Introducing Aspire Change EDU

I often get asked both through social media and in person how to become a consultant. For various reasons, educators are enamored by the keynoting circuit, facilitating presentations at both national and international events, and coaching in school systems. Initially, I had to pause and reflect before responding as I wanted to be very clear on how my journey was more complex than it might seem. Now I have a standard answer. I did not wake up one day and say that this is what I aspired to do for the rest of my career. It can also be stated emphatically that I was not looking to leave New Milford High School or was forced out. Instead, the path was carved for me through the efficacy-based work that my staff and I did when I was a principal.  

In short, we vehemently focused on improving teaching, learning, and leadership through a shared vision, clarity of purpose, innovative practices, and clear evidence of impact. Our shared successes caught the eye of national media outlets as well as other systems that were curious about methodologies. What resulted were districts, schools, and organizations visiting my school from all over the world. I loved to share our successes, the challenges we overcame, student perspectives, and any other tidbits that might be valuable to those wanting to implement similar changes. During one such visit, an organization offered me a full-time position with their company. At first, I respectfully declined as I was happy where I was at in my career. However, the conversation never stopped, and I eventually decided to take a leap of faith to pursue a newfound passion in education.

It has been nine years since the consulting path was laid out for me. Over the years, I have worked with two amazing companies dedicated to helping learners succeed and traveling the globe assisting educators in various ways. While the work has been highly gratifying, there has always been an innate desire to carve out my own unique path in the education consulting space. My first step was to create an LLC during the pandemic. 

It has laid dormant until the right time, which is now. With great pride and excitement, Aspire Change EDU has moved from vision to reality.

I have ambitious goals for my company. The first was to develop a name that embodies what consulting should be about, and that is to help systems aspire to change that leads to improving and enhancing what we already know works. Educators don’t want more things to do. They crave to maximize available time, strengthen their craft, help learners succeed, and find joy in the work. The logo above, co-created by my children Isabella and Nicholas, embodies this mission and vision.

During the initial phase of the company, I will be fulfilling many of the responsibilities, including:

• Keynotes (view topics HERE)
• Back-to-school convocations
• Leadership retreats
• Breakout presentations
• Innovative Leadership Cohort 
• Interactive workshops
• Strategic planning
• Coaching (job-embedded, ongoing)
• Asynchronous courses (more info HERE)

Leadership and pedagogy will be my primary focus, which encompasses every facet of professional learning. Currently, my work with schools assists them with Tier 1 instruction, personalization, school culture, leadership (digital, pedagogical, sustainable change), using data, branding, and the purposeful use of technology. Over time I will flesh out concrete practice areas.

The last sentence above leads to what will be a differentiator for Aspire Change EDU. I aim to create a collaborative consultancy comprising best-in-class practitioners and seasoned consultants who share similar beliefs. While my plan is to have a bench of people to serve schools, I also want to partner with other independent consultancies (and vice versa) for the benefit of districts and schools. By working together, we can provide systems with what they want, not what we feel we can do. Imagine being matched with the best possible professional learning consultant(s) aligned to virtually every focus area, technique, initiative, tool, or strategy in education. That’s the goal and one that, in my opinion, best serves schools.

Just like for our learners, professional learning needs to be personalized and differentiated. It’s nearly impossible to accomplish this without collaboration. That is something I hope to solve in the near future with the help of others. In the end, schools will win and evidence-based change will be the result. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.

Until then, feel free to reach out and have a conversation about your professional learning needs. Learn more on my website.

Who Should Facilitate Professional Learning?

Have you ever paid money to go and watch a professional sporting event, play, or musical? Your answer is probably a resounding yes.  If you are like me, then you have gone too many times to count and have lost track. What drives you to spend money and attend these events? More than likely you go to watch the athletes compete or artists perform. In some cases, you participated in these activities at a certain level during your lifetime.  Or maybe you are just passionate about and moved by, how the experience makes you feel.  Regardless of your rationale, it is essential to understand that there is so much going on behind the scenes leading up to the culminating event that you pay to watch.   

Let me focus the rest of my point on professional sports. For countless hours each athlete is coached, taught, and guided by numerous individuals who have some direct experience in the sport. These individuals either excelled at some level, whether professional or collegiate, or they are a master teacher when it comes to knowledge, ideas, and strategy as to how to take a group of individuals and help them succeed as a team. The majority of these coaches possess a track record of success and the evidence to back it up.  Why else would these people be employed to coach in the first place?

The kicker here though is that many of these coaches have not played the game in years, even decades.  Take Nick Saban for example.  Currently, he is paid millions of dollars (a little over eleven to be exact) as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.  As the head coach, he ultimately calls the shots while training both players and assistant coaches alike.  He has had unprecedented success developing players and building a football dynasty that others hope to emulate yet has not played a single snap of collegiate football since 1972 when he was on the team at Kent State University. Right after graduating in 1973 he became an assistant coach at Kent State. Approximately 45 years later he is still at it. This begs the question, which we all know the answer. Had not playing the game in decades hindered his ability to help others achieve impressive results?

There is often a debate in physical and virtual spaces about who should facilitate professional learning for educators.  I see and appreciate the points from both sides.  Many people want current practitioners who can directly relate to either the content or responsibilities of the position.  In a perfect world this would be great as well as ideal, but just like it is unrealistic for current players to coach, the same can be said for practicing educators, especially when the research has shown that on-going, job-embedded professional learning is what leads to improved learning outcomes. Quality professional learning takes time and goes well beyond one and done. It involves a critical lens, lack of bias, modeling, and meaningful feedback to drive growth. 

Saban was a smart player who initially played offense but was later moved to defense. He was also part of a championship team during his playing days and has led teams he has coached to six college championships.  The point here is that experience and outcomes matter. That is what all educators expect and deserve when it comes to professional learning.  The key is to find the right consultants to help move you forward.  When investing in any professional learning options do your research!  Below are some questions that might help you with this:

• How does the organization or consultant’s experience align with our intended outcomes? It is crucial that each have the appropriate experiences to facilitate the work.
• Does the organization or consultant have evidence of success when it comes to improving outcomes? What criteria make them the best to facilitate the work? Just like I did a Google search on Nick Saban, you can do the same when it comes to companies and consultants. 
• How can an outsider’s view move us forward by helping us see what we are missing? It is often difficult to move beyond internal bias.  Sometimes a different relationship and lens are needed to move systems forward. This is where outside consultants can help.
• Is the intended work aligned to research and evidence on what works? In more blunt terms, have they implemented what they are going to train you on? Effective professional learning moves beyond the fluff and broad claims. 

Effective Professional Learning

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Important decisions have to be made when it comes to facilitating professional learning whether it is a workshop, keynote, or something more intensive like job-embedded coaching. As goals and outcomes are fleshed out, it is then incumbent to determine who is best to oversee the work, whether it is a practicing educator, in-house personnel, or an outside consultant. The lesson learned from the story of Nick Saban is that it behooves us not just to write someone off because they are not currently in a classroom or working in a school. 

Substance matters. 

Context matters. 

Experience matters. 

Professional learning is and should be an experience, not just an event. Satisfaction lies not only in having a message that resonates but how the work leads to improvements in teaching, learning, and leadership that are supported by a broad base of research and backed up by actual evidence of better outcomes. Don’t be so quick to judge based on someone’s current position. Do your homework and take a critical lens to their body of work to find the best fit to facilitate professional learning.