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Instructional Empowerment Founder: Michael D. Toth

Why Is Instructional Empowerment Focused on Breaking Generational Poverty?

IE Founder Michael D. Toth’s Story

Like millions of others, I experienced poverty as a child. I distinctly remember the first time I became aware we were poor was when someone told me. That moment and every detail is seared into my consciousness. Up until then, being poor was just normal. My world would never be the same again because growing up in poverty is not something you ever truly escape from.

I remember in first grade wondering why others had “store bought” toys, and I had handmade toys. I have no recollection of holding a children’s book. Since I did not attend either pre-school or kindergarten, I was always behind the other children. They came to first grade knowing their letters and numbers, and I knew neither. Then class awareness started even in the early elementary grades as popular and unpopular kids got sorted into peer groups…but why was it that the more “popular” kids also mostly had wealthier parents?

If your parents did not know how to advocate for you or join the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), your needs were not attended to the same as those who did. These are the skills that more advantaged households just do for their children and less advantaged households often do not know to do. They often just trust the school to do the right thing for their children. Think about it: Who hires tutors for their children to get even better grades, so they go to the best colleges and universities? Advantaged parents or those experiencing poverty? 

In my life there were reoccurring bouts with poverty including a period of homelessness that was one of the most traumatizing experiences I have endured. I find it difficult to talk about even to this day. Breaking this cycle requires the development of independent critical reasoning and reflection skills. Metacognition – thinking about your own thinking – is one of the more powerful skills students need to change their trajectory in school and life.

Eventually, my family prospered and moved from a trailer to a house and joined the lower middle class. I was instilled with a work ethic that drives me to this day, as it does many that escape poverty. However, working hard alone does not give you the skills for upward mobility. Working smart does. These are the things Malcolm Gladwell eloquently explains in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success. When you come from poverty, everything is just harder. You must work harder, be smarter, and get breaks because you do not have the societal networks and advantage wealthier parents impart to their children. And it is even harder for children of color who are experiencing the effects of poverty and have to deal with race and culture barriers in addition to class barriers.

Students who have experienced poverty often don’t know how to effectively advocate for themselves and how to access and enter the societal networks and circles of wealth. We don’t learn how to seek the mentors who open the doors for upward mobility and introduce us to their networks. We don’t go to the expensive, elite schools. We cannot afford them. If we are lucky enough, we go to community or state colleges and universities. That means we are locked out of the more elite circles of mentors and alumni networks that help each other succeed. And the separation of class privilege continues. Although people escape poverty every day and enjoy successful careers and lives, it is much too rare and much too difficult. It does not need to be this way. Schools can be the change – the great equalizer children need them to be that develops both academics and student agency.

This is why our social mission is to transform classroom core instruction to develop both the agency and academics within students to break generational poverty. The agency students need is not the basic social and emotional learning schools are doing but rather transcendent agency. It is the higher agency skills for upward mobility that empowers students to transcend barriers to achieve their hopes and dreams.

I hope you will join me to fulfill our social mission for all children. Thank you for exploring our website and learning more about Instructional Empowerment.

Instructional Empowerment’s Social Mission

Our social mission is to end generational poverty and eliminate racial achievement gaps through transformed core instruction.

Biography

Founder and CEO of Instructional Empowerment | Multi-Award-Winning Education Author | Thought Leader | Speaker | Executive Coach to Superintendents and District Cabinets

Michael D. Toth is founder and CEO of Instructional Empowerment and leads IE’s Applied Research Center. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning book The Power of Student Teams with David Sousa; author of Who Moved My Standards; and co-author with Robert Marzano of The Essentials of a Standards-Driven Classroom, School Leadership for Results, and Teacher Evaluation that Makes a Difference.

Michael is a keynote speaker at conferences and coaches and mentors superintendents on creating a bold instructional vision, designing and launching a high-functioning cabinet team, transforming Tier 1 core instruction, and leading systems-based school advancement.

Before Michael became the founder and CEO of Instructional Empowerment, he was the founder and CEO of another education services company, Learning Sciences International (LSI), for 20 years. He left LSI to create a new company that better aligns with his and his team’s social mission of ending generational poverty and eliminating racial achievement gaps by transforming core instruction. Throughout Michael’s career, he has been privileged to collaborate with some of the top researchers and thinkers in education.

Years in education: 25+

Past key roles: President of the National Center for the Profession of Teaching, University Faculty Grant Director for research and development grants, and CEO.

