Founder | Writer | Interviewer | Producer
Mike Pope.
Curiosity is the beginning.
Mike creates films, conversations, original reporting and books through Pope Studios. He looks for the question worth asking—and gives people room to tell the story in their own words.
Based in Lake County, Illinois. Willing to travel wherever a worthwhile story or commissioned project takes him.
Real conversations. Original stories.
Pope Studios is an independent media, storytelling and publishing company operated by Disagree LLC. Mike researches, writes, interviews, narrates, films and edits. The work includes original productions and selected commissioned projects.
Family stories and community memories belong alongside the questions that deserve public attention. Sit & Visit gives a person’s voice and stories a lasting home in film. Maroa Stories draws on Mike’s small-town roots. The book catalog includes stories for children, families and people who want to think differently about schools.
Twenty-two years inside public schools.
Mike spent eight years teaching and fourteen in school administration, including work as an assistant principal and principal. He holds Illinois principal and superintendent credentials. He is an author and father of three children in public schools.
Mike is also an independent education-accountability reporter. Through The Pope Report, he independently examines the decisions, spending and systems surrounding schools. He separates documented facts, unanswered questions and his own analysis, and gives institutions a fair opportunity to respond.
What did it cost? What problem was it supposed to solve? What evidence justified it? What changed for a kid or classroom? How will anyone know whether it worked?
The larger argument.
Commentary forthcoming in the Illinois School Board Journal.
It All Falls on the Kid examines testing, evaluation, accountability and the systems adults build around children. The reporting and daily column continue that work in public.
The next education book is being developed from the original writing and reporting.
Bring Mike into the conversation.
For an interview, moderated conversation, Q&A, book discussion or substantive disagreement, explore Live Conversations. For selected commissioned storytelling, start a project inquiry.
For private school-accountability help, inquire about an engagement. Mike is not an attorney and provides no legal advice or legal representation. Private paid work is separate from independent journalism.
Send a reporting tip or support the independent work. Supporters buy no editorial control.