The Core Collaborative
The Core Collaborative is a K-12 professional learning network that delivers customized professional development, coaching, and consulting to school districts across 11+ US states through its EmpowerEd Learner Pathways framework and the AI-PLC Agent tool.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Diego, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What The Core Collaborative does
The Core Collaborative is a professional learning network serving K-12 school districts across the United States with customized professional development, coaching, and consulting services. Founded in 2014 by Dr. Paul J. Bloomberg and Tony Francoeur, the company operates from Palm Springs, California, with a team of 11-50 employees and a distributed network of contracted premier education authors and content experts who deliver services. Its core offering is the EmpowerEd Learner Pathways framework, which bundles six integrated pathways: Professional Learning Communities (Impact Teams-PLCs), Stewards for Democracy, Learner-Centered Leadership, Learner-Centered Climate, Learner-Centered Assessment, Learner-Centered Instruction, and Learner-Centered Curriculum.
The company's primary technology asset is the AI-PLC Agent, launched in December 2025 at Orting School District (Washington) as the nation's first AI-Powered PLC Lab. Co-designed by Dr. Bloomberg and Isaac Wells, the AI-PLC Agent processes authentic student work into strengths-based insights, high-leverage instructional recommendations, and asset-forward feedback including 'Glow & Grow' PDFs and Justice Scaffolds for differentiated instruction. Additional proprietary tools include the Core Connections Climate Inventory and Organizational Network Mapping, developed with Dr. Alan Daly (UCSD). The company holds registered trademarks on AI-PLC Agent, AI-PLC Lab, Impact Teams, and Youth Empowered Stewardship (YES).
Revenue is generated primarily through quote-based professional services contracts with school districts (customized PD, keynotes, job-embedded coaching, leadership coaching, deep implementation support), supplemented by continuing education credit revenue through UMass Global ($85-$170 per course) and NYC CTLE sponsorship. The company is bootstrapped and founder-owned, with no disclosed external funding. Distribution occurs through direct enterprise field sales, conference presence at major education events, and thought leadership via published books through Mimi & Todd Press and the Visible Learning research partnership with Professor John Hattie.
The Core Collaborative firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Core Collaborative
- Legal name
- The Core Collaborative
- Website
- https://thecorecollaborative.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- The Core Collaborative is a K-12 professional learning network that delivers customized professional development, coaching, and consulting to school districts across 11+ US states through its EmpowerEd Learner Pathways framework and the AI-PLC Agent tool.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Core Collaborative industry classification
Industry- Product category
- K-12 Professional Learning Services
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (61171), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Specialized Learning Support (Dyslexia/LD Coaching, Assistive Strategies) (EDAJALAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Study Skills, Executive Function & Academic Coaching (Small-Group) (EDANAHAC), Group Work, Breakout & Collaborative Document/Workspace Tools (EDAFAGAE)
Keywords
Where The Core Collaborative is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Diego
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Core Collaborative business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Professional Learning Services: The Core Collaborative provides customized professional development, coaching, and consulting services to school districts and schools. Services include keynotes, workshops, job-embedded coaching, deep implementation support, and other consulting services delivered by contracted premier authors and content experts in education.
- Leadership Coaching: Personalized leadership coaching for school and district leaders delivered by published authors and practitioners covering topics including quality family partnership development, school climate, instructional leadership, assessment for learning, and other educational leadership areas.
- Continuing Education Credits: The Core Collaborative is an approved sponsor for CTLE (Continuing Teacher and Leader Education) credits in NYC and partners with UMass Global to provide continuing education credits for professional learning events, including course EDDU 9420 (2 units, $170 tuition) and EDDU 9422 (1 unit, $85 tuition).
- Leadership Coaching: Personalized leadership coaching services provided through contracted consultants who are published authors and content experts, covering areas such as quality family partnership development, school climate, instructional leadership, clarity for learning, and leading Impact Teams.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | One time/ perpetual license | EDDU 9420 – Empowering Learners: Implementing the Formative Assessment Process |
| Other | One time/ perpetual license | EDDU 9422 – Lesson Study |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels11 records
The Core Collaborative product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Core Collaborative is a professional learning network that co-designs and delivers customized professional development, coaching, and consulting services for K-12 school districts through its EmpowerEd Learner Pathways framework. Core services include Impact Teams Professional Learning Communities, Learner-Centered Leadership, Climate, Assessment, Instruction, and Curriculum pathways, along with leadership coaching and continuing education credits. The company's flagship product is the AI-PLC Agent™, an AI-powered tool that transforms authentic student work into strengths-based insights and instructional recommendations for Professional Learning Communities.
