking a trip from Texarkana, went to a road trip to Savannah.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Georgia, map it out. We're gonna spend the night, at least one night along this journey. Show me where I'm needing to stop to do gas. 'cause I got this type of car, it gets this many miles to the gallon and I wanna stop at a love's along the way, if I can, and so along, and so it mapped out an iron tire.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Share with me where we should stay. Here's some good recommendations because there are some great restaurants next [00:38:00] to it. Here's some places to stop. You can do lunch here, breakfast here, dinner here. When you get to Savannah, here's your itinerary. And I'm thinking it would've taken me weeks to figure out the best trip and, and to show that to my wife, she said, 'cause she's the planner in our family.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: She's the one who thinks through all the things. And, and she said later on after that, she said, you know what? You giving me that particular plan and re refining it together showed me that you really were invested in this, that you really were thinking about how to make this trip special. And that spoke to me.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: I'm thinking that's building relationships again and interactions and, and using a attitude that. And so as we look at the strategic approach to the work around ai, and you look at it from the lens of instructional priorities, now we, we, how do we use this tool to support literacy with adaptive tools?

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: You know, a teacher can only do so many [00:39:00] things. But how can I leverage the use of ai, uh, to adapt a, a text or to either increase rigor or bring it to that student's level and give them the scaffolds they need in order to get to the right level of that particular text. And then from the. Second and third worlds of where we are when it comes to attendance and behavior.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: I'm, I'm using, and I learned this even at Nsea, uh, went to a, an attendance workshop and she was using ai. To analyze the attendance worksheet for her campus and they were able to, once a student dropped below a certain level of absenteeism, so you had 90% and you start getting dropping down to 80% it.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Triggered some automatic functions to, to send a text message to the principal saying, check on these students that that [00:40:00] was able to send an email to the teacher, make a phone call home, and if it got to a next level, it could be talking to interventionists saying These students need to be on your radar to go check in on without.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Having to go and look at the spreadsheet every week, you update the spreadsheet and then those triggers happen. Using ai, same kind of conversation can happen with the behavior and looking at those trends and then. We oftentimes want to give feedback, let, let's just say lesson planning or you go into a classroom, you got a lot of notes around what you're seeing in the classroom, and the synthesizing of those notes really become the biggie, he the big lift or the heavy lift of it.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: How do you leverage ai? You know, you put that in there and say, what are some what? Two things I wanna focus in on here. I need two glows and a grow. 'cause you know, you have to have that sandwich approach to it. And so how do you help them help you brainstorm through those kind of things. And so as you look at this AI approach, you have to be [00:41:00] intentional.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: But I think the other thing we have to be as ethical as we do this work has to be student centered. And, and, and we gotta remind people that AI is not a strategy. They're just learning outcomes. There's opportunities to have some outcomes through AI and using it as a tool.

Michael Conner: Yeah. I love how you stated it as a tool doctor.

Michael Conner: Um, Dr. Jackson, I always say this right, that the superintendent, the CEO executive director, whoever might be, is the lead learner of that organization. It's the lead learner of that organization, and I think that during this time or this paradigm where artificial intelligence, disruptive technologies are becoming ubiquitous within our naturalized worlds and our educational world, is that you have to be the lead learner to exemplify, I always like to say experimentation.[00:42:00]

Michael Conner: Iterations around strategic adaptations and this force multiplier, as you talked about, what I, I, I love about this, right? That the tool, right, the tool is ai. You gave this macro level. Perspective of what I always state is Moore's law, right? That we have to have that equilibrium between humans and machines.

Michael Conner: Educational context is between our educational stakeholders and disruptive technologies and AI doc. The, the, it's phenomenal generative artificial intelligence, right? Large language models, generative AI, reducing workload. Providing explicit feedback because the precision that AI can get to a student's zone, proximal development, the precision and the context of differentiation.

Michael Conner: If we wanna bring in Dr. Thomason's work around content, process and product scaffold and rigor, so students are able to master [00:43:00] specific segments. To reach that standardized OB or the standard objectives. I, I just think that now just being intentional where we can actually define quality and efficacy of instruction pedagogy when we align it intentionally with our practitioners in the utilizations and the utilization in our classrooms.

Michael Conner: I love how you stated it, right. It is a tool. To strengthen the obtaining various degrees or reach of various degrees of the knowledge taxonomies. And moreover, getting to that personalized level IE addressing students' modalities. I see a lot of learning organizations and leaders, doc not taking that strategic initiative.

Michael Conner: Where now it's like, oh, you know, AI is not adopted in our, in our district and or AI is not allowed in our classrooms. And I'm like, okay, well we have to think [00:44:00] about alignment in the context of preparation, whether it be readiness or preparation for generation alpha, generation beta four when they graduate, high school doc 2038, when they graduate, or when they decide to say, Hey.

Michael Conner: I'm done. I retire 2080, man. Oh man. When I saw that, I was like, our kindergarten's doing 2080. Where am I gonna be at? But Dr. Jackson, last question and good brother. I'm gonna limit you to three words with this and, but take it how it is. Please expand on it when necessary. What three words do you want our audience to leave today's podcast with regards to generation alpha, generation, beta?

Michael Conner: Global readiness for 2035.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Yeah. Yeah. So, and you've heard these words a few times even throughout our conversation, I think, and, but my first word is intentional. We have to be intentional with it. Adaptive. We have to adapt. Either we're gonna adapt or [00:45:00] it's we're gonna be adapted. Right? And then it, it, it had to be, we had to be human centered at the, at the center of this.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: I know we get so afraid of technology and what it might do or what it's might replace, but at the end of the day, these aren't brains. They're, they're doing what we ask them to do and it's. Certainly human-centered and the work around is human-centered and, and these three words as, as we look at them, will determine whether education evolves or if it gets left behind.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Gotta be intentional, adaptive and human-centered.

Michael Conner: Doc, intentional, adaptive and human-centric. Thank you, Dr. Jackson for coming on VFE. If any of my audience members want to get in contact with you, expand on various strategies, organizational priorities, how you're leveraging your scorecard and alignment with strategic measurement to KPIs, how would they be able to get in contact with you?[00:46:00]

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: So I am on every social media platform and most of those I'm, uh, with the same handle of Jackson EDD, and so that's LinkedIn, that's Facebook, that's Twitter, x. That's Instagram. You fill it in. I'm there. But also it is simply my first name, last name @TASD7. The number seven.net is my email address.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Happy to connect with whomever.

Michael Conner: Dr. Jackson, again, I am just, I, I, I adore your leadership. I adore you, not only just as a fraternity brother, I adore you as a leader just because of the impact that you bring, and then the influence that is underscored within your leadership signature. Thank you for everything that you do for your students, your community, and also the leaders that you mentor across the country in impacting their individual leadership signature.

Dr. Lloyd Jackson: Thank you, Mike. Complete pleasure.

Michael Conner: Absolutely. [00:47:00] And on that note, onward and upward. Everybody have a great evening.