Talking Outcomes-Based Literacy with Really Great Reading CEO Karl Rectanus

About this episode

Mike Palmer interviews Karl Rectanus about literacy and outcomes-based education at the ASU+GSV Summit.

Coming to you live from the harbor terrace in sunny San Diego, Mike Palmer sits down with Karl Rectanus, the new CEO of Really Great Reading, amidst the buzz of the ASU+GSV Summit. Between views of sailboats and silver-lined clouds, the duo digs into why literacy remains the fundamental building block of the educational system and how we might finally be cracking the code on systemic improvement. Karl shares his unique path to leadership, which began with chasing a girl to Australia and starting a digital Q&A service for children museums during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. This early taste of working through the system to help students sparked an entrepreneurial journey that led him to found LearnPlatform in 2014, where he pioneered rapid cycle evaluation to determine if EdTech tools actually work. Now, after LearnPlatform’s acquisition by Instructure, Karl is focusing his energy on a 20-year-old organization dedicated to the science of reading. The conversation highlights the "Mississippi Marathon," a state-level commitment to literacy that saw improvements in reading lead to even higher gains in math and science. Karl points out that while many schools of education have…

People in this episode

Host: Mike Palmer

Guest: Karl Rectanus

Topics covered

• literacy
• education
• entrepreneurship
• EdTech
• outcomes-based contracting
• systemic improvement

Keywords

• literacy
• education
• Really Great Reading
• LearnPlatform
• EdTech
• outcomes-based contracting
• Mississippi Marathon

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Really Great Reading, LearnPlatform, Instructure

Places: San Diego, harbor terrace, Australia

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