Product overview
The Core Collaborative is a professional learning network offering a comprehensive suite of educational services centered around its EmpowerEd Learner Pathways framework. The core offerings include six integrated pathways: Professional Learning Communities (Impact Teams-PLCs), Stewards for Democracy, Learner-Centered Leadership, Learner-Centered Climate, Learner-Centered Assessment, Learner-Centered Instruction, and Learner-Centered Curriculum. Central to its innovation is the AI-PLC Agent™, an AI-powered tool that transforms student work into actionable feedback for Professional Learning Communities. Additional offerings include leadership coaching, continuing education credits (CTLE and UMass Global), and assessment tools such as the Core Connections Climate Inventory and Organizational Network Mapping, all designed to advance learner agency and collective efficacy in educational systems.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- AI-PLC Agent: AI-powered tool purpose-built for Professional Learning Communities that transforms authentic student work into strengths-based insights, high-leverage instructional recommendations, and asset-forward feedback grounded in learning science.
- EmpowerEd Learner Pathways
Products and services
- EmpowerEd Learner Pathways Personalized professional learning framework for K-12 school districts and schools, encompassing six integrated pathways delivered as customized consulting engagements.
- Professional Learning Communities (Impact Teams-PLCs) Professional learning service empowering teacher teams to cultivate collaborative expertise and advance learner agency through the Impact Team framework for K-12 school districts.
- AI-PLC Agent™ AI-powered tool purpose-built for Professional Learning Communities that transforms authentic student work into strengths-based insights, high-leverage instructional recommendations, Justice Scaffolds, small-group instructional suggestions, and one-per-student Glow & Grow feedback PDFs grounded in learning science.
- Leadership Coaching Personalized leadership coaching for school and district leaders delivered by published authors and practitioners covering family partnership development, school climate, instructional leadership, assessment for learning, and Impact Teams facilitation.
- Continuing Education Credits (CTLE / UMass Global) Continuing education credit offerings including CTLE credits for NYC educators and UMass Global credit courses (e.g., EDDU 9420 Empowering Learners at $170 for 2 units, EDDU 9422 Lesson Study at $85 for 1 unit) tied to TCC professional learning events.
- Core Connections Climate Inventory Research-based instrument designed with Dr. Alan Daly to measure patterns of quality collaboration and core climate areas connected to a district's strategic plan, including relational trust, collective efficacy, and sense of belonging.
- Organizational Network Mapping Tool designed in partnership with Dr. Alan Daly to visualize and analyze patterns of collaboration within organizations, showing how teams connect, communicate, and collaborate to accomplish work.
Quantifiable outcome
- At Lyons Township High School, 89% of students reported receiving more specific feedback when using skill cards with a peer, 82% reported skill cards helped them complete regulatory skills, and 85% reported easier underwater communication
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use The Core Collaborative
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
The Core Collaborative technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature7 records
The Core Collaborative partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and regional.
- Educational VistasflagshipStrategic partnership announced April 3, 2026 combining Educational Vistas' DataMate™ assessment platform with The Core Collaborative's professional learning services. The collaboration helps educators translate assessment data into instructional decisions, supporting school and district teams in identifying learning gaps and improving student outcomes through an integrated ecosystem where assessment data leads to actionable improvements in teaching and learning.
- Mimi & Todd PresscorePublishing partner for The Core Collaborative team members' books and educational resources. Published works include 'Leading Impact Teams 2.0', 'Amplify Learner Voice through Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Assessment', 'Peer Power: Unite, Learn, Prosper', and other titles authored by TCC consultants.
- UMass GlobalcorePartnership to provide continuing education credits for The Core Collaborative's professional learning events. Educators can receive credits (EDDU 9420 - 2 units, EDDU 9422 - 1 unit) that can be used for salary increment steps and recertification.
- NYC Department of Education (CTLE Sponsor)regionalApproved sponsor for Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) Credits in New York City, allowing educators to receive professional development credits for TCC training.
- Professor John Hattie / Visible LearningcoreResearch partnership anchored in Visible Learning evidence base. The Core Collaborative integrates Hattie's research synthesis into their professional learning frameworks and approaches, with John Hattie providing endorsement of their 'Leading Impact Teams' book.
- Orting School DistrictflagshipFirst district in Washington and the nation to launch a full AI-PLC Lab, integrating the AI-PLC Agent to strengthen instructional clarity and advance mastery-based learning. Led by Superintendent Ed Hatzenbeler and Dr. Aaron Lee.
