In sports, it’s a given that perfecting your craft requires consistent coaching.  Is there an industry more important than education that this same concept should apply?  Athletes receive coaching on a daily basis, but unfortunately teachers aren’t yet afforded those same growth opportunities, relying on quarterly assessments rather than consistent feedback.  Technology is changing the game.  Like in sports, teachers are now able to watch their own game film and learn from industry experts how to take their game to the next level. 

 

In this episode, I sit with Will Morris, Founder and CEO of edConnective.  His team is leveraging technology to provide consistent professional development opportunities.

 

Founder Bio:

Will received his Master of Education from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education. There he researched instructional coaching as a promising lever of teacher quality. Before UPenn, Will spent a year working with a cohort of 30 African American freshmen as an Urban Prep Fellow in a Chicago Charter School. During his year in Chicago, Will became a Starting Bloc Social Innovation Fellow and participated in a social entrepreneurship institute that sparked his desire to create systemic impact through social innovation.

 

Timestamps:

1:59 The genesis of edConnective | Solving systems level issues in education

4:13  On the ground experience | Working at Urban Prep in Chicago

5:04  How Will used grad school to incubate his idea for a startup

6:19  Why teacher performance is the linchpin for driving educational outcomes

9:13  Why the traditional form of teacher coaching/evaluation is flawed

12:29  The edConnective product and how coaches are coached

15:54  Finding the best coaches to help teachers develop professionally

20:49  Leveraging technology to create predictable process behind coaching strategy

24:32  Tough lessons learned as a solo founder and the value in teaming up with a technical partner

28:33  Testing the business hypothesis as a service before scaling up with tech/software

31:38  The journey to getting traction and generating revenue “Wandering in startup wilderness”

34:20  Keeping the startup dream alive while waiting to get traction

37:12  The Founder’s most important job is to validate demand

38:57  In a marketplace business model, which side of the marketplace do you validate first

41:54  Where to find Will and edConnective