Professional Development and School Improvement Archives

Marisa Krohn

April 6, 2018

By all accounts, Marisa Krohn was born to be an educator. Regularly buried behind a book and eager to share her understanding of the world with others, she enthusiastically announced she would be a teacher on a questionnaire in first grade and never looked back. Marisa brings this same enthusiasm and spirit for learning to her everyday work as a teacher and private tutor.

Marisa Krohn’s lifelong ambition to be a teacher was realized when she attended New York University to pursue a degree in Early Childhood Education, Special Education, and Psychology. At NYU, Marisa had the opportunity to student teach in diverse settings, from private specialized schools for students with learning disabilities to self-contained classrooms for students with Autism. This broad ranging experience allowed Marisa, from early in her career, to pull from multiple resources and disciplines to serve her students in an individualized and thoughtful manner. She obtained her Masters of Arts at Teachers College in Reading Specialization, and served as a practicum supervisor after completion, advising graduate students on their instructional strategies and clinical decision-making. She most recently completed an advanced graduate degree, a Masters of Education in Leadership for Educational Change from Bank Street College of Education.

Currently a School Building Leader in District 1 in Lower Manhattan, Marisa supervises instructional staff, leads educational programming and develops curriculum. Before that, Marisa worked for nearly a decade at PS 234 in TriBeCa, where she served as the school’s Special Education Liaison. Her role encompassed teacher coaching and professional development in addition to serving as an inclusion teacher and a K-5 academic interventionist. Over the course of her career at PS 234, Marisa served in many roles and grade placements from Kindergarten to Fifth grade. Prior to joining New York City Public Schools, she worked as a preschool teacher in a private school and a preschool SEIT.

Marisa is a Reading Specialist and an experienced literacy and math interventionist. She is trained in Orton-Gilingham methodology, including PAF, Wilson Fundations, Sounds in Motion, and Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills. As a classroom teacher, Marisa incorporated explicit phonics instruction into her literacy instruction, equipping students with both the tools they needed to access text and develop a lifelong love of reading. Her writing intervention training includes the implementation of SRSD methodology. Additionally, Marisa is an experienced math teacher skilled at implementing TERC Investigations and Contexts for Learning curriculum.

Marisa has presented professionally on a range of topics, including literacy and inclusion, to diverse audiences, including the PEN conference and to graduate students at Teachers College.

In her spare time, Marisa enjoys traveling, lounging at the beach, and spending time at home with her puppy and young daughter.

Brad Hoffman

April 28, 2017

Brad Hoffman, Educational Consultant and Founder of My Learning Springboard, has always loved working with students and their families. He believes in the power of collaboration and advocates for a holistic, 360-degree view of education.

Under the leadership of Brad Hoffman and Faya Hoffman — a husband-and-wife team and both Board Certified Educational Planners and Learning Specialists — My Learning Springboard is a boutique multidisciplinary educational consulting firm and learning concierge® service offering a wide range of educational consulting services at every level from nursery through college. These services include: 1) academic tutoring and executive function coaching, 2) test preparation, and 3) school planning and college counseling. Our school planning and placement expertise includes both day schools and boarding schools across mainstream, specialized, and therapeutic settings as well as virtual schools and homeschooling.

Brad and Faya partner with each family to provide an integrated and meaningful experience, which often includes collaboration with school faculty and related service professionals. Through their unique structure and individualized approach, they offer a wide range of services to students, families, and schools. They see learning as a lifelong journey, and their goal is to help students of all ages enjoy the ride, build confidence, and achieve success. They founded My Learning Springboard in 2009.

