S4 E1 Built Different

Featuring: Brett Peterson, Director at High Tech High Mesa (San Diego, CA) Student Guest: Isabella Coralez, Junior at High Tech High Hosts: Vashaunta Harris & Jim Goenner Guest Host: Don Cooper Powered by the National Charter Schools Institute | Sponsored by The Founders Library

Season 4 of Bold by Choice begins with a new lens. Rather than focusing only on individual schools, this season explores the ideas behind the charter movement — the thinking that makes new and different kinds of public schools possible.

The charter idea was never meant to create a separate sector of education. It was intended to introduce pluralism, innovation, and new possibilities within public education, allowing educators and communities to design schools around how students actually learn.

In this opening episode, hosts Vashaunta Harris and Jim Goenner are joined by guest host Don Cooper to frame the season’s central question: What does the charter idea make possible today? Drawing on foundational readings including Reinventing America’s Schools and other core texts shaping the season, the hosts explore how chartering emerged as a movement to rethink the structure and purpose of public education.

To bring those ideas to life, the conversation turns to High Tech High in San Diego, one of the country’s most influential project-based public charter schools.

Director Brett Peterson reflects on the founding purpose of High Tech High — responding to concerns that students were graduating without the skills, confidence, and real-world experience needed for the modern world. High Tech High responded with bold design choices: integrated courses, project-based learning, exhibitions of student work, and strong relationships between teachers and students.

Junior Isabella Coralez shares the student perspective, describing how internships, projects, and integrated coursework connect learning to the real world and help students see themselves as creators, problem-solvers, and contributors.

Together, the hosts and guests explore the tradeoffs behind intentional school design — including High Tech High’s choice to prioritize project-based learning and authentic demonstrations of learning rather than traditional structures like AP course tracks.

The episode closes with a reflective conversation about what High Tech High reveals about the charter idea itself: that the true promise of chartering lies in creating space for educators to design schools differently while remaining accountable to students, families, and communities.

Season 4 invites listeners to think deeply about the future of public education — not by searching for a single model to replicate, but by exploring the ideas that make meaningful innovation possible.

Show Notes

• Season Theme: The Charter Idea Today — What’s Possible • Chartering as a movement for educational pluralism, not simply a sector of schools • Core reading: Reinventing America’s Schools by David Osborne • Guest host: Don Cooper • Featured school: High Tech High — San Diego, California • Key design elements:

• Project-based learning

• Integrated coursework

• Small schools and teaching teams

• No academic tracking

• Student exhibitions and real-world projects • Student voice: learning connected to community, internships, and authentic problem-solving • Tradeoffs in school design and why intentional choices matter • Season 4 explores pluralism, innovation, student agency, and the evolving charter idea

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