500 episodes listed below
Steady counsel for school leaders.
Principal Matters is a reflective education leadership show built around real problems from school life. Its conversations move between co-host Q&A and guest interviews, turning difficult moments into usable judgment for principals and aspiring leaders.
PRESS PLAY
Principal Matters is an education leadership show for people who know that school administration is never just a set of procedures. It lives in conversations, timing, grief, trust, feedback, hiring, classrooms, and the emotional weather of a building. Will Parker and Dr. Jen Schwanke often begin with a listener-style question or a situation from school life, then work through it with enough room for uncertainty. The pace is measured. The counsel is practical. A question about applying for a principal position becomes a discussion about interviews, readiness, and clarity. A question about expectations turns into language leaders can use to tell the difference between a suggestion and a non-negotiable. A conversation about hard times makes space for personal loss while still asking what it means to keep serving others. The show does not pretend every school context is the same. It repeatedly favors judgment over slogans. That makes its advice feel especially useful for leaders who need tools but also need perspective. Guest episodes bring in voices such as Leanne Nicol, Mark Schellinger, Ann Cummins-Bogan, Beau Brannon, and Steve Ventura. Those conversations range from fierce-hearted leadership to walkthroughs, community, transitions, and constructive feedback. Mark Schellinger's episode questions whether classroom visits matter if they do not lead to deeper professional conversation. Ann Cummins-Bogan's conversation highlights how central-office planning and school timing can collide once students and families arrive. Steve Ventura's episode presses on the damage caused when weak teaching is ignored. Across the feed, instructional leadership is treated as both urgent and hard to protect. Principals are not scolded for being busy; they are helped to think more clearly inside that busyness. The show is warm, serious, and grounded in the ordinary pressures of school leadership. It suits listeners who want reflective professional development without theatrical certainty.
Made for: For principals, assistant principals, and educators preparing for school administration who want practical guidance rooted in real school situations.
What sets it apart: The show pairs candid co-host problem-solving with reflective guest interviews, giving leadership advice enough context to feel usable instead of canned.
With William D. Parker and Friends
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
School leadership becomes practical through candid conversations about feedback, hiring, change, collaboration, and the choices principals make each day.
Principal Matters turns school leadership into decisions that can be examined, questioned, and improved. Will Parker and Dr. Jen Schwanke pair candid conversations with guest interviews, moving easily from hiring dilemmas and supervisory expectations to instructional…
A walkthrough ends; William D. Parker wants to know what you say to the teacher afterward.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A quiet leadership story about grief, duty, and the pull to keep serving anyway.
Monday Matters follows Will Parker as he recalls the morning his father died at home after losing his appetite, having his blood pressure drop, and waiting for an ambulance that could not get there in time.
A steady, reflective look at leadership, boundaries, and staying whole under pressure.
Principal Matters episode 495 centers on an AP considering a principal role and stays grounded in the human side of leadership: purpose, boundaries, and the work of bringing mind, body, heart, and spirit into one practice. Will Parker and Dr.
A practical episode on making expectations clear enough for trust, feedback, and supervision to work.
Monday Matters frames expectations as a trust issue, starting from a confidential phone call and turning it into a practical lesson about supervision.
A practical look at walkthroughs, feedback, and the difference between presence and leadership.
Principal Matters episode 494 opens with a pointed question about interview committees and settles quickly on a useful distinction: committee members are advisors, not deciders, and the process should not be treated as a place to force a preferred outcome.
A steady conversation about how leadership can confuse caution with care.
This Monday Matters has Jen Schwanke and Will Parker tracing a familiar but useful leadership tension: the instinct for stability can harden into saying no too quickly.
A school scheduling problem opens into a clear case for better timing and shared direction.
Principal Matters episode 493 begins with a straightforward interview-scheduling problem and uses it to organize Ann Cummins-Bogan's conversation around a familiar school-leadership challenge.
School leadership notes and a firm case for public schools
Student radio with a community pulse.
Clear thinking about education’s next turn.
The episode opens with a brief spring break check-in.
Will Parker and Dr.
Jen Schwanke and William D.
Principal Matters opens episode 494 with a question about interview committees.
Will Parker and Dr.
Will Parker and Dr.
This episode discusses common pitfalls that prevent principals from effectively leading instructional communities, featuring insights from educational leaders.
This episode features a discussion with Steve Ventura about leading educational communities, focusing on addressing substandard teaching and handling teacher responses to constructive feedback.
This episode features a discussion on strategies for professional growth in school leadership, with insights from Dr.
This episode features a discussion with Dr.
This episode features a re-recorded interview with Darrin Peppard about school leadership, including a Q&A on supporting teachers with disproportionate special needs students.