In this episode of the LiberatEd podcast, host Kerry McDonald speaks with Dr. Jody Underwood—founder and president of EdOpt (Education Options New Hampshire)—about building a grassroots, hyper‑local education navigator service that helps families discover and access alternatives to the conventional school model.

Underwood traces her path from early artificial intelligent tutoring work at Carnegie Mellon and her research tenure at ETS to 12 years on the Croydon NH school board, where bureaucratic constraints nudged her toward community‑based solutions.

Jody explains EdOpt’s three‑pronged model: an options directory website, in‑person expos, and family consultations; shares on‑the‑ground stories of parents seeking homeschool co‑ops, learning centers (micro‑schools), and other flexible arrangements; and reflects on accountability and testing (NCLB, NAEP) without losing sight of parental agency.

Looking ahead, she emphasizes cultivating an entrepreneurship network to seed more learning centers and lower the practical barriers for new founders across New Hampshire.

See the entire conversation here: