Kids are different now.

We hear it in schools all the time—but is it actually true?

Adam Busch and Jim Wichman are joined by Jessica Cabeen and Meg Simon to wrestle with what's really changed about student behavior, attention, relationships, and the way schools respond to young people.

Jessica offers a useful challenge: maybe the kids haven't changed as much as leaders need to change. From there, the conversation explores behavior as communication, the conditions adults create for students, changing expectations around compliance, and what today's students may be telling us about schools.

The conversation also turns the question back on educators. If we're frustrated that students aren't responding the way they once did, are we adapting our practices—or expecting students to adapt to systems that haven't changed with them?

What You'll Hear:

• Why behavior can be understood as a form of communication
• How adult-created conditions influence student behavior
• What changing attention habits mean for schools
• The difference between compliance and meaningful engagement
• Why leaders may need to examine their own willingness to change
• The power of noticing students and making sure they know they matter

Control Shift Lead is hosted by Adam Busch and Jim Wichman on the ForwardEd Network.

Listen and follow Control Shift Lead: https://push.fm/fl/csl

Families Don’t Experience Departments. They Experience Your School.

Schools organize themselves into departments because it makes the work manageable.

Families don’t experience us that way.

When a parent reaches out with one problem, they aren’t thinking about student services, communications, counseling, administration, or which department owns the answer. They simply see their child’s school — and every handoff, delayed response, and communication gap becomes part of that experience.

In this episode, we sit down with Ian Nenke to explore what school leaders can learn by looking at our systems through the eyes of families. We talk about parent communication, cultural differences, responsiveness, trust, and why sometimes the best thing a leader can do is take ownership of finding an answer rather than sending a family somewhere else.

We also look at how easily internal structures can become external frustration. One example: a single parent email with several questions that ultimately touched four different offices. From the school’s perspective, that may make organizational sense. From the family’s perspective, it can feel fragmented, slow, and confusing.

The question isn’t simply whether each department is doing its job well. It’s whether the entire experience makes sense from the other side.

What You’ll Hear:

• Why families experience the school as one system, not separate departments
• How handoffs and communication gaps can quickly become trust problems
• Why a quick, honest response matters even when you don’t yet have the answer
• Why taking ownership often matters more than knowing exactly who “owns” the issue
• How small, sincere interactions help families decide whether a school feels responsive, connected, and human

Key Takeaways:

• Families experience the whole school, not the organizational chart
• A short, honest response is often more valuable than silence
• Leaders build trust by taking ownership and helping families find answers
• Small interactions across a school can strengthen the sense of community
• Seeing the school through a parent’s eyes can reveal gaps that internal structures hide

🎧 Listen to Your Morning Boost:

https://push.fm/fl/yourmorningboost

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