In today’s episode, host Aidan McDowell sits down with Dr. Yolanda Conaway, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Student Affairs at Palo Alto Unified School District. With more than 25 years in education and the Outstanding Leadership in Education Award from the California African American Superintendents and Administrators Association, Dr. Conaway has dedicated her career to rethinking how systems serve students who have historically been pushed to the margins.
From an alternative education program in Newport News, Virginia, to leading equity and student wellness work in one of the most academically high-performing (and high-pressure) communities in the country, she has seen up close what happens when schools ask students to assimilate to the system instead of reshaping the system to meet students’ needs.
Together, Aidan and Dr. Conaway dig into what it means to center belonging, redesign MTSS as a true equity engine, rethink mental health supports, and move beyond labels so every student feels seen, valued, and able to thrive.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How an early job in an alternative education program shifted Dr. Conaway from law school aspirations to a life in education and equity work.
- Why she describes many students as being “rejected by school” and how traditional systems privilege those who already know how to navigate them.
- Why she believes schools were not built for equity—and what it looks like to redesign them so demographics no longer predict outcomes.
- How Palo Alto Unified is reframing success beyond GPAs and college lists to include well-being, inclusion, sense of belonging, and equity.
- How MTSS is being used as a proactive, data-informed framework to support individual students instead of just reacting to crisis.
- The role of strong Tier 1 instruction in equity work, and why intervention must be fluid rather than a permanent label.
- Why the district moved away from external mental health providers to build an internal ecosystem of care with wellness centers and on-site professionals.
- How student feedback has reshaped Palo Alto’s approach to mental health, relationship-building, and teacher involvement.
- Dr. Conaway’s long-term vision for more organic, real-world, culturally responsive learning that teaches students, not just subjects.
Key Moments
00:50 How education “found” Dr. Conaway and why she walked away from law school
02:13 Working in alternative education and seeing students rejected by the system
05:16 “The system was not built for equity” and who schools really serve today
09:38 Challenging how we define success beyond GPAs and elite college admissions
12:11 Conditions for thriving, not just learning, and why grades aren’t enough
15:54 What MTSS really means in Palo Alto and how it’s tied to equity
17:02 Using Panorama and data to ensure no struggling student falls through the cracks
22:47 Rethinking mental health: moving from outside providers to an internal ecosystem of care
25:10 What students actually said about outside therapists and trust
26:53 Balancing wellness centers with deep teacher–student relationships
30:09 Dr. Conaway’s dream for more organic, real-world, and culturally responsive learning
33:12 How labels, tracks, and pull-outs can unintentionally limit students’ futures
36:07 Teaching students, not just subjects, and keeping the joy of learning from K through 12
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What is Beyond The Syllabus?
Welcome to Beyond The Syllabus, a podcast about reimagining education from the inside out. Every week, we sit down with the people doing the real work: superintendents, curriculum leaders, district innovators, those who are pushing against outdated models to build something more human.
Because learning should feel personal. Relevant. And grounded in who a student is.