425 Why Most School Partnerships Fail (And What To Do Instead)
About this episode
The episode discusses the importance of boundary spanning in education and how to effectively design partnerships between schools and industry.
What happens to a school system when boundary spanning doesn’t exist? In Part 2 of this Disrupt Education Podcast conversation, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl go deeper with Chris Brida (CTE Director, Portland Public Schools) to unpack what’s at risk when education stays siloed—by departments, by bell schedules, by “that’s not my lane.” Chris shares what his dissertation research is revealing about partner ecosystems, including what actually changes partner perception (hint: it’s not tenure) and why engagement intensity matters if we want real alignment between classrooms and industry. He also breaks down how to teach boundary spanning without a textbook—by designing experiences where leaders “trip over the truth” through role-based practice (and he previews how he’s doing this at SXSW EDU). This episode zooms out to the bigger disruption: moving beyond “partnership management” toward partnership design—and ultimately building CTE as a civic engagement engine where students work on real problems, with real partners, producing real impact. If you’re a district leader, CTE leader, principal, teacher-leader, or anyone trying to build work-based learning, internships, industry…
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