July 20, 2023No Comments
In 2022-2023, our District’s 25 elementary schools gained early access to a new, evidence-based core resource, HMH’s Into Reading, and, in the same year, we partnered with STRIVE to implement a system for data driven decision making aligned to current research in reading. In planning our system-wide professional learning, Debbie, Kathi and Ashlie offered expert and nuanced advice on how educators might on-ramp into the core resource while concurrently refining their implementation of the STRIVE data system and related targeted-activities.
Our STRIVE consultants were instrumental in helping our instructional coaches, building and district leaders, and teachers understand how each component of the resource and system could (re)shape their instruction and effectively move students through the stages of reading development. STRIVE offered anticipatory and responsive support, created and collaborated on communications and guiding documents, modeled in classrooms, led professional learning, and sat with educators, side-by-side, to reflect. Going into 2023-2024 and year one of full implementation, we are celebrating and have a coherent and shared vision of highly effective approaches to teaching and learning in literacy. Thank you, STRIVE!
Jamie Burnham
Elementary Assistant Director of Curriculum & Professional Learning
Debbie Hunsaker, M.Ed.

Debbie Hunsaker, M.Ed., is the Owner and Lead Implementation Consultant of STRIVE Educational Consulting, a national organization dedicated to improving literacy and math achievement for all students. Debbie has devoted her career to elevating teaching and learning through evidence-based professional learning, leadership development, and sustainable systems of support for educators and schools.

At STRIVE, Debbie leads a team that partners with schools and districts across the country to meet them where they are and support them in building coherent systems for teaching and learning. STRIVE’s work focuses on helping educators plan, teach, and assess reading, writing, and math through aligned, research-driven professional development and implementation support. Core areas of expertise include building effective multi-tiered systems of support resulting in both growth and achievement in literacy and math. 

Prior to founding STRIVE, Debbie served as the Division Administrator for Educational Opportunity and Equity at the Montana Office of Public Instruction, where she led statewide literacy and equity initiatives to improve outcomes for all learners. She directed programs including Reading First, Early Reading First, Title I School Support, and the Montana Comprehensive Literacy Project.

Debbie is the author of multiple professional and children’s resources, including:

  • STRIVE’s Data System: A How-To on Planning, Teaching, and Assessing Reading Groups...soon to be Striving Readers

  • The STRIVE Coaching Handbook

  • Striving Writers

  • The Striving Mathematician System

  • L.I.T.E.R.A.C.Y. 

  • and the children’s book We Made Do

Debbie continues to collaborate with schools and state partners nationwide to transform research into action—helping educators build the knowledge, systems, and confidence to ensure every student and teacher thrives. Reach out for references and success stories through our partnerships with schools and districts.

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