425 Why Most School Partnerships Fail (And What To Do Instead)

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 partnerships, and deeper learning, this one will give you language, structure, and a direction to move.

Key topics in this episode:The risks of NOT doing boundary spanning in educationWhat partner survey data says about alignment + student experienceWhy “time barriers” aren’t the whole storyHow to teach boundary spanning through experience-based learningBreaking silos: interdisciplinary learning and “erasing the edges” of class periodsScaling CTE partnerships into real community impact projects

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