“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
— Frederick Douglass, a guiding belief of our founder, Dirk Tillotson
LEDbetter creates and supports the systemic change agents needed to transform public education.
20%
of Black students in Oakland, California can only read at grade level.¹
1/2
less than half of all students are proficient in Reading and Writing in New York State.²
30
The U.S. has had the largest decline in national Math and Reading proficiency in 30 years.³
The crisis facing public education in the United States is systemic, but the solutions don’t have to be.
Public education should be publicly owned, with its end-users - youth, parents, and the community - leveraging the full power of their agency to amplify their voice, demand end-user led reforms, support great educators, and create great schools where none exist.
Explore our initiatives
It starts with professional learning for every teacher, grows into coaching and direct supports for their schools, and stays connected through a community of informed educators.
Courses. Coaching. Community.
- 1 · LEARNCoursesStart with empowerED: courses that grow every teacher’s practice.Explore empowerED
- 2 · GO DEEPERCoachingWhen your school needs more, our coaches and direct supports work alongside your team.See school supports
- 3 · STAY CONNECTEDCommunityA place to stay informed, sharpen your practice, and engage with a community of fellow educators.Join the community
Courses & professional learning
Every educator deserves meaningful growth. empowerED is where it starts: courses that build the practice your students need.
empowerED
For teachers and the schools they serve
Professional growth for every teacher. Short, self-paced empowerED courses build mastery and capacity, from the science of reading and learning to supporting English learners, students with disabilities, and students experiencing housing insecurity, with an online community for sharing best practices.
- Self-paced courses
- Online educator community space
- Memberships schools or districts can fully subsidize as a retention tool
Available to teachers in all of our consortia
Coaching & school supports
When a teacher’s growth points to a schoolwide need, we go deeper: opening great schools, strengthening existing ones, and putting funding to work for the students who need it most.
Excelerator
For school founders, leaders, teachers, and afterschool providers
Rigor that lasts. Excelerator helps struggling schools find their footing and strong schools grow without losing what works, through coaching and direct support in turnaround, data, strategy, grantwriting and compliance.
72 schools supported across 55 unique models
Get support
Incubator
For community-based founders
Opens great schools where none exist. Founders get intensive coaching to envision their school and secure district or state approval.
27 new charters, all community-designed
Start a school
ENL Consortium
For NY public school districts and charter schools
Small Title III allocations go further together. Member schools pool their funds to get ENL coaching and PD built from their own data, plus empowerED courses for the teachers who work most closely with English learners.
50+ NY schools and districts
Join the ConsortiumHolding Space
For teachers and the schools that want to keep them
Our response to rising teacher stress and attrition, and to stagnating student proficiency. Teachers meet twice a month with our resident expert to reflect, recharge, and return to the classroom stronger.
Learn moreCommunity & Insight
Educators grow faster together. Follow the insights, news, research and practices that shape your work and share what’s working with peers.
Great School VoicesTeacher Edition
For teachers and school leaders
News, insight, and voice that build teacher agency. Read the Week in Review and Teacher, Administrator, and Operations Spotlights on reflective practice, culturally responsive teaching, and classroom culture.
Read the blog
empowerEDCommunity Space
For empowerED members and Consortium schools
An online space to swap strategies, ask questions, and join live sessions and best-practice roundups with educators.
Join the communityNot sure which initiative fits?
Talk with us about your school, district, or community and we’ll point you to the right support.
EXPLORE OUR INITIATIVES
LEDbetter operates initiatives that unleash educator and end-user agency to restore their ownership of public education.
The Incubator opens great schools where none exist, through an intensive support program that coaches community-based founders to envision and then secure district or state approval for their planned school.
The Excelerator accelerates the attainment of excellence for all educators — school founders, leaders, teachers, and afterschool providers alike — and their schools via student-centered coaching and direct supports.
empowerED transitions educators to agentic, equity-focused leaders through low-cost, clock hour eligible fellowships and coursework designed to raise the proficiency of our most-disadvantaged students, including English as a New Language learners.
Energy Convertors builds agentic students and agentic communities through a yearlong writing and research fellowship in order to ensure our students get the education they deserve.
Great School Voices amplifies local voice, knowledge, and expertise on education matters through local community-built spaces including our blog, forums, podcasts, and broadcasts.
State of Black Education celebrates and demands Black Excellence by convening community members and developing data-rich narratives, content, and reports to support awareness and policy campaigns for educational justice.
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
EDUCATORS
FOUNDERS • LEADERS • TEACHERS • AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS
OR GET INFORMED: Join our Educator Mailing List to receive updates on our school-based initiatives and other news.
END-USERS
PARENTS • STUDENTS • COMMUNITY MEMBERS
OR GET INFORMED: Join our End-User Mailing List to receive updates on our community-based initiatives and other news.
1. Great School Voices’s Post on FIA Oakland’s 2023 Report on “The Unspoken Pandemic: Oakland’s Education Crisis”
2. New York State Education Department Report (2023-24 Data)
3. National Assessment of Educational Progress and their Long-Term Trend Results (2022 Data)