Blogs

That’s the question explored in a recent Education Week article featuring Thrive’s work in partnership with Teach for America and the Bay Area Collaborative for Reimagining Teaching. The piece highlights how schools are using strategic staffing to rethink schedules, student grouping, and teacher roles in ways that support both student learning and educator well-being. At […]

What if the rules about how teachers work together were also just made up? That’s the question our Senior Director, Courtney Ochi, explores in a recent piece featured on Getting Smart. Drawing from the Thrive Bridge Collective, Courtney shares how five Bay Area teacher teams, across elementary and secondary, district and charter schools, redesigned how […]

Here’s a scenario that keeps board members up at night:  You’re two years into a solid three or five-year strategic plan. Real progress is happening. Momentum is real. Then your CEO or superintendent announces they’re leaving. And suddenly, everyone’s wondering: Does the plan die with them? In many organizations, the answer is yes. Strategic plans […]

demand is real, and the market has responded, with programs packaged to feel fast, scalable, and easy to adopt.  But lasting change doesn’t come from a silver bullet.  Change takes time, and when things move too quickly without the conditions for real implementation, the impact rarely holds. Many of us across schools and systems are […]

The Falkland Islands education system uses its geographic remoteness as a catalyst for innovation through flexible pathways like distance learning and multiage classrooms. There are many valuable lessons for small and rural districts to leverage their unique context as a strength for educational excellence. Prioritizing student-centered design and teacher expertise can turn small school limitations […]

Imagine taking a road trip without a destination. For the adventurous traveler, that might sound exciting. But when you have somewhere important to be, wandering without a map only leads to frustration, wasted time, and a car full of people wondering why they ever got in. Schools feel that way too when they try to […]

So there I was, bundled up like a marshmallow on the deck of a cruise ship, watching icebergs the size of city blocks drift past like they had all the time in the world. Antarctica, the bottom of the planet, where your morning coffee freezes before you can finish it, and penguins somehow make it […]

Recently, Nicole visited the American School in Rio de Janeiro, a vibrant campus where local culture and a global mindset intersect. At the same time, Rob was collaborating with an international client preparing to launch a premier school model in North America. These two experiences, on opposite sides of the hemisphere, got both of us […]

Strategic planning once conjured images of thick binders, gantt charts, and carefully plotted roadmaps meant to guide organizations, like schools and nonprofits, for 5-10 years at a time. But the world has changed fast.  Today’s education and nonprofit leaders must navigate a landscape defined by shifting priorities, a volatile political climate, and (often) shrinking funding. […]

Reimagining education isn’t just about filling vacancies – it’s about fundamentally redesigning educator roles so teams, not individuals, share the responsibility of learning. When we build collaborative structures that honor educator expertise, we create the conditions where both students and adults can thrive. Thrive CEO, Dr. Nicole Assisi, is a proud co-author of the newly released […]

What if strategic planning didn’t just chart your next steps, but rewired your brain to believe in a better future- and your power to create it? After decades of guiding organizations through change—from world-class zoos to innovative schools—we’ve discovered something fascinating: the real power of strategic planning lies beneath the surface- in the brain.  When […]

What could a leadership pathway look like for teachers who aren’t interested in being administrators? Thrive presented at the 2025 Strategic School Staffing Summit with district and site leaders from the Kernville Union School District. Thrive has been supporting KUSD over the last two years in implementing team based teaching models that include teacher leadership […]