Stephen Crook, Executive Director at AchieveKids, explains how the organization supports students with special needs through individualized education, behavioral support, and vocational training. For over 60 years, AchieveKids has provided a structured and supportive environment where students can develop independence. By working closely with school districts, educators, and families, the organization helps students transition back into public schools or the workforce. In this special Podcasthon episode, Stephen also shares the challenges and rewards of leading a nonprofit in special education, the impact of mentorship on student success, and how AchieveKids partners with 35+ school districts to fulfill its mission.
Stephen Crook, Executive Director at Achieve Kids, explains how the organization supports students with special needs through individualized education, behavioral support, and vocational training. For over 60 years, Achieve Kids has provided a structured and supportive environment where students can develop independence. By working closely with school districts, educators, and families, the organization helps students transition back into public schools or the workforce. Stephen also shares the challenges and rewards of leading a nonprofit in special education, the impact of mentorship on student success, and how Achieve Kids partners with 35+ school districts to fulfill its mission.
Stephen Crook, Executive Director at AchieveKids, explains how the organization supports students with special needs through individualized education, behavioral support, and vocational training. For over 60 years, AchieveKids has provided a structured and supportive environment where students can develop independence. By working closely with school districts, educators, and families, the organization helps students transition back into public schools or the workforce. In this special Podcasthon episode, Stephen also shares the challenges and rewards of leading a nonprofit in special education, the impact of mentorship on student success, and how AchieveKids partners with 35+ school districts to fulfill its mission.
In this episode, you'll learn:
[03:00] How Stephen’s journey from psychology research to teaching led him to AchieveKids
[07:34] What makes AchieveKids different from traditional special education programs
[14:01] A powerful success story of a student overcoming severe behavioral challenges
[20:50] Why teacher shortages threaten special education and what’s being done about it
[23:09] The biggest challenges families face when seeking support for their children
[26:04] The future of AchieveKids and how the program is expanding to meet growing needs
Stephen Crook is the Executive Director of AchieveKids, a nonprofit school serving students with special needs. With a background in developmental psychology, teaching, and school administration, he has dedicated his career to improving special education programs and advocating for students with disabilities. Before joining AchieveKids, Stephen worked as a therapeutic teacher and school director, helping students with significant behavioral and emotional needs gain the skills to succeed in school and beyond.
AchieveKids is a nonprofit school that serves students ages 5 to 22 with autism, intellectual disabilities, emotional needs, and developmental challenges. With campuses in Palo Alto and East San Jose, AchieveKids partners with 35+ school districts to provide individualized education, behavioral support, mental health services, and vocational training. The goal is to help every student transition into a more independent and fulfilling life.
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Pretty quickly, we got through the honeymoon period, which can happen with some students, and we started to see the behavioral challenges really come through. You know, he was visibly aggressive with staff, with other students. One of our go to strategies is to utilize blocking pads. We want to be as hands off as possible.
We want to be as least restrictive as possible. So we use blocking pads to protect ourselves and clear the space when a student needs that area to deescalate.
[00:00:30] Gopi Rangan: You are listening to The Sure Shot Entrepreneur - a podcast for founders with ambitious ideas. Venture capital investors and other early believers tell you relatable, insightful, and authentic stories to help you realize your vision. Welcome to The Sure Shot Entrepreneur. I'm your host, Gopi Rangan. My guest today is Stephen Crook. He's the executive director at AchieveKids.
AchieveKids is a non profit organization. It's a non public school. What does that mean? And what kind of families do they serve? We're going to talk a lot about that topic. I understand this is different from our regular conversations with venture capital investors about what they invest in. and startups and all kind of topics.
This is special because we're participating in a special event called Podcasthon with many other thousands of non profit organizations who have dedicated this week's episode to focus on a specific theme that they are passionate about. For me, AchieveKids is personal to me. I've been a volunteer board member at the school for more than 10 years, and I've had very enjoyable time over the years supporting the organization. I'm really excited to welcome Stephen. Stephen, welcome to The Sure Shot Entrepreneur.
