School leaders are drowning in data—test scores, surveys, observations, behavior reports—but starving for insight.

In this episode of Make It Mindful, Seth Fleischauer is joined by Stephanie Frenel, founder and CEO of SchoolOps AI, for a deep conversation about what it actually takes to make sense of complexity in schools—and how AI can support that work without stripping out the human judgment that matters most.

Stephanie brings a rare combination of experience to this conversation: former principal, instructional coach, systems-level leader, and now founder working at the intersection of school leadership and artificial intelligence. Drawing on her work at Fair Schools, Rocketship Public Schools, and Shusterman Family Philanthropies, she shares why mixed-methods data—quantitative and qualitative—is essential for understanding what’s really happening inside a school.

Together, Seth and Stephanie explore how principals can move beyond dashboards and compliance metrics toward tools that surface root causes, support collaborative decision-making, and reduce operational burden—freeing leaders to spend more time with students, families, and teachers.

This conversation is not about AI replacing educators. It’s about AI working quietly in the background to help schools become more coherent, more humane, and more responsive.

In This Episode, We Discuss

• Why school leaders are overwhelmed by data—but still lack actionable insight
• The limits of purely quantitative metrics in understanding student learning and school culture
• How qualitative data (observations, interviews, rubrics) can be analyzed responsibly at scale
• What “mixed-methods” analysis looks like in real school improvement work
• How SchoolOps AI integrates academic, behavioral, and social-emotional data without compromising privacy
• FERPA compliance, data security, and why AI shouldn’t retain student-level memory
• The role of AI as a collaborative tool for principals, coaches, and teacher teams
• Why coaching remains essential—and how AI can support, not replace, human relationships
• What meaningful impact looks like beyond test scores
• A case study where triangulated data revealed student agency—not academics—as the real lever for change

About the Guest

Stephanie Frenel is the founder and CEO of SchoolOps AI, a platform designed to help school leaders make sense of complex data systems through research-backed, human-centered insights.

She is a Pahara Institute Fellow and former Teach For America corps member, with degrees from Georgetown University and Stanford University. Her career spans teaching, instructional coaching, school leadership, and system-level philanthropy, including leadership roles at Fair Schools, Rocketship Public Schools, and Shusterman Family Philanthropies.

Recommended Listening

Stephanie recommends:

• The Knowledge Project
• The Diary of a CEO

Links & Resources

• SchoolOps AI: https://schoolops.ai
• Stephanie Frenel on LinkedIn
• Make It Mindful #26 Navigating Change and Ambiguity with World Savvy
• World Savvy - Building future-ready schools
• Pahara Institute - Developmental opportunities for education

Host Bio

Seth Fleischauer is the founder and president of Banyan Global Learning, an international education organization delivering experiential and distance learning programs that build global competency. A former classroom teacher, Seth explores how mindful innovation—across psychology, technology, and global learning—can strengthen education systems and support the wellbeing of young people.

Credits

Hosted, written, and produced by Seth Fleischauer
Edited by Lucas Salazar