Chuck and I have worked in various roles in education. He, as math teacher, high school principal,  and superintendent. I, as an elementary teacher, middle school guidance counselor and  administrator, and executive director of education for the district.

He caught my attention when he was working as a consultant with businesses and school districts  throughout North America on leadership, change, future focusing and strategic design. I was in  leadership roles in my district and around the state of Maine – frustrated with the lack of real change in education, recognizing that we were just buffing and shining the old industrial age model in schools!

Confirming my frustrations and providing alternative thinking, Chuck gave me hope. We were of  like minds. We shared the same values. We knew the old model of education was just not  working. We also like each other’s spouses. A kinship developed.

I ventured into consulting with schools and districts around the United States and Canada in the  areas of learning, instruction, curriculum, grading, and leadership. We both worked with  incredible teachers and leaders around the country. Yet, we realized that their good work  ALWAYS bumped up against and was limited by the time-based, assembly-line STRUCTURES of  INDUSTRIAL AGE SCHOOLS.

Even though everyone agreed that students learn in different ways and different time frames,  most ”school improvement initiatives” were still being designed within and for the time-based,  one-size-fits-all structures of Industrial Age schools.

At the time, no one. No thought leaders. No researchers. No national consultants were talking  about changing the structures of Industrial Age Schools. We realized: It’s time to change the  structures.

Our wise spouses gently suggested that we spare them our weekly rants over dinner and capture our dreams and solutions in writing. The result was the book: Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning in which we introduced a NEW, TRANSFORMATIONAL VISION for education to individualize… to personalize… to customize learning for every learner simultaneously.

We knew this vision was possible and inevitable with the emergence of today’s  TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES.

The world is customized. Why not customize LEARNING?

And so, this Mass Customized Learning Vision has resonated with many educators. They,  singularly, in teams, in staffs are working toward this vision. We hope it resonates with you too!

Charles Schwahn received his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts where Ken Blanchard, of The One Minute Manager fame, was his doctoral chair. He is the consummate lead  learner and a serious student of leadership theory and practice.

He has co-authored with Bill Spady the best-seller book, Total Leaders, published by the American  Association of School Administrators.

When not mentoring school leaders or consulting with businesses or school districts in North  America, Chuck and his wife, Genny, enjoy hosting family and friends at their cabin in the Black  Hills of South Dakota and at their home in Denver.

Bea received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Southern Maine.  She consults extensively with schools and districts throughout the U.S. and Canada in the areas of customized learning, instruction, leadership, outcomes, grading and assessment.

Her large and growing family prove Bea’s theory that all children are born with an inherent will and motivation to learn. Creating learning environments that do not extinguish this natural drive has been her mission.

Bea and her husband, Richard, and dog, Sophie, split their time enjoying the beautiful coast of their native Maine and appreciating the desert and mountains of Arizona.

Chuck and Bea are founding partners in the national Mass Customized Learning Alliance.  They have co-authored:

• Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning;
• Inevitable Too! The Total Leader Embraces Mass Customized Learning;
• The Future is Now: Shifts and Trends That are Redefining Organizations, Careers, and Life;
• and The MCL Strength Finder.