[00:01:56] Stephen Crook: Thank you, Gopi. It's great to be here today.
[00:01:59] Gopi Rangan: Tell us about yourself. You recently moved to Silicon Valley to join AchieveKids a few years ago.
Where are you from originally?
[00:02:08] Stephen Crook: I actually grew up in a small town in rural upstate New York. The name of the town was Middleburg, population of about 3, 000 people. So, you know, kind of since then, I've moved to bigger and bigger places. And it's always been honestly driven by my career and relationships, but I've had great opportunity to see a lot of different parts of the country.
[00:02:29] Gopi Rangan: You've been a teacher. You've been a school director. How did you shape your career? Why is this exciting for you?
[00:02:36] Stephen Crook: I've always had a natural drive to understand people. I've enjoyed teaching. I enjoy learning about others. I enjoy helping others. Some of my early experiences when I was in my undergraduate program at Cornell was spending my summers working for the local mental health association.
So a lot of that was respite work, working one on one with autistic students, and honestly just spending time with them and helping give them an enjoyable summer experience. And I also found that really rewarding. So I started to really define what I wanted to do while I was in school. I made the decision to stay at Cornell to complete my master's in developmental psychology.
And at that point, I knew the general area that I wanted to go into, but I wasn't entirely sure what was most appropriate for me. My first experience was a residence director at the William George Agency for Children Services. It provided residential services for hard to play students, students with social emotional needs, students with developmental disabilities.
So this was really my first experience in working with a really wide range of learners. After that, life took me to North Carolina, where I found a position as a therapeutic teacher at a private school, and I taught there for four years, and that was really working with students with significant social emotional needs.
I taught kindergarten, I taught third grade, and I really just got invested in learning more about individualized learning plans, building relationships with students, and helping them find comfort in the classroom again.
[00:03:57] Gopi Rangan: There are a lot of big words here. Some of it I'm familiar with. I want to ask you a bunch of dumb questions first.
Sure.
[00:04:03] Stephen Crook: Yeah.
[00:04:03] Gopi Rangan: What does one learn at the Master of Arts in Development and Child Psychology? What do you learn?
[00:04:10] Stephen Crook: You learn a range of different things. So obviously I had some of the standard things with learning how to inform my practice. So I worked through statistics, looking at different psychology courses, human development and biology.
So understanding the development of a human over the lifespan. Looking at what typical developmental milestones there are, you know, zero to one, as you move forward in life. Also took courses on human bonding. So there was a big range of experiences primarily based around psychology. And what the master's program is really focused on was helping you develop a plan and develop research to help inform the field.
So I was fortunate to have a mentor in Gary Evans at Cornell and he helped me develop my thesis and I was able to publish a paper in child development on the role of planning skills in the income achievement gap. So understanding the relationship between a child's upbringing and what their resources are and how that impacts their ability to plan and how that feeds into executive functioning as that individual grows up.
[00:05:07] Gopi Rangan: I'm very curious now. Planning skills for income achievement gaps. What does that mean? What impact does it have on families?
[00:05:15] Stephen Crook: So what we found, and this has been, it's been a while now, um, since I've reviewed my research, but what we found at the time is that there was a link in a child's ability to plan and looking at their their poverty level, so their socioeconomic status. And we found that students who had limited access to books, their education may have looked different, where they were living; all these different experiences essentially in their environment impacted their ability to plan for the future. And other aspects of that from the social lens are the relationship between poverty and planning accurately and appropriately for the future.
So a lot of times families could be living in a general state of it feels more chaotic, it feels like it's less predictable. And from a very early age that can have an impact on a child and their ability to plan for their own experiences moving into the future.
[00:06:06] Gopi Rangan: It's fascinating how very early in your career, the work you did prepared you for the work you're doing today.
The research you did focusing on children and development and how income has an impact, how society shapes because of the work that we do to support children and families. It is now coming back to you through your work at AchieveKids. Let me start with how did the transition happen? How did you go from a New York boy to a California boy?
And that happened a few years ago. What attracted you to AchieveKids?
[00:06:40] Stephen Crook: So when I was in Durham, I was fortunate enough to meet my wife, and she was a Ph. D. student at Duke University. So, when she reached the point where she needed to find an internship as the next step in her career, she was accepted to Stanford.
And she is also from San Jose, so it was a natural time for me to start looking for opportunities in the area. And through that process, I found AchieveKids. They were looking for a new school director at the time, and I flew across the country to meet the team at AchieveKids. I remember very clearly what that experience was like, and from the beginning, I could just tell that the entire team was really invested in the work that they were doing. And I enjoyed meeting the students, meeting some of the teachers, meeting the administration, and it felt like the right fit.
So for me, coming from a background of teaching, from administration, it really seemed like this was exactly what I was looking for: to serve a wide range of students, to not just focus on what's happening in the classroom, but outside of the classroom. And from there, I was fortunate to enough to receive an offer.
And I started with AchieveKids back in 2018. So it's hard to believe I've been with the organization for getting close to seven years now.
[00:07:45] Gopi Rangan: Wow, seven years. Time flies very quickly indeed. AchieveKids organization has been around for many decades, about 60 plus years. The mission of the organization is to create opportunities in the lives of students in special education through exceptional schools and collaborative educational services that eventually like enable students with special needs to thrive.
What an amazing mission! And that mission is what attracted me also many years ago. It's 10 plus years ago when I joined the board. Can you give a quick description of AchieveKids? What is AchieveKids? What do you, uh, what do you manage at AchieveKids, the schools, and what kind of community do you serve?
[00:08:25] Stephen Crook: Absolutely. So currently we have, we have our two school campuses. One's located in Palo Alto and one's located in East San Jose. We serve a total of 91 students currently. And they're students from the entire special education spectrum. So one thing that's unique about AchieveKids is that we serve students ages 5 to 22, we serve students with autism, we serve students with intellectual disabilities, with different developmental disabilities, some with social emotional needs.
So it's a very diverse learning environment for our students and for our team. Each student that is placed with us has an individualized education plan. So that is one of the prerequisites to getting placed at a non public school, is having that plan in place. And we work in partnerships with local school districts to serve the needs of these students.
Essentially, what that means is a student oftentimes will start their educational journey throughout a school district. Depending on their level of need, they'll be placed in a different program, and the district will work to serve those needs within their programs. If the realization that the programs aren't the right fit for that student comes up, then that discussion and during these IEP meetings takes place, and they decide whether placement at a non public school is necessary for that student.
And from there, you know, we, you know, we have relationships with over 35 different school districts. So we'd go through the referral process and help assess whether that student is a good fit for us. And then we're able to work on meeting not just their educational goals, but we also work on mental health services, behavioral services, occupational therapy, vocation services. Really the goal of AchieveKids is to exist to transition students back to their public school setting or to a less restrictive setting.
So ideally, a student would come to us for two to three years. We'd really understand what that student needs in the classroom and how to help them succeed, give them the skills and tools that they need to do that, and then work in partnership with that school district to transition them back into one of their settings.
[00:10:19] Gopi Rangan: So AchieveKids has two campuses, about a hundred students, and you work with 35 school districts. There's a variety of things that you offer to students. There's various diverse type of needs and often complicated and severe situations with these students. Why and when do families choose to send their children to AchieveKids?
You mentioned the IEP program, like what happens? Can you give an example? What happens with the child and when do the family members decide that AchieveKids is the choice right now.
[00:10:52] Stephen Crook: Most often students are referred to us because of significant behavioral challenges in the classroom. The student is unable to engage appropriately with their peers, is unable to engage in their lessons, may become disruptive. For example, we have students in our program who previously would become physically aggressive in the classroom.
So they were quick to be confrontational with their peers, perhaps with other students. They'd be quick to leave the classroom and not engage with their program. We also serve students who are working on general foundational life skills. So students who may struggle with toilet needs in the classroom, or you know, outside.
So there really is a very broad range of behavioral needs that students come to us with that a school district may not be able to provide. And with that, about 40 percent of our students currently have a one to one aid. So it's really intensive focus and treatment for the students in the room to help meet those, those needs.
[00:11:43] Gopi Rangan: Many schools have a special education department to care for children when such situations happen. But when the situation goes out of control and the special ed teams at the school premises, the public school premises, they cannot handle it themselves, then they flag and they say that, well, you need a more specialized educational institution like AchieveKids. And that's when they start referring children to non public schools like AchieveKids.
You mentioned that students usually come to AchieveKids and stay for a few years and then eventually transition back to regular school. And I understand that AchieveKids serves children between the ages of 5 to 22. What kind of classrooms, what kind of infrastructure do you have that serves these children.
That's a good question.
[00:12:32] Stephen Crook: So a few years ago, we implemented an academy program. So because our population of learners is so diverse, we wanted a way to conceptualize our learning communities within the school. So we develop what we refer to as our scholars academy and our independence academy. It's all within the same school. We try to keep the classrooms close to one another within the school and then assign both staff and service providers to that academy so that there are shared knowledge pools and a deeper understanding and knowledge of the students in those classrooms within the academy. So, for example, our Scholars Academy generally serve students who are focused on social emotional skills in the classroom, working on communication, working on academics, um, whether they're working at grade level or below, you know, we really work to tailor their curriculum to meet those levels. They often work closely with our mental health therapist. Sometimes those students will do, you know, occupational therapy or speech therapy as needed, but it's a way to create a pathway within the school for those students who stay with us for multiple years.
Sometimes it can be challenging, you know, to keep that internal pathway for a student moving between rooms because when we have eight classrooms per campus, the options are limited when the classrooms are so diverse. But this is really an intentional way to keep a student moving between our rooms because we know it's so important to practice these transitions internally in a safe place before they're able to do that into a larger environment like a school, in a school district.
And then on the other side, we have our Independence Academy. So these are for students generally with developmental disabilities. So a bigger focus on communication, self advocacy, foundational living skills, independent living skills. So, you know, really helping a student develop greater independence both in the classroom and out of the classroom.
Some of these classrooms are in the community daily. So the vocational aspect is a big part of our program, helping connect students to both volunteer and pay job opportunities within the community. So those programs can look vastly different from those in our Scholars academy. So if you're on a tour of AchieveKids, you might walk down one wing and see a classroom of kindergarten to first graders sitting at their desk with a teacher in the front of the room with aides walking around helping those students engage in the curriculum across the way from a classroom where each of the students in the room has a one to one aid, the students are up and about, they're working on tabletop activities, maybe a group of those students is leaving for the day to go to use one of our school vans to go out in the community, maybe to go to a restaurant to practice their social skills, maybe going to the store to practice making a purchase, whatever it is, or maybe just taking a walk in the community to recognize general safety signs in the community and being able to engage in that way with one of their trusted staff members.
[00:15:10] Gopi Rangan: I can see how the Scholars academy and the Independent academy serves the mission to help students thrive and giving them the tools to be independent and be as capable as they can be to thrive in the world is a very, very essential skill and often they need an environment like AchieveKids to be able to develop those skills.
Can you give one or two examples of students. Like what happened when the student came into AchieveKids and over the years, what kind of skills did they develop when they left AchieveKids to go back to public school?
[00:15:44] Stephen Crook: So, the first student that comes to mind was a student who enrolled with us back when I was the school director at our San Jose campus.
He was in first grade. The referral came to us. At the time, he had two staff with him at all times during the day. It was also on a modified school schedule within their school districts. They were really struggling to meet his needs in their program. It was demanding a lot of staff attention and he wasn't engaging with this curriculum.
And he was the profile that, you know, one of our Scholars academy students. So he came for the tour, you know, engaged, he was charming, you know, he was, you know, talkative, he was standing in front of the classroom, sort of like, wow, yeah, I mean, we could tell that there's a lot of social skills here and maybe what we need to focus on is helping him develop appropriate ways to engage with, you know, the rest of his classmates.
So he was enrolled with us and then pretty quickly we got through the honeymoon period, which can happen with some students and we started to see the behavioral challenges really come through. He was physically aggressive with staff, with other students. One of our go to strategies is to utilize blocking pads.
We want to be as hands off as possible. We want to be as least restrictive as possible. So we use blocking pads to protect ourselves and clear the space when a student needs that area to deescalate. So there's a lot of using blocky pads with the student. There was a lot of really just protecting ourselves, but also showing them that we're going to be there with him during these moments, really emphasizing our desire to support him.
And then in the times when he wasn't escalated, when he wasn't upset, we would spend the time to get to know him. And really the first at least three months, we're just focused on relationship building. We understand that when students are referred to us, they come to us because their previous classrooms weren't successful.
So they no longer have that positive association with school. What we want to do is help them feel comfortable in a classroom and that takes time. And so a lot of it was focused on helping him understand what his unique strengths were, giving us a better understanding of what those triggers were, helping him just be around others.
And really step one for this student was just being in a classroom, not even engaging with the lesson, but just being able to sit in the classroom and be around other students who are operating at different levels. So we kind of worked to build that comfort over time and you can see that progression.
Six months into it, he was able to start to engage in some of his lessons. We knew that reading was really threatening for him. So that was something that we had to build up to. We had to start with the things that helped build his confidence. But as he grew more and more trusting of his classroom teacher and the team working with him, we started to see this boy develop and really, you know, come into his own and he's been with our program for three years now.
I saw him in the hallway earlier. They just giving me a big wave. We honestly here don't see any behavioral challenges. He's just he's comfortable with the group. We know it works for him. He's likely getting close to that transition back to a school district. And then for me, just to reflect on three years ago when he couldn't spend five minutes in the room without getting upset and sometimes would spend half the day in the playground just trying to engage in some level of conversation with someone to where he is now is just you know, it's really rewarding
[00:18:37] Gopi Rangan: Oh, this is fascinating. This is a transformational experience for the student and I can imagine how the parents see the change in the student and how happy they might be. I can see why this is difficult and it's not easy and I can also see the benefit it brings to the student himself and of course the families as well.
I'm curious to understand if you can share some trends on what kind of families do we serve and are there some statistics you can share like how many boys, how many girls and what kind of severity do we see? Can you share some thoughts on what kind of population we serve and why AchieveKids is important for that community?
[00:19:21] Stephen Crook: I mean, the, the population we serve is really diverse, you know, both in their backgrounds, you know, in their, in their family life. So, and that's really why it comes down to developing relationships. That really is step number one. When a student starts in our school, we need to understand to the extent possible what their experiences outside of school have been, build that trust with a family, you know, get as much information as we can to help inform our approach with that student. Sometimes not every family wants to have that high level of connection and we respect that, but we leave those doors open because we understand the value of communicating.
And that helps us understand generally what their circumstances are so we can best work with their student. And that's always the angle that we take. We want to do everything that we can to support you, to support your child, and just to help ensure that, you know, there's continuity between what we're doing at school and in home. It's a big range of socioeconomic status, um, just, you know, given the, the area where we are, you know, there, there really is a, a vast range of families that we serve, different ethnic backgrounds.
The one stat that does stand out is we are, I would guess, 95 percent male with our student population. It may be closer to 90, but the vast majority are male. Why is that? It's a good question. I think there's a lot of ways to think about it. I think one of the ones that stand out is because students are referred to us for behavioral challenges, first and foremost.
And oftentimes I think that male students tend to externalize that more. So, you know, sometimes when we get a referral for a female student and we're seeing some of those externalized behaviors, it's a little more unusual for us to see. So I think the number of male students who externalize those to the point where a teacher, a team is saying "this is above and beyond what we can manage in the classroom", and sometimes that that can be related to physical size, but I think there's a lot of different reasons. So it's a, you know, it's a good question. I don't have a perfect answer for it, but I do think the externalizing behaviors is likely one of the main factors.
[00:21:15] Gopi Rangan: Yeah, aggressive behaviors are difficult to manage, and it's disruptive in a group setting, and the teachers find it very difficult to contain that impact of that negative behavior in the class, and they want to focus on teaching, and it does have a huge impact on others in the surroundings. If we can learn how to manage this, this is a very useful skill. And I feel like, I think we all need to learn these skills. It's not only for these children who we call special needs. This is life skills that would be useful for everybody.
[00:21:49] Stephen Crook: No, I mean, I, I think that, you know, I can personally say in my experience teaching, it's helped me reflect on my own experiences a lot more. You know, I spend a lot of time thinking about what a child's experience is like and help to understand why they may be doing something that they're doing or the emotions that are connected to that behavior. And over time, it's helped me reflect on my own, and you know, that can be threatening for everyone, you know, including adults to be able to kind of create that space to think about why you may be doing certain things, but It's helpful for everyone. And sometimes it takes a trusted person to create that space to get it out there, or at least help you understand your own experiences.
So, I think everybody could use some level of support. Our students come to us because they need a bit of a higher level of support in the beginning, and then we see that kind of change throughout their course of time with us, to the point where, you know, they can be more independent. They likely will still need those support networks, but everybody does.
So it's understanding what that right level is. And that's why we're always talking about the least restrictive environment. And that comes down to a student's level of independence and really what. You know, it was echoed in our mission is that we want to promote independence. We want to create greater opportunities and, you know, that can look different for every, every student that comes to us.
[00:22:59] Gopi Rangan: It takes a lot to serve these students. Who's on your staff? Who are these faculty? What do they do? What are their backgrounds? How many people do you have?
[00:23:09] Stephen Crook: You know, we have close to a hundred students. We have close to a hundred staff. So it takes a big team to do the work that we're doing.
One of the reasons I've stayed with AchieveKids is because I think the team is amazing. We're fortunate to have a wonderful group of paraeducators and teachers and service providers. I refer to those as our program staff who are really doing the core work of AchieveKids in the classroom directly with the students.
And one of the really cool things about AchieveKids is that we have some employees who have been here for a year, maybe two, getting experience in special education, want to see the range of learners out there understand kind of what their path may be for themselves. And we also have employees who have been with us 10, 15, up to 30 years and more.
So people really get dedicated to our mission and it shows, you know, they're here every day. It's not easy work. It's emotionally draining and challenging. The team aspect of it, I think, is what allows people to do it for a long period of time. And then we do our best to strategically use our experienced employees to help mentor our younger ones or newer ones.
And then we just really echo that team approach because no one person can do the job that we're doing. It really takes a team. You need to have people to digest some of these experiences with, um, because I've been here for seven years. Every, you know, every few days, I think I see something new, you know, you really never cease to be surprised.
And then outside of our program staff, you know, we have a wonderful administration. I really think it's a strong team. We have different levels of support. We really want to make sure that for each position, we have someone who can step in and fulfill that role as needed. Um, so we do a lot of cross training, making sure that our school based administrators, our school directors, or our assistant directors have the resources they need to stay focused on the staff, on the students, on the families that they serve.
And then our higher level administration, you know, to lean on one another and have a good understanding of what the challenges are for that group. So it's really collaborative. I think we all thrive on collaboration. We keep a close contact with our program. I mean, as a past teacher, I enjoy being in classrooms.
So even as the executive director now, any chance that I get, I go wandering into the hallways, go on the playground, go into classrooms because I'd like to understand, you know, really firsthand what the needs of our population are, both those that we're serving and then those that we're employing because it really it's a team effort and I think people are are here because they care.
I think they're here because the work is rewarding. It makes a difference and you can find a way to feel fulfilled each and every day. And something I always echo is that feeling of pride, you know, even on those tough days, take a step back and be proud of what you do because not a lot of people could do this.
And we're making a difference in a lot of lives.
[00:25:48] Gopi Rangan: You've been an amazing leader at the organization for many years now, I'm gonna ask you a question in two parts. What is most satisfying, fulfilling to you in your role as the executive director, and what is most challenging to you?
[00:26:03] Stephen Crook: It's a good question. Sometimes, it takes me a moment because I've often found that I'm focused on the experiences of others. I tend to put others first, especially in the workplace and understanding what their unique needs are. And that is something that I find rewarding. There's a sense of fulfillment at every student graduation, every student that transitions on from us where we can say, you know, this is a prime example of what our goals are, you know, so those moments are really wonderful to me.
You can just i mean i don't know it's it's it's hard to say one thing there's so many different things that happen in a small organization like this where i can find things each day that i feel a sense of fulfillment with sense of pride for that i'd have to give it some thought if there's a if there's a number one
[00:26:45] Gopi Rangan: what's challenging
[00:26:47] Stephen Crook: challenging is.
Sometimes feeling that I want to be in multiple places at once. And, you know, I really trust this team, and I also like to make sure that I'm available, that I'm present. And in this role, you know, you can't be everywhere at once, especially with two school campuses. So I have to, you know, strategically try to split my time.
But there's also that sense of guilt that I want to be there. I want to be present if things come up. So I think, you know, I think that's a challenge, but it's, it's one that I can only manage so much. So it's something I have to accept and then also find, you know, the best possible way to make sure that I'm supporting everybody to the extent that I can.
And also, you know, leaning on the experts that we have in the classroom and out. So it removes a sense of stress that comes along with that because I do trust the team, but it's also just my, my way of leading is I like to be available and I like to be present. So that's one of the challenges.
[00:27:35] Gopi Rangan: Now, I work with a lot of startups and one of the biggest challenges in startups is recruiting.
Finding good talent and retaining them is very hard. And in your world, with teachers, it's even more difficult. And the area we live in, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, the area is so expensive. It must be quite challenging for you to attract high quality teachers and other staff as well and retain them. Do you have any tips or suggestions on how to deal with this challenge or how do you manage yourself?
[00:28:10] Stephen Crook: Yeah, I mean, it's a constant topic of conversation. The teacher shortage it's a national issue. It's a state issue. And then it's further funneled down to more niche schools, like a non public school. Not every special education teacher has heard of a non public school. So I think the number of applicants that we get overall is reduced.
And then, you know, when you're meeting people, you also want to make sure that they're a good fit for you. We're not a fit for every teacher, and that's okay. But, you know, really what our job is, is to identify internally, you know, what those non negotiables are, what type of personality we're looking to bring into the organization, because, you know, the workplace culture is paramount.
We want to bring in people who are positive, patient, and who also have, you know, the credentials and skills to teach special education. So to find that right fit for our school that it is a challenge. But we we find different ways to get our name out there. I think making those connections within the community is huge because a lot of times even just word of mouth helps people find their way to AchieveKids.
We're very active with job and career fairs, you know, going to different universities and just participating and again, introducing AchieveKids and the concept of down public schools to new and emerging teachers. Sometimes it's hard to get ahead of the game when school districts, you know, oftentimes create contracts with teachers in their final year of school.
So it's sometimes hard for us to get ahead of that, but we try to be as strategic as possible. Always talk about how we can be competitive. Being a nonprofit, our resources are, I mean, they're limited. You know, we have to be really mindful about how we're using our funds, and making sure that we're putting them in the best possible place.
