What It Takes for Students and Educators to Thrive
From school culture and climate to education policy consulting, our expertise empowers educators, students, and their communities to build what works and transform education, together.
Where We Focus
Continuous Improvement Methods
Instructional Practice
Policy Consultation
School Culture & Climate
Teacher Recruitment & Retention
Workforce & Community Partnerships
Continuous Improvement Methods
Change driven by voices often left out of the process.
Why It Matters
Those closest to the classroom carry the wisdom to lead change. Bringing their voices to the center transforms lived experience into lasting progress.
How We Help
We blend active collaboration, deep listening, and rigorous study with on-the-ground insight, building momentum through shared ownership and reflection.
“I really enjoyed looking at data and going directly to the students. I constantly ask for student opinions, feedback, and hold student focus groups to gather data. We have redesigned our interview/enrollment process based on their families’ experiences.”
Resources & Services
Featured Services
Community of Practice Facilitation
Grow together, lead together—one conversation at a time.
Improvement Project
Tackle what matters most with structure and tools that support big change.
Fellowships
Strengthen leadership capacity with a student-centered community doing the same.
Featured Resources
Eskolta Fellows: Impact and Community since 2015
Since 2015, the Eskolta School Improvement Fellows Program has supported and trained 101 fellows in four key areas: leadership, community, critical conversations about equity and race, and designing change in schools. The work of the Fellows Program mirrors the...
Empowering Teacher Teams to Improve Instructional Practices
“I’ve developed strategies that have been total game changers for me and had a huge impact on student learning. Things that I just would not have come up with on my own without the support of my lesson study team.” Empowering Teacher Teams to Improve Instructional...
Finding Small Wins and Making a Large Impact: An Improvement Science Approach to Adult Learning at KAPPA International
“Utilizing improvement science practices is a powerful process to help teachers experience small wins, learn from them, understand what is within their locus of control, and press forward.” Finding Small Wins and Making a Large Impact provides a window into how...
Instructional Practice
Teaching that invites every student into mastery.
Why It Matters
Teachers want to reach every learner, but traditional approaches aren’t set up for that. Empowering students—not just passing them— takes permission to reimagine.
How We Help
We equip teachers to center growth, feedback, and real-world relevance, elevating student expertise and fueling their ambition.
“I never felt judged for a mistake I made in the classroom. In this group, I always felt safe to say I messed up today and this is somewhere I could say that. Instead of thinking, ‘Wow, you’re horrible,’ we would ask, ‘Ok, what can we do?’ That energy was really helpful.”
Resources & Services
Featured Services
Curriculum Design
Design learning that meets the moment and every student.
Coaching
Personalized guidance that grows with you and your practice.
Work-based Learning Partnerships
Design work-based learning that connects students to meaningful careers.
Featured Resources
Establishing a Philosophy of Feedback at Voyages Preparatory High School
For teachers, deepening learning for their students is a nearly universal goal. But how can teachers help students improve syntax and argument while also engaging them in thinking more deeply about their writing? In the fall of 2015, a team of history and science...
From Classroom to School: Spreading and Scaling Academic and Personal Behaviors
In recent years, the understanding that a certain set of noncognitive skills, habits, and beliefs that can improve student motivation and achievement has become widespread in education circles, but little has been written about how an entire school community can...
From Research to Practice: Supporting Student Achievement through Academic and Personal Behaviors
“It brought a whole new layer to our work and really deepened our thinking. Instead of just saying to kids, ‘Well, work harder. Do more work,’ we actually had ways to think about this – ‘Is this work valuable to students? Do they feel like they belong in class?...
Policy Consultation
Insights from those at the center of innovation.
Why It Matters
From the school to the state level, powerful education policy reflects real people. That reflection begins with listening to the educators and students leading transformation in their learning communities.
How We Help
We ensure the voices of those living and leading the work—students and educators—guide the decisions that shape what school becomes.
“My work with Eskolta and learning how to lead these types of initiatives has helped me reinvigorate my staff for a cause they deemed important and necessary to focus on.”
Resources & Services
Featured Services
Data-Guided Leadership
Turn insight into action with collaborative, data-informed leadership.
Impact Evaluation
Measure what matters with insight that moves your work forward.
Best Practice Dissemination
Share what’s working, so more schools can thrive.
Featured Resources
What does LTW look like at its best?
What does Learning To Work look like at its best? Findings from Transfer Schools and YABCs New York City Public Schools' Learning to Work (LTW) program is a powerful support to youth for whom the traditional school system hasn’t worked. LTW partners...
How They Thrive: Lessons from New York City Alternative School Alumni
“[My transfer school] was, I’m going to say humanizing... being seen, like, literally seen, and just appreciated, and understood, and valued, and all of these other amazing things.... You get to be a human. You get to be hungry, you get to be confused. You get to...
