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 03:
The Price of Progress: What 17 Years at One School Teaches You with Mark Pingitore
“Change is extraordinarily difficult, and to be successful at it, you need a lot of good people working together to pull it off.” — Mark Pingitore
Mark Pingitore came to education through policy work and a conviction that the real action was in implementation, not advocacy. That path took him from the U.S. Conference of Mayors to an after-school program in D.C. to New York's progressive school reform movement, where he founded Tompkins Square Middle School and watched it become one of Manhattan's top public schools. In 2009, he joined the American School of Barcelona. He has been there ever since.
In this episode, Mark and Christian Talbot cover what 17 years at one school actually teaches you: a discipline intervention that unraveled because he applied U.S. assumptions to Spanish law and culture, a five-year growth plan that took ASB from 600 to nearly 1,000 students, and the realization that five strategic pillars is two too many.
Mark's through line: balance is not a soft concept. Get it wrong and even a success story leaves people overwhelmed. Get it right and the people around you build things you never could have built alone.
Guest Bio
Mark Pingitore is the Head of School at the American School of Barcelona, a position he has held since 2009. A former policy analyst and after-school program founder, he came to school leadership through New York City's progressive education reform movement, where he earned dual master's degrees in Education and Administration from Bank Street College of Education and worked alongside Deborah Meier's Central Park East network. In 2001, he founded Tompkins Square Middle School in Manhattan's East Village, a progressive laboratory school later recognized as one of the top public middle schools in New York City.
At ASB, Pingitore led a five-year transformation that grew the school from roughly 600 to nearly 1,000 students, expanded its IB and extracurricular programming, and built four major facilities. ASB has scored above the IB Diploma Programme world average every year since it began granting the diploma. He holds a B.A. in political science from Drew University and master's degrees from Bank Street College of Education.
He has spent 17 years building a school that balances academic rigor with progressive values, and he is still at it.
Key Topics Covered
How early encounters with progressive education, from Ted Sizer's Essential Schools to Deborah Meier's Central Park East, shaped Mark's approach to educational reform
A change effort that failed because Mark applied a U.S. policy lens to a Spanish cultural and legal context, and what he learned from stepping back
The personal shift from building a case in conflict to asking "tell me more" and why that changed everything
How ASB's 2014-2018 strategic plan used clear KPIs, board alignment, and distributed leadership to sustain major growth across facilities, programming, and academic performance
Why five strategic pillars was too many, what two or three looks like instead, and how to give change enough oxygen without overwhelming the staff doing the work