“Michael Toth serves as a valuable thought partner and coach for me as the leader of Illinois’ second largest school system. His expertise in both systemic change, coupled with his demonstrated strategy of closing achievement gaps through student academic teaming where students become the owners of their own learning, has refueled my tank to change public education as we emerge from a global pandemic.”

Dr. Tony Sanders
Former Superintendent of School District U-46
Current Illinois State Superintendent of Education

Books

The Power of Student Teams

Michael D. Toth & David A. Sousa

Who Moved My Standards? Joyful Teaching in an Age of Change

Michael D. Toth

The Essentials for Standards-Driven Classrooms

Carla Moore, Robert J. Marzano, Michael D. Toth

School Leadership for Results

Beverly G. Carbaugh, Robert J. Marzano, Michael D. Toth

Book Awards

The Power of Student Teams

  • Silver medal (Reference category) – Florida Authors and Publishers Association (FAPA) book awards – 2020
  • Bronze medal (Education Commentary/Theory category) – Independent Publisher Book Awards (“IPPY”) – 2020
  • Top 5 finalist (Education/Academic category) – American Book Fest book awards – 2019

Who Moved My Standards

  • Top 5 finalist (Education/Academic category) – American Book Fest book awards – 2016

The Essentials for Standards-Driven Classrooms

  • Top 5 finalist (Education/Academic category) – American Book Fest book awards – 2017

Reports and Articles

Toth, M. D. (2022). Models of Instruction. American School Board Journal, National School Board Association (NSBA).

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Toth, M. D. (2021). Instructional Equity and Access in a Pandemic. National School Board Association (NSBA).

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Toth, M. D. (2020). Increasing Equity and Achievement by Empowering Students. National School Board Association (NSBA).

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Sousa, D. A., & Toth, M. D. (2020). Neuroscience Supports Successful Student Academic Teams. ASCD Express.

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Toth, M. D. (2020). Equitable Instruction: Integrate Social-Emotional Learning into Academics. American School Board Journal (NSBA).

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Toth, M. D. (2019). Empowered Students Lead and Learn. The Learning Professional (The Learning Forward Journal).

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Basileo, L. D., & Toth, M. D. (2019). A State Level Analysis of the Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model: Predicting Teacher Value-Added Measures with Observation Scores. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation.

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Presentations

Michael D. Toth is a keynote speaker at conferences. He has also served on education panels in person and virtually. As a thought leader, Michael has moderated high-level events such as roundtable discussions between some of the nation’s top superintendents and researchers on topics like preparing for a return to the classroom after the COVID pandemic and reimagining assessment systems and schools of the future.

Michael’s presentation topics include:

  • Launching a High-Functioning Cabinet to Achieve Your Goals
  • The Science of Creating a High-Functioning Senior Leadership Team
  • Why Legacy Instructional Systems Dampen Life Chances for Black and Brown Students
  • Unlocking the Power of Productive Struggle
  • Developing a Bold Instructional Vision for Strategic Alignment

