# Sari Factor | Imagine Learning

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-education-equation-with-jeremy-singer-7488395/sari-factor-imagine-learning
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-education-equation-with-jeremy-singer-7488395/sari-factor-imagine-learning.md
Podcast: [The Education Equation with Jeremy Singer](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-education-equation-with-jeremy-singer-7488395)
Published: 2025-09-12T20:34:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PLMD6129784241.mp3?updated=1757852918
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PLMD6129784241.mp3?updated=1757852918
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-education-equation-with-jeremy-singer-7488395/episodes/sari-factor-imagine-learning
Duration seconds: 2531

## Resource

The People Systems Behind Educational Change In this episode, host Jeremy Singer speaks with Sari Factor, Vice Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer at ⁠Imagine Learning⁠, a company dedicated to providing high-quality educational experiences. Factor, who began her career as a math teacher, has over 40 years of experience in the education sector and has held leadership positions at major companies such as Kaplan, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin. Sari and Jeremy discuss the significant challenges of implementing change in K–12 education, which Factor describes as "people systems" that are inherently difficult to change. The conversation also touches on the sobering results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which showed a widening performance gap in both math and reading. Factor shares her insights from ⁠a Forbes piece she wrote in Marc⁠h, where she advocated for rethinking K–12 curricula to improve student outcomes. They also delve into the effectiveness of knowledge-based literacy programs and problem-based math curricula, and the challenges of getting them implemented successfully. Here’s the link to the research referenced in the episode: https://www.imaginelearning.com/research-library/ Sari mentions that her favorite education book is Disrupting Class by Clay Christensen. Key Takeaways: > Curriculum and Pedagogy: Knowledge-building literacy and problem-based mathematics programs are effective because they are based on the evidence that people learn by making connections to what they already know. > The Challenge of Change: Schools are "people systems" and are difficult to change due to factors like the short tenure of school leaders and high teacher turnover rates. Implementing new curricula can be overwhelming for educators, especially se…

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## Transcript

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