What Capturing Kids' Hearts does

Capturing Kids' Hearts (CKH) is a K-12 education professional development organization that builds and delivers social-emotional learning (SEL) training, coaching, and character curriculum for schools, teachers, administrators, coaches, and students across the United States. Founded in 1990 by Flip Flippen in College Station, Texas, CKH operates as a subsidiary of Flippen Group, LLC and has been a trusted partner to schools for more than 35 years, reaching 37,000+ educators annually across thousands of campuses and hundreds of districts. The portfolio centers on a relational SEL methodology built around the proprietary EXCEL Model communication framework, the Flippen Profile behavioral assessment, the Traction Plan Builder, and the CKH Social Contract process, with a longitudinal behavioral dataset covering more than 500,000 leaders accumulated over 30+ years.

The product portfolio is segmented into three tiers: foundational training (CKH-1, CKH-2, CKH Recharged, Process Champions) for teachers and staff; leadership programs (Leadership Blueprint, Leadership Blueprint Recharged, Coaching Blueprint, Winning Culture) for administrators; and Coaching Greatness for athletic staff. Student-facing offerings include Leadworthy Courses (grades 5-12 leadership and character courses), Leadworthy Character Lessons (a K-12 subscription curriculum with 450 grade-specific progressive lessons), and Leadworthy Local events. Systemic, multi-year implementation is delivered through Campus By Design (single-campus transformation) and District By Design (district-wide transformation), each bundling sequenced training, consulting, coaching, and CKH Campus/District Premium subscriptions.

The business model is sales-led and primarily services-based, augmented by recurring subscription revenue. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed, with sales occurring through phone outreach, website contact forms, and private bookings. Revenue streams include open-enrollment and private training sessions, multi-year campus and district subscriptions, the Leadworthy Character Lessons subscription, and Leadworthy Local events and certification training. CKH markets through its website, testimonials, and published research (notably a 2008-2009 randomized controlled trial showing 41% increase in pro-social skills and 33% fewer discipline referrals), and it distributes nationwide across the US with no disclosed international presence.

Name

Capturing Kids' Hearts

Legal name

Flippen Group, LLC

Website

https://capturingkidshearts.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Capturing Kids' Hearts is a K-12 education professional development organization that delivers social-emotional learning training, coaching, and character curriculum to teachers, administrators, coaches, and students across thousands of US schools and districts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Educator Professional Development and Social-Emotional Learning Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Leadership, Character Education & Values Development (EDAMAIAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Behavioral Intervention & PBIS Supports (Tiered, Gen Ed) (EDAJAGAL), Instructional Delivery & Pedagogy (School-Led) (EDAJAFAB)

Keywords

• Social-emotional learning
• Teacher professional development
• K-12 training programs
• School culture transformation
• Character education curriculum

Headquarters

HQ city

College Station

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Development Training: Direct training programs including CKH-1, CKH-2, Leadership Blueprint, Coaching Blueprint, Process Champions, Winning Culture, Coaching Greatness, and CKH Recharged. Training is delivered as open enrollment sessions nationwide or as private bookings for districts/campuses. Training formats range from half-day to multi-day experiences with varying group sizes.
2. Campus and District Subscriptions: CKH Campus Premium and CKH District Premium subscriptions included in Campus By Design and District By Design packages. These provide ongoing support, consulting, coaching, and access to digital resources over multi-year implementation periods.
3. Leadworthy Character Curriculum: Annual campus-specific subscription for K-12 character lessons. Includes 450 grade-specific progressive lessons, nine character traits, monthly service-learning modules, and 24/7 online access through CKH.org.
4. Leadworthy Local Events: One-day events for middle school and high school students enrolled in Leadworthy Course. Includes team-building games, personal development activities, and service project planning. Limited to 100 students per event.
5. Leadworthy Certification Training: Virtual certification training for teachers to deliver Leadworthy Courses. Two-hour interactive experience that prepares educators to teach leadership development curriculum.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Capturing Kids' Hearts delivers professional development training, coaching, consulting, and character education curricula to K-12 schools and districts. Its offering spans foundational teacher/staff trainings (CKH-1, CKH-2, CKH Recharged, Process Champions), leadership development programs (Leadership Blueprint, Coaching Blueprint, Winning Culture), athletics training (Coaching Greatness), student leadership curricula (Leadworthy Courses, Leadworthy Character Lessons, Leadworthy Local), and multi-year systemic implementation packages (Campus By Design, District By Design) that include ongoing Campus Premium and District Premium subscriptions.

