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How Sharing Information Across Staff Improves Outcomes

May 29, 2026

Stephen Smith, CEO of Intellispark, joins John Norlin, CEO of CharacterStrong on The CharacterStrong Podcast for a conversation about how educators' knowing the name, face, and story of each student leads to better outcomes for kids and schools.

Stephen M. Smith
Chief Executive Officer

Stephen M. Smith is CEO of Intellispark and a member of the boards of Common App, Pathful, and iDreamCareer. Steve is co-author of Who Do You Think You Are: Three Critical Conversations for Coaching Teens to College & Career Success, published by John Wiley & Sons.

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Our Thoughts
May 29, 2026

How Sharing Information Across Staff Improves Outcomes

Hear more about Intellispark on today's episode of The CharacterStrong Podcast with John Norlin.
News and Press
May 12, 2026

Showing Up to Succeed

When students miss school, they miss out – and so do their classmates. And these days, many students are missing out. According to an analysis by FutureEd at Georgetown University, 23.5% of U.S. students were chronically absent in 2023-24. That's down from a peak of 29% during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's still 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Case Study
January 16, 2026

Enabling Integrated Student Supports in Independent Schools

Even two or three students who choose to leave can create a significant budget and recruiting challenge in schools where a single student’s tuition may equate to as much as half or more of a faculty member’s salary. So, both for education and administrative reasons, independent schools are increasingly looking for ways to make support services broader, more effective, and more integrated across academic and non-academic domains.
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