Top 2025 Podcast Episodes for Education Leaders: Insights & Strategies 

December 17, 2025

As 2025 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on a year of transformative conversations and actionable insights aimed at fostering thriving learners and empowered communities. In this wrap-up, we highlight the most listened-to episodes from WestEd’s Leading Voices podcast. These conversations have shaped thinking, sparked innovation, and offered practical solutions to some of education’s most pressing challenges. 

Use this list of 2025’s top podcast episodes to revisit this year’s most powerful discussions or uncover fresh ideas to drive meaningful change and inspire new work in 2026.   

WestEd’s Leading Voices Podcast 

In 2025, the Leading Voices podcast series continued to shine a light on some of the most important challenges and innovative practices shaping education and human development today. 

“Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Jams: An Innovative Approach to Problem-Solving—A Conversation With Zach Smith and Jose Blackorby”: Zach Smith and Jose Blackorby explore how WestEd’s UDL Lab and “UDL Jams” use Universal Design for Learning principles to bring people together in real time to collaboratively solve complex problems, creating a space where participants bring their unique expertise to cocreate meaningful, actionable solutions. 

“Advancing Economic Mobility Through Postsecondary and Workforce Strategies”: Kathy Booth and Randy Tillery discuss the challenges many adult learners face—such as balancing work, caregiving, and school—and why short-term training alone often falls short, emphasizing the value of cross-sector partnerships between community colleges, employers, and workforce organizations in building systems that are more responsive to both learners’ needs and local labor markets. 

“Assessing Student Readiness for Accelerated Math in Middle School—A Conversation With Dr. Guillermo López, Janine Penney, and Scott Firkins”: Scott Firkins and leaders from Palo Alto Unified School District discuss how the district collaborated with WestEd to transform its placement process for accelerated mathematics in middle school, resulting in a fair and evidence-based mathematics validation process designed to accurately place students in the right course in the mathematics pathway. 

“Education Savings Accounts (ESAs): Research, Accountability, and Transparency—A Conversation With William Berry and Robin Chait”: William Berry and Robin Chait discuss the way Education Savings Accounts work, three primary accountability mechanisms, and the need for research on student outcomes as these programs continue to expand across the United States. 

“5 Strategies for Overcoming the Opioid Epidemic in Schools and Communities”: Jennifer Loeffler-Cobia outlines five evidence-based strategies for addressing the opioid epidemic, explaining why breaking down silos across sectors—including education, healthcare, law enforcement, and community organizations—is critical to saving lives and supporting long-term recovery. 

Looking Ahead to 2026 

The episodes featured in this year’s wrap-up reflect the diverse and evolving landscape of education—from innovative problem-solving frameworks and accessible assessment practices to economic mobility, education policy, and public health. Each conversation offered evidence-based strategies and practical insights that can help education leaders, policymakers, and practitioners create meaningful changes in their communities. 

As we move into 2026, we encourage you to explore our Leading Together podcast channel and share your favorite episodes with your colleagues. Subscribe to the Leading Voices podcast to ensure you don’t miss the powerful discussions and innovative ideas coming in the year ahead!