Product overview

Capturing Kids' Hearts (CKH) is a comprehensive education-focused professional development platform built around a relational/cultural transformation process. The portfolio consists of three training tiers (CKH-1 foundational, CKH-2 advanced, and Recharged refresher) for teachers and staff; Leadership Blueprint offerings (Leadership Blueprint, Recharged, and Coaching Blueprint) for administrators; and Coaching Greatness for athletic staff. For students, the company offers Leadworthy Courses (leadership/character education for grades 5-12), Leadworthy Character Lessons (K-12 curriculum with 450 lessons), and Leadworthy Local events. Systemic implementation programs include Campus By Design and District By Design for multi-year organizational transformation. Culture Shapers provides supplementary training for non-teaching staff and parents. All offerings center on strengthening relational capacity, improving school culture, and building self-managing environments using the proprietary EXCEL Model and Flippen Profile Assessment tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CKH: Abbreviated brand name for Capturing Kids' Hearts training programs and processes.
• Leadworthy
• Leadership Blueprint
• Coaching Greatness
• Campus By Design
• District By Design

Products and services

• Capturing Kids' Hearts 1 Training (CKH-1)

Quantifiable outcome

• 96% of educators plan to apply what they learned in CKH training on the first day back on campus
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Sanford Harmony: National University-affiliated SEL program for elementary classrooms focused on relationships, communication, and community building. Overlaps with CKH in classroom culture and connectedness focus, delivered as both curriculum and educator PD.
• CharacterStrong: K-12 character education and SEL curriculum provider offering staff training, student lessons, and school-wide implementation. Highly comparable to CKH in target buyer (district and campus leaders), product mix (character curriculum + PD), and recurring-revenue motion.
• Aperture Education: K-12 SEL assessment and curriculum platform (DESSA) paired with professional learning. Overlaps with CKH in combining behavioral assessment (Flippen Profile equivalent) with educator PD and student curriculum delivery.
• Move This World: Video-driven SEL curriculum and PD provider for K-12, emphasizing scalable, lower-cost delivery. Comparable customer (school districts), comparable SEL/character outcomes focus, but competing with a digital-first model versus CKH's experiential training approach.
• Committee for Children: Nonprofit publisher of the Second Step SEL program, the largest direct competitor to Capturing Kids' Hearts in K-12 social-emotional learning curricula and professional development. Both serve districts with research-based SEL solutions targeting classroom culture and student connectedness.
• Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence (RULER): Yale-affiliated developer of the RULER SEL framework, used by K-12 schools for emotional intelligence training of educators and students. Comparable as a research-backed, train-the-trainer SEL model targeting district-level cultural transformation.

Others

• Nearpod: EdTech platform providing interactive K-12 instructional content and formative assessment. Adjacent in K-12 educator workflow and lesson-delivery infrastructure; overlaps thematically with CKH's online curriculum access but is not a direct SEL competitor.

Emerging players

• Purpose Prep: Social-emotional and character education provider for K-12 schools with a focus on advisory curriculum and educator training. Comparable in mission and audience to CKH's Leadworthy and CKH-1 tracks, though smaller and narrower in product breadth.
• Greater Good in Education: UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center's free educator resource hub for SEL and character education. Targets the same teachers and administrators as CKH with research-based practices, though as a non-commercial resource rather than paid training.

Broad incumbents

• Panorama Education: Larger K-12 data and student-success platform offering SEL surveys, college/career readiness tools, and educator coaching. Comparable customer base (district administrators) and overlapping SEL/PD scope, but positioned as a broader data platform rather than a culture-transformation specialist.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/IHeartCKH
• Facebookfacebook.com/CapturingKidsHearts
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/capturingkidshearts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Capturing Kids' Hearts