Our Team
Lynn Schade
Founder
Lynn Schade is a passionate teacher, staff developer and leader with more than 4 decades of educational experience. Lynn’s career as an educational entrepreneur started when, at the age of 7, she ran a day camp in her garage in Newington CT. For just 25 cents a day, she organized hours of learning and play for several young children. Nonprofit leadership and management were clearly in her future!
Intrigued with the way young children think and learn, Lynn taught 1st and 2nd grade in Massachusetts public schools, and then was asked by her principal to direct an innovative program for parents and their young children in the community. Lynn soon realized that what really excited her in this new role (besides the opportunity to bring her two young sons to work with her each day) was the teacher development component–designing learning experiences for the staff that ultimately improved the program.
Lynn returned to her alma mater, Tufts University, to do graduate work related to adult learning, teacher development and consultation. In 1990, she was asked to help the university launch a new program, The Center for Applied Child Development (CACD), cultivating professional development partnerships with more than 150 school districts all over New England. In 2010, CACD closed its doors and Lynn formed a new nonprofit, Teaching and Learning Alliance, Inc (TLA). Now surrounded by an extraordinary team of PreK-12 staff developers and leadership coaches, Lynn feels privileged to have led an organization dedicated to excellence in PreK-12 education.