October 12, 2022

My interest in modernizing the experience of high school students began when I was just nine years old.  My mother, a computer teacher at our local high school, was innovating with new technology resources like laser disks, hypercard, and very primitive portable computers like the Osborne (which was the size of a large suitcase!).  That was back in the 1980s.

My first job in education was as a computer lab aide at Santa Cruz High School in the mid 1990s.  We were wiring the computers to this new thing called the internet.  The idea that students could conduct research and connect with others represented a dramatic expansion in what was possible for learning.  

By the time that I became Superintendent of Vista Unified School District (CA) in 2012, I had been working to improve and innovate high schools for two decades.  We were extremely fortunate at Vista High School to collaborate with Digital Promise and be one of the first recipients of the $10 million XQ Superschool Prize to reimagine high school around personal, challenge-based learning.  

During my time as a school and district administrator, I have seen and been a part of many efforts to modernize…