The Ruckus Report
Quick take: Most schools are stuck in the past. But Anna Rita Pergolizzi-Wentworth is building a future-fluent model that fuses AI, global citizenship, and joy — and it’s working.
🤝 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker
Anna Rita Pergolizzi-Wentworth is Head of School at Pine Street School, a private International Baccalaureate school in Manhattan. A trilingual leader with global roots in Montessori and IB education, she’s also the former Head of School at Battery Park Montessori and founding leader of Del Mar Academy in Costa Rica.
Breaking Down the Old Rules
In this episode, Anna Rita challenges traditional education paradigms:
🧠 Key Insight #1: Balance Isn’t Optional — It’s the Blueprint
- What’s broken: Prioritizing rigor and standards over student well-being.
- The shift: Designing school experiences that build cultural intelligence and center joy.
- Impact: Students thrive as whole humans — not just test takers — in multilingual, multicultural, AI-integrated environments.
🧠 Key Insight #2: Forget Fit, Design for Future Fluency
- What’s broken: Matching kids to static school models rooted in alumni legacy and compliance.
- The shift: Creating agile, tech-empowered, globally connected schools that prepare for the unknown.
- Impact: Students design AI startups in middle school, build confidence through constant exposure, and graduate with real-world skills.
🧠 Key Insight #3: Teacher Happiness = Strategy, Not Perk
- What’s broken: Under-appreciated staff, toxic culture, and reactive leadership.
- The shift: Intentionally recruiting joyful people, investing in appreciation, and building feedback loops that matter.
- Impact: Strong retention, deep belonging, and a campus culture where karaoke, dumplings, and the “Green Book” fuel morale.
Quotable Ruckus
Your Do School Different Challenge
Ready to implement these ideas? Start here:
- Tomorrow: Audit how you balance rigor with relationships — where are the gaps?
- This Month: Create one small moment of surprise and delight for your staff
- This Semester: Launch a student-led project that fuses creativity, technology, and cultural learning
Connect & Continue
Get the full episode transcript: here
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Today’s RUCKUScast in Partnership with:
ODP Business Solutions®
Looking to create the kind of campus experience students never forget? ODP Business Solutions® transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary learning environments.
Visit odpbusiness.com/education and let’s Do School Different.
IXL
Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance.
Get started today at ixl.com/leaders
PLAY PIPER
Kids love gaming and computers, but are disengaged from Math and Science at school. Play Piper changes that with hands-on STEM kits and a coding curriculum.
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