There is a growing gap between how education is marketed to and how it is actually experienced inside schools.

Leaders are navigating full days that require constant context switching, balancing relationships with students and teachers, operational demands, and long-term decisions about tools and systems.

At the same time, marketers and vendors are trying to break through with messages about value, innovation, and now, AI.

In this episode, Elana Leoni sits down with Chris Lehmann, founding principal of Science Leadership Academy, to ground that gap in reality. Chris shares what his day actually looks like, how he evaluates vendors, where marketing efforts fall apart, and what earns his attention over time. The conversation then moves into AI, where the tension between possibility and risk is not theoretical. It is showing up daily in classrooms, policies, and conversations about integrity.

This episode is a candid look at what it means to engage education leaders in a way that is useful, honest, and sustainable.

What You’ll Learn

1️⃣ Why most education marketing fails to reach decision-makers

A principal’s day is fragmented and high-volume, leaving little room for cold outreach. Messages only land when they align to an immediate need or build on an existing relationship.

2️⃣ How trust is built in schools over time

Leaders engage with organizations that consistently provide useful, relevant value. Ongoing responsiveness, thoughtful content, and real partnership matter more than one-off campaigns.

3️⃣ Where AI is creating tension in classrooms right now

Schools are working through academic integrity, student learning, and appropriate use in real time. Leaders are cautious of messaging that overlooks the complexity and tradeoffs involved.

Quick Wins from the Lightning Round

Fast, direct answers from Chris, no filtering:

→ Most overused phrase: Student achievement

→ Biggest red flag: Anything labeled “now with AI” without real substance

→ You know a vendor is overselling when: They claim to solve everything

→ Most underrated strategy for improving learning outcomes: Reading

→ Word that will define the next school year: Authenticity

→ Where we would invest more budget: Teachers

What This Means for Marketers

School leaders are solving problems in real time with limited capacity. Most marketing misses because it ignores that context. Generic messaging, cold outreach, and overpromising, especially around AI, erode trust quickly. What works is relevance and consistency. Understand how schools operate, contribute value before asking for attention, and build relationships that can hold up over time.

Hi, friends. Welcome back to another episode of All Things Marketing in Education. Today, I am resurfacing a bit of a throwback episode because October starts Principal Appreciation Month, and I feel like people don't know or celebrate Principal Appreciation Month as much as we all should. So here we are, and we are starting our first episode of October highlighting a principal.

And it's not just any principal. This principal not only had the most popular episode of the year for our podcast, it also happens to feature one of the most inspiring humans I have ever met. I am talking about Chris Lehmann. He is the principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, known as SLA.

And for those of you who know Chris or have heard him speak, you know the man does not hold back. He has opinions, and most of the time I feel like they're Braveheart moments, where I'm like, "Yes, I'll go to battle with you." So in our conversation, we talk about so much, but we get into what actually makes him open a vendor email versus delete it, and why, when it comes to AI in schools, he says sometimes he'd rather choose a pen and paper over unregulated tools right now.

Highlight those amazing principals that you get to partner with, that you have seen and worked with over the years. Enjoy the show, everyone.

Elana: Welcome, Chris, to the show. Welcome to All Things Marketing. I just talked to you a little bit before this and said this is kind of a full-circle moment. So we've known each other for so long, so thanks for coming on the show.

Chris: Yeah, my pleasure.

You understand all of that, and they are trying to reach people like you. And if they're listening to this show, they're trying to really think about it in a way of, "How can I do it in a way that doesn't disrupt your day and actually helps you?" And ideally, I can be a partner with you. So why don't we start talking about just what your general day-to-day is like, so they can make sure they're not disrupting your day-to-day.

And just being present, right? And then the afternoon, same thing. That's meetings, that's walkthroughs, that's trying to be present in classrooms, that's trying to be visible in the school to really be of service. And then after school, you know, the best days are the days when I can go be a fan of an SLA sport or an SLA club.

But a lot of days that's catching up on emails, catching up on phone calls, and doing all of that. So there's no set day. It looks different every day, which is really kind of fun. But yeah, it's trying to balance—I would say a good day is a day when I strike the right balance between being tethered to my desk and being out and about, right?

Chris: Yeah, that's right. I mean, one of the nice things about the way we built all of this is that, you know, my office is right on the main hallway. My door—it's closed right now 'cause we're recording—but unless a kid or a teacher is in crisis, my door is generally open. And so even when I'm tethered to my desk, everybody knows, it's sort of well known, that you can always kind of interrupt me.

