About us
Our Story
We believe in a future where every kid who goes to any school has a positive and successful learning experience.
To make this future a reality, we must develop leaders who can lead schools that work for every child – schools where students belong, where they learn, and where their voices matter.
We know the leader is the lever for sustained improvements in schools, and, yet, too often, initiatives are rolled out around the leaders instead of through the leaders. We are on a mission to equip and empower the most effective school leaders who are at the center of their school’s improvement work, driving results for every learner in our highest-need schools.
The work of leading schools is isolating and hard.
PIVOT’s founders experienced this first-hand as principals and leaders themselves, leading improvement efforts at some of the most challenging schools in the state. They saw it again while supporting hundreds of leaders all across the state.
The message is clear: principals need and want community, development, and support. They want to build the complex skills required to do all the parts of their job well, and they want to have a safe space to be a learner, a reprieve from always needing to be the expert.
Founded in 2023
Built for the leaders doing the hardest work
PIVOT: School Improvement Leaders was founded in the spring of 2023 to provide development and support for principals, specifically principals leading improvement efforts in the highest need, lowest performing schools.
PIVOT prepares leaders to be
- High performing with a deep technical knowledge base
- Innovative thinkers who understand the demands of 21st century education
- Optimistic, inspiring people that others believe in and want to follow
- Empathetic, self-aware, and believe in the potential and perspective of others
- Resilient, gritty, and energized by complex challenges
Our journey so far
- Spring 2023PIVOT is foundedBuilt to support principals leading Tennessee’s highest-need schools.
- July 2023First leaders joinProgramming launches with ten leaders across Tennessee.
- June 2024Year one completeSchools led by PIVOT leaders doubled the number of school improvement goals they met.
- 2024–25Our strongest year yet9,500 students impacted through our leader cohorts.
- TodayAcross TennesseeSchool and district partners in 11 Tennessee counties.