Blueprint for Accountability Systems for Alternative High Schools
“Students at transfer schools are often called at- risk because of a system that treats them unequally.” Partner: Center for American Progress Blueprint for Accountability Systems for Alternative High Schools provides analysis and recommendations for researchers,...
School Culture & Climate
Practices that build communities of belonging.
Why It Matters
Some students light up in traditional classrooms. Others go quiet. Some feel they belong; others feel out of place. Recognizing, respecting, and empowering every student takes practice.
How We Help
From daily routines to deep trust, we equip schools with daily and long-term habits that foster belonging and safety.
“In my old school, the teachers were not really interested in me and my learning. It’s different here. The teachers give me chances to ask questions and make time to explain things to me. I don’t feel like I have to work alone anymore.”
Resources & Services
Featured Services
Community of Practice Facilitation
Grow together, lead together—one conversation at a time.
Coaching
Personalized guidance that grows with you and your practice.
Youth Leadership Programs
Build youth-led programs rooted in research, reflection, and action.
Featured Resources
Strengthening Team Dynamics with CS4All
As demand for a technologically skilled workforce continues to increase, the ‘digital divide’ disproportionately affecting Black, Latinx, and female students who lack access to quality computer science tools and instruction remains a challenge. The Computer Science...
How They Thrive: Lessons from New York City Alternative School Alumni
“[My transfer school] was, I’m going to say humanizing... being seen, like, literally seen, and just appreciated, and understood, and valued, and all of these other amazing things.... You get to be a human. You get to be hungry, you get to be confused. You get to...
Studying Resilience
Studying Resilience: A Collection of Classroom Activities to Explore the History, Reality and Potential of Youth in Alternative High Schools is curriculum guide developed through a collaboration between Eskolta and transfer school educators from Voyages Preparatory...
Teacher Recruitment & Retention
Conditions that help teachers thrive—and stay.
Why It Matters
Teachers thrive where they feel valued, heard, and empowered to lead. Building a culture that attracts and nurtures greatness is an act of coordinated empathy.
How We Help
We help schools become places where teachers want to be, grow, and lead.
“I think it’s easy to just throw a policy at teachers and to tell them, ‘Do this,’ but what Eskolta has been doing is facilitating that process and fostering our own learning, because just like our students, we are also learners.”
Resources & Services
Featured Services
Fellowships
Strengthen leadership capacity with a student-centered community doing the same.
Needs Assessment
See the full picture, so you can build from your strengths.
Impact Evaluation
Measure what matters with insight that moves your work forward.
Featured Resources
Strengthening Team Dynamics with CS4All
As demand for a technologically skilled workforce continues to increase, the ‘digital divide’ disproportionately affecting Black, Latinx, and female students who lack access to quality computer science tools and instruction remains a challenge. The Computer Science...
Empowering Teacher Teams to Improve Instructional Practices
“I’ve developed strategies that have been total game changers for me and had a huge impact on student learning. Things that I just would not have come up with on my own without the support of my lesson study team.” Empowering Teacher Teams to Improve Instructional...
Finding Small Wins and Making a Large Impact: An Improvement Science Approach to Adult Learning at KAPPA International
“Utilizing improvement science practices is a powerful process to help teachers experience small wins, learn from them, understand what is within their locus of control, and press forward.” Finding Small Wins and Making a Large Impact provides a window into how...
Workforce & Community Partnerships
Opportunities that connect school to what comes next.
Why It Matters
Creating strong school-to-career pathways shouldn’t fall on one person’s shoulders. When the right people are invited to the table, no student or community is left behind.
How We Help
We help schools and districts build future-focused partnerships with community leaders and employers.
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Resources & Services
Featured Services
Intergenerational Fellowships
Create space for multigenerational collaboration and learning.
Work-based Learning Partnerships
Design work-based learning that connects students to meaningful careers.
Improvement Project
Tackle what matters most with structure and tools that support big change.
Featured Resources
What does LTW look like at its best?
What does Learning To Work look like at its best? Findings from Transfer Schools and YABCs New York City Public Schools' Learning to Work (LTW) program is a powerful support to youth for whom the traditional school system hasn’t worked. LTW partners...
How They Thrive: Lessons from New York City Alternative School Alumni
“[My transfer school] was, I’m going to say humanizing... being seen, like, literally seen, and just appreciated, and understood, and valued, and all of these other amazing things.... You get to be a human. You get to be hungry, you get to be confused. You get to...
Inspiring through Internships: Mentor Interviews and Workplace Brochures
“Through our internship program, [the students] actually leverage the strength they already have to develop important, specific career competencies such as collaboration, communication, and problem solving.” Inspiring through Internships: Mentor Interviews and...
Let Difference Thrive—and Drive Innovation
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