AN MSA PODCAST
SEASON 3 IS HERE! New Episode Every Wednesday.
New voices, new insights, same mission.
Season 3 explores the future of learning through the people building it.
EPISODE 02:
The Change Leader's Real Resources: Inclusion, Attention, and Letting Go with Lauren Jones
“Inclusion is an ethical moral issue. Kids have a right to education.” — Lauren Jones
Lauren Jones started as a special education teacher because she wanted to change outcomes for kids other people had written off.
That conviction shaped everything, including her tenure as head of school at the International School of Kigali, where she rebuilt the school's support team, replaced principals with teacher leaders, and made inclusion the central focus of the school's identity.
In this episode, Lauren and Christian Talbot move through the full arc of change leadership: a scholarship program that launched with thorough research and still missed the mark, three curriculum and arts initiatives that transformed the school's connection to Rwandan culture, and the practical reality of building consensus without waiting for unanimity.
Lauren's through line: inclusion is a justice issue, and resources are not just money. Attention, relationships, energy, and time come first. The leaders who get that right are the ones who move change forward and make it last.
Guest Bio
Lauren Jones, MAEd, is the founder of Lauren Jones Consulting, where she partners with schools and organizations to build cultures and systems of inclusion. A former special education teacher, she spent her career advocating for students at the margins before becoming head of school at the International School of Kigali in Rwanda. There, she grew the school's student support team from two to six, embedded Rwandan culture and history into the curriculum, and made inclusion central to the school's identity.
Her work spans Nigeria, South Sudan, Qatar, Rwanda, and the U.S. She has partnered with the Ministry of Education in Rwanda, the National Geographic Society, and Save the Children, and previously led inclusion and neurodiversity work through Qatar Foundation. She holds a Master's in Special Education and a post-graduate certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard University, and is a CIS-affiliated consultant, published author, and Acting Chair of the Parents Alliance for Inclusion.
She now works with leadership and teaching teams around the world to help schools say yes to more kids and build the structures to back it up.
Key Topics Covered
The scholarship that missed the mark — Why a well-researched, months-long initiative still failed, and the one group of voices Lauren didn't think to ask.
From classroom to change leader — How teaching kids at the margins of an alternative school in North Carolina shaped Lauren's conviction that advocacy has to be strategic, not just bold.
Replacing principals with purpose — The budget decision that eliminated administrative roles to fund a student support team, and why teachers embraced it instead of pushing back.
Attention before money — Why where leaders place their focus is a more powerful resource than budget, and what that looks like in practice.
You won't get 100% — The change leadership reality most leaders avoid saying out loud, and why naming it is actually what moves things forward.