Professional Associations

Brad Hoffman is a Board Certified Educational Planner (AICEP) and Professional Member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) with specialty designations in mainstream day and boarding schools, specialized schools for students with learning disabilities, and therapeutic placements, including therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment centers, and wilderness programs. He is also a member of The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), the Small Boarding School Association (SBSA), The Enrollment Management Association (formerly SSATB), the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP), the Association of Educational Therapists (AET), the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

Brad Hoffman’s Teaching Background

Over the past 25 years, Brad Hoffman has worked with students from pre-kindergarten through Fortune 500 executives as a classroom teacher, tutor, curriculum writer, human resources talent development specialist, and educational consultant. Brad graduated magna cum laude from Penn State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and then received a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Hood College in Maryland graduating with honors. He is also an Elementary Math and Science Specialist and holds an Advanced Professional Teaching Certificate from the state of Maryland. Brad is trained in PAF Reading Intervention, an Orton-Gillingham based approach, Sounds In Motion, Read Naturally, Singapore Math, Everyday Math, and a variety of other programs and curriculum standards. In 2014, Brad was honored with the prestigious Penn State Alumni Achievement Award in honor of his significant contributions to the field of education.

During his undergraduate career, Brad Hoffman was an Assistant Teacher at Penn State’s Bennett Family Center (formerly called the Penn State Child Care Center) during all four years of college. He worked with children ages birth through 5 and participated in the center’s accreditation process with NAEYC. During his senior year of college, Brad was a Teacher Intern in England while studying at University of Chichester. There he taught a Year 2 class (ages 6/7) at an Infant School in all areas of the curriculum, including literacy, numeracy, technology, science, religion, history, PE, and Art. Upon graduation, Brad accepted a full-time lead teaching position in Frederick County, Maryland in a fully inclusive public school setting located in a rural part of the county. Children with both learning differences and physical disabilities were fully integrated in the regular classroom. One-third of Brad’s students had dyslexia and received specialized intervention, and two of his students were children with autism.

“While it was really challenging, I learned so much about how to differentiate classroom instruction for all types of learners, which is critical for any productive learning to occur.”

Brad played an integral part in facilitating his students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEP), a documented plan to help meet the unique needs of an individual learner with a learning disability. This assistance often required a team of related services experts to meet, ranging from the speech language specialist and school psychologist, to the parents, principal, and teacher(s). Working collaboratively always led to increased professionalism and greater student success.

In 2001, Brad relocated to Bethesda, Maryland to pursue a teaching position with Montgomery County Public Schools, one of the leading public school systems in the United States. He taught first and fourth grades at Somerset Elementary School in Chevy Chase, Maryland for five years, differentiating instruction for students at, below, or above grade level in addition to working with students identified as gifted and talented. Somerset is an internationally diverse community and one of the highest ranked elementary schools in Maryland; it is also a model Inclusion Program school. During this time, Brad earned his Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction and partnered with the Somerset Educational Foundation, school faculty, and the school counselor to develop K-5 Service Learning curricula. Brad presented his curriculum work at both the county and state departments of education and was named a Maryland Service-Learning Fellow.

Brad Hoffman’s Corporate Background

In 2006, Brad Hoffman moved to New York City to start his second career in Human Resources with Time Inc., a Fortune 100 Media Company. As an educator, Brad brought a unique perspective to Corporate America and focused on Talent Development. He worked with clients across locations, divisions, and countries – over 5,000 employees – to design and implement customized learning solutions and strategic recruiting efforts to attract, develop, and retain talented employees. Brad also designed and managed summer internship programs for college and MBA students interested in media, general management, finance, and marketing career paths. These programs were designed as 10-week projects so that management could assess intern performance on authentic, thoughtful, and substantive tasks, while interns were also able to assess the company as a good fit for starting their careers.

Brad Hoffman’s LinkedIn profile

Brad Hoffman

My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Board Certified Educational Planner

A multidisciplinary educational consulting firm specializing in school planning, academic tutoring, and test preparation.

Upper West Side

New York,NY

10024

brad@mylearningspringboard.com

Phone: +1 (646) 580-9794

Last edited Mar 29, 2024 @ 7:15 pm

Laurie Gross

July 20, 2015

Laurie Gross brings her expertise to My Learning Springboard as an Educational Consultant and Family Advocate, Reading Specialist, and Instructional Coach for families and schools in the New York City and Washington, DC metropolitan areas. Laurie is also a Professional Member of the Washington Independent Services for Educational Resources (WISER) and an adjunct professor at George Washington University, where she works with graduate teacher interns in a supervisory and mentorship role.