- Michael McDowell (Author)corePartnership with best-selling author and former superintendent Michael McDowell to deliver Lead Learner Leadership model and Rigorous PBL by Design professional learning. Co-authored books include 'The Lead Learner', 'Rigorous PBL by Design', and 'The Project Habit'.
- Dr. Alan DalycorePartnership with Dr. Alan Daly, UCSD Professor and global researcher, to develop evidence-gathering tools including Core Connections Climate Inventory and Organizational Network Mapping. Dr. Daly designed instruments to identify and monitor key areas for continuous improvement.
- Anthony LodicoregionalPartnership with former NYC executive superintendent Anthony Lodico to deliver System Assessment for Continuous Improvement process to schools and districts.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
The Core Collaborative competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Corwin: Corwin (a Sage imprint) is a leading K-12 educational publisher whose authors also deliver PD services to districts — overlapping TCC's Mimi & Todd Press model and its network of premier educational authors as consultants.
- Learning Forward: Learning Forward is the national professional association dedicated to advancing professional learning for educators, with standards, certifications, and consulting services directly parallel to TCC's PLC-focused mission.
- New Teacher Center: New Teacher Center provides induction, coaching, and professional learning to K-12 districts nationwide, working in the same institutional channels (district contracts, leadership coaching) as TCC.
- BetterLesson: BetterLesson delivers coaching and PD to K-12 educators through a tech-enabled platform, combining human expertise with software infrastructure similar to TCC's services-plus-AI-PLC approach.
- Solution Tree: Solution Tree publishes K-12 professional development books (including Visible Learning titles), hosts major national conferences, and delivers customized PD to school districts — directly comparable to TCC's books, conferences, and PLC services model.
- ASCD: ASCD is the largest US association for curriculum, supervision, and PD professionals, providing books, conferences, and consulting across the exact content areas TCC targets (assessment, leadership, equity, instruction).
- International Center for Leadership in Education: ICLE delivers leadership and instructional PD to K-12 schools and districts through conferences and consulting, overlapping TCC's leadership coaching and learner-centered leadership pathway.
Emerging players
- Edthena: Edthena is an AI-augmented video coaching platform for teachers, representing the technology-enabled PD category TCC is entering with its AI-PLC Agent.
- Visible Learning: Visible Learning is John Hattie's research-based PD organization; TCC anchors its frameworks in Hattie's evidence base and carries his foreword, putting the two in a partner-competitor relationship around Visible Learning-aligned services.
- TeachBoost: TeachBoost offers PD, evaluation, and teacher coaching software for K-12, positioning it as an adjacent technology-enabled PD vendor that competes for the same district innovation budgets as TCC's AI-PLC offerings.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The Core Collaborative social profiles
Digital presenceThe Core Collaborative compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
The Core Collaborative financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Core Collaborative leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
The Core Collaborative funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Core Collaborative M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The Core Collaborative
What does The Core Collaborative do?
The Core Collaborative is a professional learning network that co-designs and delivers customized professional development, coaching, and consulting services for K-12 school districts through its EmpowerEd Learner Pathways framework. Core services include Impact Teams Professional Learning Communities, Learner-Centered Leadership, Climate, Assessment, Instruction, and Curriculum pathways, along with leadership coaching and continuing education credits. The company's flagship product is the AI-PLC Agent™, an AI-powered tool that transforms authentic student work into strengths-based insights and instructional recommendations for Professional Learning Communities.
Is The Core Collaborative a public or private company?
The Core Collaborative is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was The Core Collaborative founded?
The Core Collaborative was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is The Core Collaborative based?
The Core Collaborative is headquartered in San Diego, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Core Collaborative make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Professional Learning Services are the primary driver. The others are leadership Coaching, continuing Education Credits and leadership Coaching.
Who are The Core Collaborative's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Corwin, Learning Forward, New Teacher Center, BetterLesson, Solution Tree, ASCD and International Center for Leadership in Education. Emerging players are Edthena, Visible Learning and TeachBoost.
Does The Core Collaborative have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Core Collaborative.
What industry is The Core Collaborative in?
The Core Collaborative's product category is K-12 Professional Learning Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAJALAJ, Specialized Learning Support (Dyslexia/LD Coaching, Assistive Strategies), with a secondary code of EDANAHAC, Study Skills, Executive Function & Academic Coaching (Small-Group). Its NAICS code is 61171 and its SIC code is 8200.