The Team

Origin Story

Before we were cofounders, we were three educators in Michigan, California, and Texas wrestling with the same challenge: How do we make learning math more human, more rigorous, and more meaningful for all students? As Knowles Teacher Initiative Fellows, we swapped ideas, planned projects, and realized that our shared passion for progressive, equity-centered math instruction was more than coincidence, it was a calling.

We each came to PBL from different places, but for similar reasons: we were looking for a way of teaching that honored student thinking, sustained our own curiosity, and made learning feel purposeful.

• Carlee’s path to PBL began just after college graduation in Michigan, when a fellow Knowles Teaching Fellow encouraged her to apply to High Tech High. During the interview process in San Diego, she encountered a radically different vision of schooling–one where student voice and learning were central, even in the hiring process itself. The superb daylong interview with passionate students and teachers made the decision easy; she began her teaching career at High Tech High and has been rooted in PBL ever since.

• Sheila started her career at Everett High School in Lansing, Michigan, where she was selected as part of a team to launch a PBL school within the larger comprehensive high school. Through professional learning with the New Tech Network, she deepened her understanding of PBL and became increasingly energized by the ways it opened up access, collaboration, and meaningful work for her students.

• Sarah came to PBL through her first teaching role in Michigan. After moving to Texas, she continued at a PBL school recognized by President Obama as a model for educational innovation, where she deepened her practice and began supporting other educators. She later became a founding member of Cedars International Next Gen High School in Austin, Texas. For more than a decade, she has supported high-quality PBL in her classroom, through schoolwide leadership, and professional learning locally and internationally.