Laurie Gross’s School Leadership Background

Laurie is a highly experienced educator and school consultant with more than 40 years of experience in the Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) system and beyond. Early in her career, Laurie taught children with learning disabilities and emotional disturbances in grades 5-12, and was a special educator at the high school level. She then moved into administration as a special education supervisor, providing support and oversight to the special education programs in 25 (K-12) schools. Laurie spent the last 18 years of her school system career as an elementary school principal. With dual Master’s degrees in Reading (K-12) and Special Education (K-12), as well as Administrative Certification, Laurie has a unique perspective regarding student learning with regard to how best to deliver instruction to all students. Laurie has a special way of building trust with all stakeholders, and she views herself as a child advocate who places the needs of the child above all else. To that end, Laurie works collaboratively with families, schools, and private tutors to design differentiated educational programs for their student(s).

Prior to her retirement from Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, Laurie served as principal of Somerset Elementary School in Chevy Chase for nine years. Somerset Elementary School is one of the highest ranked schools in Montgomery County as well as in the state of Maryland. Under Laurie’s leadership, the student body grew from under 400 students to over 500 students, while maintaining an excellent instructional program that met the needs of its increasingly diverse student body.

Somerset provides an inclusive educational environment for all students in its attendance area. As a Home School Model school, all special education students are fully included in their grade level classrooms with support provided in a seamless manner using a co-teaching model as well as a pull-out model.

During her tenure in MCPS, Laurie worked collaboratively at the school, cluster and central level, building relationships that allowed her to secure resources for her students and school(s). As she said each year to an audience of parents at Back-to-School Night, “Being smart is not something that you are born with, it is something that can be learned and it is our responsibility to figure out what your children already know, what they need to learn, and what to do if they already know what we are teaching.” She will do the same for your children.

Martha Eddy, CMA, Ed.D.

July 31, 2011

Martha Eddy, RSMT, CMA, Ed.D., founder and director of the Center for Kinesthetic Education (CKE), brings to the fields of health, wellness and education, her strong belief in the power of movement and somatic-awareness to enhance lives. Through the power of physical movement she has found that any person or group can become better at feeling life’s satisfactions, embodying peace, and contributing to creating stronger and happier communities. Martha Eddy received her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University in Movement Science and Education. She was also an adjunct professor in the Teachers College, Columbia University Dance Education Program for ten years. Dr. Eddy earned her Master’s of Arts in Applied Physiology and her Bachelor’s degree in Dance Education.

At CKE, in New York City, she maintains a private practice as a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (RSMT) that involves teaching adults and children to bring awareness to their movement coordination to enhance functional and expressive capacity. She has decades of experience working with infants and children with behavioral, perceptual, and/or motor dysfunctions including those with attentional issues, developmental delays, and on the autism spectrum. Dr. Eddy also specializes in helping students who either prefer or lack kinesthetic channels for learning, and she approaches all academic subjects using multi-sensory methods. A play-based neuro-motor assessment is often used at the beginning of her work with new students.

Her practice draws on training and teaching in neuro-developmental movement therapy with occupational therapist, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, and physical therapist, Irmgard Bartenieff. She also serves as an educational advocate making school referrals and enjoys working as part of a team with educational and health professionals to offer children comprehensive programming. Her practical application of this knowledge provides a foundation for her Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Therapy Training held in New York, Massachusetts, select international locations and in affiliation with Moving On Center in California, a non-profit educational organization that she co-founded with Carol Swann.

Moving On Center–The School of Participatory Arts and Research (MOC) opened in September 1995 in Oakland, California. The school’s mission is to train movement professionals to be leaders who use mindful physical activity in new, somatic approaches to health, education and performance in their communities around the world. MOC is unique as a somatic movement education program that integrates creative expression inclusive of performance in its educational methods. It includes community outreach programs, such as Learning to Move programs, that place a somatic movement specialist into public and independent schools to provide professional development with all school staff and direct services with students.