And the teacher table, where everybody sits, is right on the other side of my office, so kids use my office as a cut-through to get to go see their teachers when they need them. So we've built it in a way that it's a very vibrant space to be. But yeah, striking the balance—there are days when you sit there and go like, "Oh my God, how is it 3:00 and I never left my desk? That's horrible." And then there are days you leave your desk for a couple hours, go do stuff, and you come back and you're like, "How do I have over 100 emails?"

Chris: Yeah, I mean, I think it varies. But, I mean, a typical day, I will probably get, you know, in the neighborhood of 100 to 150 emails a day, whether it's parents, students, teachers, the district, what have you. So it's a lot to manage. I spend more time on email than I would like.

So how do vendors get my attention through email? I don't know—"they don't" is the easy answer to that.

Chris: So, I mean, I think it varies, right? I think when I have a longstanding relationship with a vendor, then I read their emails, right? So, for example, I think one of the things that Google is doing with their five-minute blasts—their weekly roundups, where they're trying to be of use and value, not just about Google products but about what's going on in the world of education—I'm going to give that a look.

Elana: Yeah. I mean, you're speaking my language, because really we need to be able to approach all of this as, "How can I be helpful? How can I make sure that I'm curating some of the best resources for you and really keeping you in mind in terms of your challenges and goals as much as possible?" And that doesn't happen overnight, right? That consistency of me emailing you, that care, and not the cold, "Hey, let's connect really quick." But you did say something a little bit about personalization—so if you do catch me, and maybe the school board just talked to me about chronic absenteeism, and there's something there that I might want to explore, maybe. But what is that—like a 10% chance, 5% chance?

Chris: Yeah, probably somewhere in that range. Yeah.

So let's ask a couple more questions, and then we're going to get into AI and all sorts of fun stuff. We talked about content as it relates to emails—the ones that have content that's valuable, you're like, "Oh yeah, I'm going to look at those." But talk about the content that brands create. Are there any types of content that you find helpful? You don't need to mention the brands, but how do you interact with content that brands create, if any?

So, again, whether it's Google, whether it's Canvas, whether—WeVideo is another one, actually, now that I think about it—when they send stuff out, even if it's about their product, those are products that I use heavily, and I am interested in the innovations going on in those spaces, right?

Elana: Yeah.

And as a result of that—and for a lot of other reasons, but back before the merger, that was my early introduction to ASCD, the SmartBrief, and they became a super trusted organization for me, right? And I think that matters. So you build trust by providing value—and not just value about what you do—I'm more likely to read your product information if you've provided me value beyond just your product.

Elana: Yeah.

Elana: Yeah. And we've talked a little bit, mostly right now about email, and a little bit about the content in the email. But are there other places you look and interact with brands—like social or anything like that—where you see something and think, "Oh, let me get this in front of my teachers"? Are there other places right now for you personally?

Elana: It kind of breaks our heart, because I feel like we were in the OG Twitter days, in the EdCamp days, right? So it kind of breaks my heart to think about it now. I do see some really exciting things happening on LinkedIn, but I'm curious if that's, you know, in your crazy day-to-day, if you even have time sometimes for platforms.

Elana: Yeah. And kind of a selfish plug here—we're going to put a link to EduCon in our show notes as well, so those of you listening can say, "What is that event?" Because I will tell you, everybody who goes to that says, "Wow, it has fundamentally changed the way I think about things. I'm able to meet and create a PLN that I can continue to collaborate on." But I do see, even in the old Twitter days, even in the EdCamp days, we saw the same people attending. So how do we broaden that circle for the people who actually need it the most too? So we'll put that in the show notes as well. So you mentioned finding information yourself to vet the vendors. Where do you go, when you're sleuthing and you don't want people to reach out to you, but you're kind of sussing out the brand? I know it probably depends on the brand and what you're—

And I think every tech-savvy principal I know has a horror story about being sold, oversold, on a product, and then the product went out of business, and then you'd integrated it into what you were doing, and then all of a sudden you were scrambling. And I think trying to look for good data on who's going to be around for a little while is always one of the hardest things to do.

Elana: Yeah. So what you do is look at traction—how many schools are they serving, how long have they been around—those types of signals, if you're not going for a big brand like Google, right? Something like—

Chris: Yeah. And are they built—is this someone taking something and plastering it onto something else, right? 'Cause there's a lot of that in the ed-tech space, and those folks don't stay around very often, very long.

Elana: Yeah. Super helpful. I could literally spend another hour talking to you about all this, but I think it gives the audience enough to think, "Oh wow—procurement, value, email—if I'm doing it, how do I be helpful?" So let's jump into AI. I know we could talk about AI for an entire episode, but maybe just to give our audience a foundation for how you've approached it within your school, and then just where—I mean, we can take this conversation wherever you want to go—but where we think AI can help us as it relates to learning, teacher productivity, and all of these things. But let's start with a little background on your journey with AI.

And I think about how every AI client is built to keep you using the client, because that's how they capture the market, and that in and of itself is profoundly dangerous. So, do I use the tools? Sure. I like the tools, they're great. But I'm also profoundly skeptical of the tools.

I think the other thing that is going on—and we see a schism forming, where I don't want this space to land—I don't want there to be two camps, right? Use AI for everything, use AI for nothing. And I think we are seeing that schism forming in a profound way, almost like nothing we've ever seen in my career.

Elana: So you're not a serious person.

Chris: Yeah, you know.

Elana: "I'm not listening to you anymore" because we have these big— and it is kind of what we're seeing divided in our nation as well—it's just the lack of being able to talk and come to a middle ground and understand what is used best, and when, and having critical conversations.

Elana: It's funny, when you were talking I was like, "Oh, I'm going to bring up the struggle," because the struggle is real, and it's important in the learning process to make learning stick. But then you did.

Chris: Yeah, it's all about productive struggle.

Elana: You're not weird. We literally just had a guest on our show, and she does sales, and she said, "Don't expect and please do not guarantee that all of their problems will be solved by your one product," because, one, it's not true, and two, you're actually not looking for that. You've been around enough, you know there's not a silver bullet—it's not just one technology platform, poof, solved.

Elana: Yeah.

Chris: Yep, go for it.

Elana: No worries, I was just— all right, let's get to it. A lightning round. I'm going to give you a series of questions, and just give me your gut reaction. The most overused phrase in education right now?

Chris: The most overused phrase in education right now— "student achievement."

Elana: The biggest red flag you look at when you're evaluating a vendor?

Chris: "Now with AI."

Elana: You know a vendor is lying when they do or say this?

Chris: They tell me this will improve all things.

Chris: Reading.

Chris: Other than "six seven"?

Elana: [laughs] Yes.

Chris: Authenticity.

Elana: If you could spend the most money because it works—when you're thinking about your budget and you're like, "God, if I had more money, I'd put it here"—where would you spend it?

Chris: Teachers.

Elana: All right. I'm going to end with— I know you're a sports fan, I know you're a Philly diehard. If you only had to root for one team— I'm actually curious about this, because I know you're into the Soccer World Cup, you're a big Phillies fan, you're an Eagles fan. Who's your team?

Chris: Oh, it's like asking—

Elana: —if you only had to, like, you know, you're on a desert island and you can only watch one.

Elana: Wow. Surprising and amazing at the same time.

Chris: Well, it's the team I coach, so—

Elana: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris: But no, I mean, it'd be two—it'd be the Sixers and the Union.

Elana: Hmm, I had to actually look up the Union. I didn't even know.

Chris: There you go.

Elana: Well, thank you, Chris, for coming on the show. Do you want to plug EduCon for a quick second while you're on?

Elana: Yeah, and we'll put it in the show notes as well. And what your conference does is what I hope so many evolve into—it's not just those three days and having those deep conversations, it's also forming relationships with people that you can trust and continue the conversations as the challenges evolve too. That's what I love about your conference.

Chris: And if you're an education marketer and you want to talk to some of the savviest folks who are thinking about this stuff in the classrooms, it's a great place to be both a vendor and a participant.

Chris: Right, yeah, you're not a serious person.

Elana: "You're not a serious person." All right, Chris, I will put all of your information in the show notes as well, but maybe just a quick shout-out to where people can find you and continue the dialogue with you.

Chris: Absolutely. I've been blogging about this stuff for, gosh, 25 years, so you can find my blog at practicaltheory.org. You can look up what SLA is up to at sla.philasd.org. But go to the blog, there's more philosophy there. And if you look up Chris Lehmann on the socials, chances are that's me.

Chris: And read the book.

Elana: Read the book. Chris, for those of you on the video podcast, Chris is holding up his—

Chris: —Building School 2.0. It's co-written by myself and Zac Chase. It's about 10 years old now, but the ideas are still the ideas, and we're actually trying to get ourselves together to podcast about it, but that's a whole other thing. Read the book, it's available on Amazon and at your favorite bookstore.

Elana: Awesome. All right, thank you all for your time, and thank you for listening to All Things Marketing and Education. We will see you next time. Take care.