The Problem:

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” – Galileo Galilei

The problem, put simply, is that our education system isn’t working for the majority of those who work in it. Our teachers are burdened with too many responsibilities and are distracted from the pursuit of instructional excellence. Our school leaders are asked to implement countless rounds of initiatives without the necessary resources and support. Our school districts have failed to address the persistent discrepancies between their best and worst-performing schools. And stuck in the middle are families and students trying to navigate systems they don’t understand.

The Opportunity:

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller

We believe the failures and shortcomings of our current system represent opportunities to explore and implement new ideas. In fact, new models of education are popping up around the country in some of the most unexpected places, and doing so with great success. Thus, we have an opportunity to take a magnifying glass into these pockets of remarkable improvement and share what we find. By implementing these best practices more widely, we believe that education can finally be relieved of its most stubborn deficiencies.

The Purpose:

“Re-examine all that you have been told . . . dismiss that which insults your soul.” – Walt Whitman

Most schools don’t have the luxury of large donors and year-long fundraising campaigns. What they do have is the ability to work smarter and to make better decisions. That’s where we come in. The purpose of this site is to re-examine the allocation of our time, energy, and resources in education and to re-allocate them into the people, processes, and programs that produce better results. We believe that a more intelligent allocation of school resources can lead to dramatically improved educational outcomes for students.

How This Got Started:

My name is Chris Reger. When I entered the classroom several years ago, I was shocked to see how broken many of our schools had become. In such an environment, I asked myself how I could possibly offer my students the high level of learning and personal growth that they deserved. Because I had previously worked on Wall Street, I reasoned that some of the tools I had picked up there would also be valuable in the classroom. Study greatness. Fail fast. Play to your strengths. And so I decided that’s what I’d do. I sought out the best instructors so that I could learn what great curriculum looks like and find pedagogy that resonates with students. I made it a practice of trying out new instructional methods on a weekly basis, keeping the good and ditching the bad. I spent a lot of time thinking about the things I do well (and those that I don’t!) to find the best ways to structure my class. And I witnessed a remarkable transformation in my students that I was told could not be achieved. Now I work with teachers, administrators, business leaders, and innovators to implement similar changes at the school level. We actively collaborate with educators across the country to find and share ideas capable of allowing schools everywhere to thrive.