Dr. Eddy teaches conflict resolution, movement, dance, yoga, health advocacy, and physical and somatic education for adults and youth, as well as the pedagogy of each at universities, independent studios, and at conferences nationally and internationally. She serves as a consultant to the NYC Department Education, Educators for Social Responsibility and The Inner Resilience Program/Tides Center (formerly Project Renewal). Her teacher education has been offered at Bank Street College of Education, NJPAC, CUNY Early Childhood Center, the Dance Education Laboratory/92Y, NYU Steinhardt College of Education, and Hofstra University. She is a proficient Spanish speaker and does some teaching bilingually.

Dr. Eddy has held numerous academic positions at colleges and universities. She is currently on the faculty of the State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College (ESC), and many of her courses are also part of the doctoral level program at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute in Pre- and Peri-natal Psychology or Somatic Psychology.

She continues to deepen her research and teaching methods regarding violence prevention in schools and recreational centers across the country by implementing her Peaceful Play Programming. She recently published a chapter and is writing numerous articles and a manual on topics related to physical, embodied, approaches to socio-emotional development in schools and through the arts.

Polly Goltche

March 30, 2011

PollyDee Goltche was born in Brooklyn and was raised on the South Shore of Long Island. Earning dual Bachelor’s degrees in Marketing and Spanish, and later a Master’s degree in Elementary Education from Adelphi University, Polly went on to teach both in English as well as Spanish in public, charter and private schools for many years. She later pursued a second career as a Reading Specialist, completing her Master’s degree at Columbia University Teachers College, where her work focused on assessment and remediation of reading disabilities in both decoding and comprehension. Polly also studied at Parson’s School of Design, where she earned a Professional Diploma in Interior Design and Historical Decoration.

Throughout her teaching career, PollyDee has worked with a wide range of students in a variety of settings and age groups from pre-school through high school. Presently she is serving as the Learning Specialist at a private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where she is also the writer of the school magazine. Her job involves formal reading assessments as well as teaching small groups and writing curriculum for children with special learning needs, in both the areas of remediation and enrichment. Also, Polly works with small groups of ESL students of various backgrounds, coordinates special education support for students who receive services from the New York City Department of Education, and, in addition, she is the administrator for standardized ERB achievement testing, called the CTPs. Polly serves as the Literacy Coach for classroom teachers at her school. She is certified in both PAF and the Wilson Reading System, two Orton-Gillingham based reading interventions.

Prior to this appointment, Polly worked as the Lower School Reading Specialist for a New York City charter school. Her purview included literacy curriculum design, targeted intervention, classroom teaching, test coordination, and leading professional development. PollyDee was responsible for developing balanced literacy programs that emphasized comprehension strategies, written expression, and reading fluency. She was the Remedial Reading Fellow with Say Yes to Education, a non-profit organization that provides academic literacy support to at-risk students in New York City. She was also the Resource Program Coordinator at an independent school on Long Island. As a professional development consultant, Polly worked with the Children’s Literacy Initiative of Philadelphia to bring the Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop models (in English and Spanish) and balanced literacy into both regular and dual language classrooms in Westchester, New York and Newark, New Jersey.

Polly’s philosophy is that each child is a unique learner with unique potential. She believes that within each child there is an optimal path, which must be discovered and nurtured. It is her believe that teachers need to do more than simply teach–they must inspire each student to rise to his or her own best, thus facilitating a love and delight in lifelong learning and succeeding, not just academically, but in all areas of life.

Polly credits not only her formal education and teaching experience, but to an equal degree, the years spent nurturing and caring for her own four children for helping her to understand learners and learning styles and to achieve her level of expertise as an educator.

PollyDee is an avid reader, and particularly enjoys historical fiction, non-fiction, and travel essays. She loves spending summers abroad, as well as foreign languages and, in addition to fluency in Spanish, has also studied Farsi, Hebrew and French. A lifelong, passionate student of art, Polly has a private studio in her home, where she paints in both watercolor as well as her “signature” style: acrylic and oil with multi-colored, crushed glass to create unique paintings on canvas, wood, acrylic, and glass.

Marisa Krohn

Laurie Gross

Laurie Gross’s School Leadership Background

Martha Eddy, CMA, Ed.D.

Polly Goltche

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation