Instructional Empowerment’s mission is to end generational poverty and eliminate achievement gaps through redesigned rigorous Tier 1 instruction that ensures deeper learning for ALL students.
We partner with school and district leaders to build schools’ capacity and instructional systems. Our goal is for schools to achieve rapid, measurable, long-term outcomes for their students by focusing on rigorous classroom instruction, deeper learning, and school advancement.
Learn more about why our founder, Michael Toth, is passionate about breaking generational poverty.
We believe all students of all backgrounds have the potential to develop the skills for personal growth and upward mobility. However, not all students have equal opportunities to do so.
By shifting from teacher-directed instruction to student-led team learning, schools and districts can engage students in rigorous academic content through collaboration. This shift allows students to develop the cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills necessary for deeper learning.
Instructional Empowerment defines deeper learning as ALL students developing into leaders of their own learning. They collaborate in teams, engage in rich discourse, and tackle rigorous tasks that prepare them for both academic and real-world success.
When classrooms transition to a model of deeper learning, rigor, engagement, and learning gains accelerate for all students, including special populations such as students with disabilities, English learners, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. We see our mission validated as students in our partner schools nationwide develop the crucial high-agency skills needed for success in a rapidly evolving workplace. That is why deeper learning is at the core of what we do.
We are so serious about our mission that we founded our own independent Applied Research Center.
Our research center verifies every project using the most exacting federal research standards. We ensure our methods work in every school and every classroom in all the different communities that our partner schools serve.
Learn more about Applied Research Center
Michael D. Toth is founder and CEO of Instructional Empowerment and leads IE’s Applied Research Center. He is the multi-award-winning author of The Power of Student Teams with David Sousa; author of Who Moved My Standards; and co-author with Robert Marzano of several books. Michael also speaks at national conferences and serves as an executive coach for superintendents and district cabinets.
Instructional Empowerment’s mission is personal to Michael, as he experienced poverty as a child.
Read more about Michael’s story on the Founder’s Page
Our national expert educators are passionate about helping you reach your goals by applying their deep knowledge of IE’s instructional systems and methodologies and their experience from years of practical work in schools and districts across the country.
Instructional Empowerment goes to great lengths to provide the best school leadership coaches to our partner schools. We are honored to have an amazing faculty of former highly successful district leaders, school leaders, and teacher leaders. Every one of our leadership coaches has served as successful school or district leaders and is trained extensively in our metrics and methods.
Learn more about our highly skilled faculty
We are proud to have partnered with a diverse array of over 200 school districts nationwide, from large urban districts to smaller community schools. Our partners include schools facing achievement gaps, as well as high-performing districts committed to continuous improvement. Each partnership is unique, and we tailor our comprehensive services to meet their specific needs and goals for student success. What unites them is a shared commitment to delivering rigorous Tier 1 instruction focused on deeper learning and student agency.
Our mission is to end generational poverty and eliminate achievement gaps through redesigned rigorous Tier 1 instruction that ensures deeper learning for ALL students.
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