Launching a nationwide movement to support K-12 teachers and staff

I’m a proud product of America’s public schools.

I’m also someone with Cerebral Palsy (CP).

As a child growing up with a physical disability, things could have gone any number of directions.

If not for two incredibly positive influences – a loving family and the support of a handful of remarkable classroom educators – my story would have played out far differently.

I’m hardly alone.

Each of us has a story about an extraordinary educator who touched our life in some immeasurable way.

In nearly every case, educators do this work selflessly, without expectation.

Yet, the job just keeps getting harder. It’s downright brutal out there.

Since the start of the pandemic, 1 in 4 teachers has considered quitting. Mentally, educators are at the end of their emotional ropes, with little in the way of support. Amid a dizzying array of health concerns, policy changes, and shifts from virtual to in-person learning, even the most dedicated of teachers has had to dig deep for the motivation to keep on keeping on.

As 2022 kicks off, Omicron has only added to the chaos and uncertainty.

Schools, unfortunately, aren’t doing them any favors. In one recent Gates Foundation study, just 29% of teachers said the current state of professional learning meets their needs.

This isn’t just alarming; it’s unacceptable.

If traditional sit-and-get professional development was on its way out before the pandemic, the events of the last several months left little to debate: our schools must do better when it comes to preparing teachers and staff for success in a COVID-19 world.

When I think back to my own experience living with CP and the challenges I faced as a public-school student, both physical and social-emotional, it was the teachers who displayed the agency and the courage – the ones who showed me how to turn my differences into strengths – who, quite literally, changed the trajectory of my life.

Across the country, students need great teachers now more than ever, for all sorts of reasons – from learning loss to equity, to social-emotional health.

The good news is that K-12 teachers and staff want to do exceptional work. It’s why they became educators in the first place. But, like any great change makers, they need inspiration. Occasionally, they need someone to help show them the way.

This can’t be just anyone. It needs to be someone who’s stood in their shoes and who knows what it’s like to have 20 sets of eyes staring back in anticipation of something earth shattering, whether that message is delivered in the classroom or online at home. 

At RocketPD, our mission over the next year is to create the world’s largest community of K-12 school leaders committed to providing stronger support and training for teachers and staff.

We want to bring the best thought leaders, on the most important topics together to inspire educators and give them the agency, the resources and the coaching to keep moving forward — because our kids need them. We need them. 

My goal is to challenge as many of you as I can possibly reach to join us in this movement. My ask is simple: visit our website and sign up for our free guide featuring the 7 ways K-12 professional development is broken and how to fix it.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be launching a new newsletter featuring ideas and insights from the nation’s top experts on everything from equity to accountability to social-emotional learning to family engagement.

I'll lean on my roots as a veteran education journalist to curate content in 3 key areas:

• News you want to know & talk about
• K-12 educators going above & beyond
• New ideas & programs to support teachers & staff

Our schools can’t be expected to untangle every pandemic-fueled teacher and staff concern overnight. But the training crisis is fixable. Federal COVID-relief dollars have pumped an unprecedented amount of spending power into public schools. Most of that money – more than $180 billion, by some estimates – remains unspent.

If ever there was a time to tackle the training crisis in America’s K-12 schools, to give the nation’s teachers and staff the authentic support they need and deserve to make a difference in students’ lives, that time is now.   

Let’s do some good together in 2022!

-Corey, co-founder, RocketPD.com