424 CTE’s Secret Superpower: Boundary Spanners
From Disrupt Education Podcast by Disrupt Education Podcast
March 4, 2026 · 1h 2m · Season 11 · Episode 9
About this episode
The episode discusses the concept of boundary spanning in CTE leadership and its impact on student opportunities.
Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl sit down with Chris Brida, CTE Director in Portland Public Schools, to unpack a concept most education leaders do the work of… but rarely have language for: boundary spanning. Chris breaks down how CTE leaders sit between K–12, higher ed, workforce, nonprofit, and government systems, and why “partnerships” can’t just be guest speakers and career fairs if we’re serious about student opportunity. Chris walks through six boundary spanning skill-sets that show up in high-impact CTE leadership: broker, translator, trust builder, convenor, buffer, and integrator—explaining how each one helps reduce friction between systems, protect educators from chaos, align stakeholder expectations, and build partnerships that actually produce shared value. The conversation goes deep on a big shift: moving from partnership management to partnership design—starting with real problems, using data, and bringing the right mix of partners together to solve them. The episode lands with a powerful example: a multi-partner design lab initiative that puts Black engineering students at the center of a real civic redevelopment project—showing exactly how intentional systems-level…
People in this episode
Hosts: Peter Hostrawser, Alli Dahl
Guest: Chris Brida
Topics covered
- CTE
- boundary spanning
- partnerships
- education leadership
- student opportunity
- collaboration
Keywords
- CTE
- boundary spanning
- partnerships
- education
- leadership
- collaboration
- student access
Sponsors
YouScience Brightpath
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Portland Public Schools
More episodes of Disrupt Education Podcast
- 438 5 Truths High School Doesn't Teach You · June 10, 2026 · 1h 1m
- 437 The Real Reason Students Are Disengaged in School Right Now · June 3, 2026 · 54 min
- 436 CTE Works. Now Can Schools Keep Up? | Mark Covelle on the Future of Career Education · May 27, 2026 · 1h 3m
- 435 This Is What AI Is Doing to Schools Right Now… · May 20, 2026 · 54 min
- 434 Education Can’t Keep Up With AI… Now What? · May 13, 2026 · 1h 0m
- 433 What Makes a School ‘Good’? (And Why Nobody Can Explain It) · May 6, 2026 · 1h 14m
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Disrupt Education Podcast podcast page.