So teacher recruitment, retainment. That really is a high priority, um, so trying to be as strategic as possible in recruiting new quality people and ensuring that the people who are with us have a quality experience.
[00:29:56] Gopi Rangan: AchieveKids has been around for 60 years. What is the future of the school?
[00:30:03] Stephen Crook: We're actually coming up on our 65th anniversary this coming year. It's very exciting. We've been around for a long time and founded by a group of parents. We're proud to have been so invested in the community for so long. I think at the core of what we do is that we, we provide specialized schools.
So, you know, in the next couple of years, it really is. You know, cementing our ability to do that, ensuring that we have different layers to ensure that our classrooms can stay open and, you know, really what we just discussed with teachers is key to that we can only have classrooms open when we have a qualified teacher to leave that room.
So that really will remain our focus, you know, ensuring that we're staying connected with different teacher development programs. We've put a lot of investment into developing our own teachers, and we've had success with that through various teacher residency programs. And that's where we found, I think, the most success.
It's someone starting as a para educator in one of our classrooms, entering a program, and we're fortunate to have connections to programs to offer discounted tuition rates, we have different scholarships internally, we have professional development funds, we want to do everything we can to reduce that barrier to somebody getting that teaching credential.
And we currently have multiple teachers on each campus who have gone through that process with us who are now teaching our classrooms. So they know what our classrooms are like. They know what the organization's like, and they're dedicated to teaching for the future. So I think, you know, the more we can invest in that, the more we find these pipelines to grow teachers and help the overall shortage as a whole, you know, that it really is a top priority for us going into the future.
[00:31:31] Gopi Rangan: It's great to see that despite all the challenges that you have, and your plate is full with so many things that you need to do, you're also looking at innovative ways to support the teaching community.
And I understand that a few years ago, there was a transition program created to support students who finish schooling at AchieveKids at the age of 22. They have a smooth transition to the real world outside. It's so nice to be able to see that there are innovative things that you're focusing on on every year.
There are some things that you look at to see how you can improve. We're coming to the end of our conversation, and I usually ask my guests what kind of community activity you are involved in and this whole topic is about how you are deeply involved in our community. So i'm going to change the question to ask you about your hobby. You have changed your location from New York to North Carolina to here. How do you enjoy living in the San Francisco bay area?
What kind of hobbies do you pursue?
[00:32:33] Stephen Crook: That's a good question. My hobby for the past 10 months has been my new daughter, so she demands most of my time and I don't complain at all because, you know, it really has been a blessing. But for myself, what's always been the case, and maybe this is due to growing up in a rural area, is that I just enjoy being outside.
So if I can find any opportunity to go for a hike, go for a trail run, just explore some place new, I really find a lot of enjoyment in that. And as much as I enjoy engaging with people on a regular basis, sometimes getting as far away from people as possible. I think it's good for the soul. So, we're really fortunate to be in an area where there's so many different places to explore.
There's different hiking trails and I have my family to now do that with. So, you know, that's a great way for me to spend my time. And I also have a wonderful nine year old German Shepherd at home. So she keeps me quite entertained.
[00:33:21] Gopi Rangan: Well, you have picked up an expensive hobby. I hope you get a chance to spend a lot of time with your daughter.
It's such a precious time and these kids are little and young. Thank you so much for sharing your personal journey through this space and special needs. You've shared a lot of candid, specific examples of how AchieveKids serves the community serves students and examples of how students have transformed through the services that we offer at AchieveKids.
Thanks a lot for sharing your nuggets of wisdom with the world.
[00:33:51] Stephen Crook: Thank you Gopi, I appreciate your time.
[00:33:55] Gopi Rangan: Thank you for listening to the Sure Shot Entrepreneur. I hope you enjoyed listening to real life stories about early believers supporting ambitious entrepreneurs. Please subscribe to the podcast and post a review.
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