30+ Years Serving NYC Schools. Here's What That Means for You
Our Value to Schools
When you partner with PD Leaders, you're not getting a faceless corporation with generic programs developed in some distant headquarters. You're getting Dr. Nancye Barthelemy, a trilingual educator with three decades of experience working directly in and with NYC schools.
Most importantly, you're getting a partner who will customize every program to your school's specific needs, not force you into a pre-packaged solution.
- The unique challenges of teaching diverse student populations
- The reality of limited resources and competing demands on teacher time
- The importance of culturally-responsive teaching that honors students' identities
- The difference between professional development that looks good on paper and what actually works in your classrooms
Why We're Different From National PD Companies
Large national professional development companies serve hundreds of districts. They have impressive libraries of content and polished marketing materials. But they're selling you the same program they're selling to schools in Texas, California, and Florida.
We Customize Everything
We don't start with a program and try to fit your school into it. We start with your school's needs and design a program around them.
We Understand NYC Schools
We've worked in NYC schools for three decades. We know the policies, the culture, the procurement process, the challenges, and the opportunities.
We Specialize in Cultural Responsiveness
If your school serves Haitian, Caribbean, African, or other diverse student populations, we bring expertise that generic PD providers can't match.
We Stay Small Intentionally
We work with a limited number of schools each year because we refuse to sacrifice quality for scale. When we partner with your school, you get Dr. Barthelemy's direct involvement, not a random contractor reading from a script.
PD Leaders | Most PD Providers | |
|---|---|---|
Local Expertise & Understanding | ✓ | ✓ |
Program Customization | ✓ | ✗ |
Cultural Responsiveness | ✓ | ✗ |
Implementation Support | ✓ | Limited |
Facilitator Quality | ✓ | ✓ |
Flexibility & Responsiveness | ✓ | ✗ |
Scale & Attention | ✓ | ✗ |
Practical Application | ✓ | Generic |
Research Foundation | ✓ | ✓ |
Sustainability | ✓ | ✗ |
Value & Investment | ✓ | ✗ |
Most PD providers are optimized for scale, serving as many schools as possible with standardized programs. We're optimized for your school's success, delivering customized professional development that creates real, sustainable change in your classrooms. Every partnership begins with a complimentary 15-minute campus needs assessment where we listen to your specific challenges and discuss whether we're the right fit for your school.