Our People
✎Our Expertise
Our core belief is best summed up in our motto:
Collaboration Creates Opportunity.
We believe there is no greater professional development than hands-on-practice and conversation in the company of engaged colleagues.
Under this umbrella, we come from different backgrounds, roles, and perspectives, but fundamental beliefs tie us together and inform the work we do with schools and educators.
The Educator Collaborative, LLC, is a think tank and educational consulting organization working to innovate the ways educators learn together. We aim to serve children and the adults who teach, learn, and grow alongside them.
Our expertise is in designing high quality, inspirational, and immediately practical professional learning that facilitates educators in strengthening research-based, classroom proven, literacy pedagogy through an anti-bias, culturally affirming lens.
From our biannual, online conference day, “TheEdCollab Gathering,” which draws tens of thousands of views from countries throughout the world, to intimate classroom-based labsites, we have supported thousands upon thousands of educators in developing literacy practices to meet the needs of students.
We aim to not just be “providers,” but members of the District family. We value building trusting, respectful, and collaborative relationships that last years.
Our work is internationally recognized and we are frequently called upon to consult, speak, and serve. We provide services to schools, literacy organizations, universities, and government bodies across the country and around the world. We are a trusted and experienced voice in literacy education, working with K-12 educators across urban, suburban, rural, private, and international school settings.
Our research-based approach to educator professional development aims to build capacity within schools, districts, and networks, in which we work. As adults develop a deeper knowledge of literacy content, methods, assessment practices, and environment building, they are better equipped to plan for and respond to the developmental needs of the diverse, multilingual students in their care. Our whole-school approach includes supporting classroom teachers, instructional coaches, and leaders.
The organization serves to study, inquire, and grow along side the schools and educators we partner with. Our goal is to help you achieve your goals. We do not aim to push a product or force a rigid program, instead we aim to bring research and standards-aligned, best-practices to you and your team.
We are experts in providing rigorous, affirming, and practical professional development in the following literacy areas:
Standards Integration
- including Literacy Standards (e.g. CCSS); Content Standards (e.g. C3, NGSS); Teacher Effectiveness Frameworks; Technology Standards (e.g. ISTE); and Social Justice Standards
Literacy Content and Pedagogy
- Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop
- Secondary Literature and Writing Instruction
- Literacy in the Content Areas
- Inquiry Pedagogy in Content Areas
- Differentiation for Students with IEPs
Anti-Bias and Anti-Racist Pedagogy
- Inclusive and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy
- Social Justice Education
- Decolonizing Curriculum
Bi/Multilingual Pedagogy
- Teaching Multilingual Students
- Culturally Affirming Practices
Trauma-Informed Pedagogy
- Healing-Centered Approaches
- Serving Students in Transitional and Interrupted Education Environments
Remote Learning and Digital Literacy
- Education Technology Integration with Literacy
- Media Literacy
- Moving Students from Content Consumers to Content Creators
- Remote Learning and Pedagogy
Literacy Leadership Methods
- Support for Administrators with Instructional Leadership
- Instructional Coaching: Training and Methods
Curriculum
- Curriculum Development
- Curriculum Review
Finally, The Educator Collaborative serves our field. The Educator Collaborative aims to promote the ideas and propel the careers of inspiring educators who have the vision and expertise to impact our field for now and the future. Through our think tank, internship opportunities, and professional development outreach, we continually seek the next generation of voices to bring their unqiue talents and vision for the future to educators. Some examples of this work include the Global Kind Project, developed in conjunction with our Social Media Advocate Interns, and our Strong Classrooms Self Assessment, developed within our network think tank.
We live by our motto: “Collaboration Creates Opportunity.”
We Learn from and Contribute to the Literacy Community
We recognize a school, district, and every single educator, is making an investment of fleeting resources and precious time when they choose to partner with us. We do not take this trust lightly and ensure that our methods, content, and pedagogy or developed by both foundational and state-of-the-art research in a variety of areas. Where it is through our literacy consulting, keynotes, public speaking services, or other professional development, everything we do is grounded in essential practice.
While not a complete list, some of the research base which informs our work:
Our belief in child and adolescent literacy development that highlights responsive, student-centered, and literacy rich classrooms (Allington, 2011; Atwell, 2014; Biancarosa & Snow, 2006; Calkins, 1994, 2001; Clay, 2014; Fountas & Pinnell, 2000; Graham & Perin, 2007; Graves, 2003; Kame’enui & Baumann, 2012; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Lehman, 2012; Lehman & Roberts, 2013; McCarthy, 2020; Miller, 2009; Mraz & Hertz, 2018; Sims Bishop, 1990; We Need Diverse Books, 2015),
our believe in language rich classrooms that are supportive and responsive to multilingual learners (Beneville, M. and Li, C., 2018; Cappellini, 2004; España and Yadira Hererra, 2020; Flores, 2018; Freeman, Freeman, & Mercuri, 2018; Nieto, 2013; Honigsfeld, 2019; Lesaux, N.K. & Geva, E, 2006; Moses, 2015; NCTE, 2008; WIDA, 2012),
our belief in digital media literacy skills that support students in making active meaning in today’s digital landscape (Benjamin, 2016; Common Sense Media, 2016; Davis, 2015; Hicks, 2015, 2014, 2013; ISTE, 2016; Light & Polin, 2010; Muhtaris & Ziemke, 2015),
and our belief in Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy that supports all children in linguistic, cultural, and social justice oriented growth through literacy teaching and learning (American Indians in Children’s Literature, 2006; Disrupt Texts, 2018; Kendi, 2019; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2004; Paris, 2012; Paris & Alim, 2017; Scott & Purdum-Cassidy, 2016; Sims Bishop, 1990; Teaching Tolerance, 2014; NCTE, 2015).
We help Lead the Literacy Community
Our network of literacy consultants bring a diverse background of experiences and share an ongoing love of learning and a dedication to giving back and strengthening our field. Among our members are best-selling authors, award-winning educators, teachers, coaches, district leaders, professors, and popular, trusted speakers. A purpose of The Educator Collaborative is to give back to our field and promote the next generation of literacy leaders. Our members contributions are making our literacy spaces—from classrooms to conferences—more inclusive, active, joyful, and responsive to the literacy needs of today’s students.
Our Members’ Research and Practice Have Appeared In
Harvard Educational Review, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Teachers College Record, Education and Urban Society, Voices in the Middle, English Journal, NPR, SmartBrief, EdWeek, School Library Journal, Choice Literacy, Talks with Teachers, Teachers and Writers, School Library Journal, The Guardian, MiddleWeb, English Leadership Quarterly, Educational Viewpoints, New Jersey Council of Teachers of English Journal, NEA Advocate, International Journal for Critical Pedagogy, Reading Today and others.
Our Current And Past Members’ Books Inform Literacy Instruction
A great deal of research, informing not just our work but the work of literacy educators around the world, is found in the writing and practice of our current and recent literacy consultant members. Our internal Think Tank is a working, growing, responsive practice center, drawing on the practices, research, writing, and inspiration of our evolving membership.