Follow Through is the New Innovation

In public education, it’s often easy to move on to the next big idea. We believe, instead, in making sure we finish what we’ve started—that’s the only way to achieve results for young people. In fact, our mantra is that follow through is the new innovation. To continue supporting students and teachers to meet high standards, building stronger schools and systems and increasing capacity in public education, our clients need creative strategies, innovative solutions, pragmatic implementation and smarter collaboration.

Our Approach

We aspire to be the most trusted and effective education consultants in the nation. Our clients hire us because they want a true partner who will counsel, push and support them to excel. We bring expertise in the issues, the politics, the messages, and the messiness of getting the real work done in education. We are committed to the highest expectations for excellence and results, no matter how challenging the path to get there is. We have a shared passion for supporting all children, especially Black, Indigenous and other students of color, toward a world of opportunity otherwise denied. We cultivate deep, trusting relationships nurtured over time and built on honesty and shared values, not on maximizing profit opportunities.

Our work is grounded in a coherence-based approach to system redesign and integration. Our Coherence Framework anchors how we support our clients. We help them understand the interconnected elements that support coherence-building across large scale systems—particularly the extent to which system leaders build focus and coordination, cultivate trusting relationships, change behaviors at scale, and operate with equitable ways of thinking and working.

Public and nonprofit education organizations are people-focused organizations and they will succeed only when they implement equitable, inclusive and coherent strategies and solutions. Specifically, we believe our clients must be:

  • Equitable: When organizations design solutions with the people farthest from opportunity and place racial equity at the forefront of organizational and operational decisionmaking and strategy
  • Inclusive: When everyone in the organization feels they belong, feels connected to the mission and has trusting relationships with one another
  • Coherent: When people know how to coordinate and collaborate effectively, and policies, processes and systems work in sync across organizational divides

Helpful Resources

Featured Resource: CIO Toolkit

Recognizing the critical role that Chief Innovation Officers (CIOs) play in leading how districts navigate today’s current challenges while keeping an eye on the future,...
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Featured Resource: DEI Companion Document: A Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Guide to the Teacher Preparation Outcomes and Indicators

High-quality teacher preparation can play a critical role in dismantling inequities in education, such as disparities in student achievement and access to high-quality education, which...
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Making the Most of Grantmaking: A Primer for Designing and Launching Open RFPs

Rigorous and transparent open Request for Proposals (RFP) processes are one strategy grantmakers can use to source, vet and select high-potential grantees. Done well, RFPs...
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Integrating Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD): An Action Guide for School Leadership Teams

To help principals and school leadership teams see how social and emotional learning can enhance academic performance, and how to weave social-emotional development into every...
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