Speaking Engagement Highlights

  • Toth, M. D. (2023, February). Launching a high-functioning cabinet to achieve your goals [Conference Session]. National Conference on Education by American Association of School Administrators (AASA). San Antonio, Texas.
  • Toth, M. D. (2022, December). Why legacy instructional systems dampen life chances for Black and Brown students [Conference Session]. The National School Board Association (NSBA)’s CUBE Conference (Council for Urban Boards of Education). Miami, Florida.
  • Toth, M. D. (2022, June). Why legacy instructional systems dampen life chances for Black and Brown students [Keynote Address]. Building Expertise Conference. Orlando, Florida.
  • Toth, M. D. (2022, June). The science of creating a high-functioning senior leadership team [Conference Session]. Building Expertise Conference. Orlando, Florida.
  • Wiliam, D., Reed-Marshall, T., O’Connor, K., McTighe, J., Louie, L., & Toth, M. D. (2022, April). What does it mean for assessment to be equitable? (Different visions of equitable-ness) [Panel Discussion]. Formative Assessment International Conference. Virtual.
  • Wiliam, D., Zavitkovsky, P., Louie, L., & Toth, M. D. (2022, April). Fireside chat with Dylan Wiliam [Panel Discussion]. Formative Assessment International Conference. Virtual.
  • Toth, M. D. (2021, September). Why instructional systems dampen life chances for Black and Brown students [Conference Session]. The National School Board Association (NSBA)’s CUBE Conference (Council for Urban Boards of Education). Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Toth, M. D. (2021, June). Agency – the key to student motivation and engagement [Keynote Address]. Building Expertise Conference. Virtual.
  • Toth, M. D. (2021, June). The power of student teams: Achieving social, emotional, and cognitive learning [Conference Session]. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Conference. Virtual.
  • Toth, M. D., Carvalho, A., Grego, M., Hinojosa, M., & Lolli, E. (2021, February) Superintendent roundtable: Preparing for the 2021-22 school year [Panel Discussion]. LSI Applied Research Center. Virtual.
  • Toth, M. D. (2020, December). Formatively assessing and coaching leadership teams to high performance [Conference Session]. Formative Assessment International Conference. Virtual.
  • Toth, M. D. (2020, August). Equity, access & student agency [Webinar]. National School Board Association (NSBA). Virtual.Toth, M. D. (2020, June). Assessing and coaching leadership teams to high performance [Conference Session]. Building Expertise Conference. Virtual.
  • Toth, M. D., & Saelens, P. (2020, February). Achieving social, emotional, and cognitive learning through academic teaming [Conference Session]. National Conference on Education by American Association of School Administrators (AASA). San Diego, California.
  • Brookhart, S., Guskey, T., McTighe, J., Toth, M. D., & Wiliam, D. (2019, July). National panel on grading for learning [Panel Discussion]. Formative Assessment National Conference. Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Toth, M. D. & Ehlschide, H. (2019, July). Student-led classroom formative assessment [Conference Session]. Formative Assessment National Conference. Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Toth, M. D. & Sousa, D. A. (2019, June). The power of student teams: Achieving social, emotional, and cognitive learning [Keynote Address]. Building Expertise Conference. Orlando, Florida.
  • Toth, M. D. (2019, March). Transforming schools for new economy skills and rigor [Conference Session]. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Conference. Chicago, Illinois.
  • Toth, M. D., & Grover, T. (2019, March). Transforming core instruction: Student academic teams for SEL and rigor [Conference Session]. The National School Board Association (NSBA) National Conference. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • Toth, M. D., & Grover, T. (2019, February). Transforming core instruction: Student academic teams for SEL and rigor [Conference Session]. National Conference on Education by American Association of School Administrators (AASA). Los Angeles, California.
  • Toth, M. D., & Grover, T. (2019, January). Transforming core instruction: Student academic teams for SEL and rigor [Conference Session]. The National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators Conference. Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Brookhart, S., McTighe, J., Stiggins, R., Toth, M. D., & Wiliam, D. (2018, July). Charting the future of school district assessment reform [Panel Discussion]. Formative Assessment Conference. Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Toth, M. D. (2018, June). Discovering the power of you [Keynote Address]. Building Expertise Conference. Orlando, Florida.
  • Toth, M. D., & Dujon, A. (2018, December). Transforming schools for new economy skills and rigor [Conference Session]. Learning Forward National Conference. Dallas, Texas.
  • Basileo, L. D., & Toth, M. D. (2017, April). Turning around chronically low-performing schools [Conference Session]. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting. San Antonio, Texas.

“Great keynote!! Thank you so much for all the research information. Thank you for your vulnerability and your passion for students!”

– Attendee at Building Expertise Conference 2022

“Michael Toth has the magical ability of taking an extremely complex learning solution of building a stellar leadership team and breaking it down into comprehensive, achievable chunks. Excited to see what a few shifts in my leadership practices will do for our team – and more importantly – our district’s compelling purpose!”

– Attendee at Building Expertise Conference 2022

“Michael is extremely knowledgeable! I really feel like I have a framework for assessing the effectiveness of the teams in my building. Excellent session, great use of my time and I loved the interactive nature of this session. Thank you, Michael!”

– Attendee at Formative Assessment International Conference 2020

Licenses and Certifications

Certified Team Diagnostic Survey Master Practitioner (2020–current)
Certified Team Diagnostic Survey Advanced Practitioner (2019–current)
Certified Team Diagnostic Survey Foundational Practitioner (2019–current)
Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) (2016–current)
Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®) (2016–current)

Schedule Michael as a Keynote Speaker or Executive Coach

Contact Michael D. Toth for keynote speaking engagements or as an executive coach for superintendents and district cabinets.

Connect with Michael on Social Media