Career preparation for K-12 educators
Teachers, your next move starts here.
We’re building NextGround: cohort-based career preparation for educators. Learn the work, practice with feedback, and build evidence for your next role.
- Grow in schools
- Work alongside schools
- Go beyond education
In development. Join the waitlist to follow along and help shape what comes next.
Three directions.
Your teaching experience can take you so many places. These are just a few, and NextGround plans to offer this and so much more.
Track 01
Within education
Grow your leadership without leaving schools.
Sample roles
- Instructional coach
- Department or team lead
- Specialist
- Assistant principal
- And more
Building now: First-Time Instructional Leader
Track 02
Education-adjacent
Keep your expertise. Change your work environment.
Sample roles
- Curriculum writer
- Edtech customer success
- PD facilitator
- Implementation specialist
- And more
Track 03
Beyond education
Take your skills into roles that value facilitation and execution.
Sample roles
- Project manager
- Learning and development
- Corporate trainer
- Operations
- Instructional designer
- And more
Building now: Instructional Design
Hundreds of educators want the same role. Standing out takes more than a rewritten résumé.
Your teaching experience matters. But rewriting it in new language is only a start. Preparing for the actual work gives you more to bring to the interview.
A rewritten résumé
The words on the page
- Translated buzzwords on paper
- “Facilitated adult learning”
- “Managed cross-functional teams”
Describes your experience. Leaves your readiness for the new role untested.
Preparation with NextGround
Start becoming the person who can do the work.
The preparation experience we’re building, shaped around your next role.
Build judgment, not just vocabulary.
Work through the decisions, people, and challenges of your next role with guidance from someone who has held it.
Practice, get feedback, and try again.
Rehearse the hard conversations and unfamiliar work. Learn what to change before the stakes are real.
Bring evidence of your readiness.
Build a body of work you can explain: what you tried, why you chose it, and how you improved.
You’re not asking a hiring team to imagine you in the role. You have already started practicing for it.
3 in 4
nearly, in our early educator research
The opportunity was there. They did not feel ready.
Nearly 3 in 4 educators said they had decided not to apply for a role or opportunity because they did not feel prepared.
Nearly 9 in 10
took on new responsibilities to prepare for a future role.
More than 4 in 5
rated practicing future-role skills as highly valuable.
Source: NextGround Educator Career Growth & Mobility Survey. Early directional research, not a nationally representative sample.
Preparation for the work, not just the application.
Learn the role from someone who has held it.
Practice the hard moments before they count.
Prepare with a cohort headed the same way.
Leave with proof you can show in an interview.
Not a certification, a job board, or a course library. Preparation for the role you want next.
Our first two cohorts. Not the only possibilities.
We’re starting here, with more paths planned as educator interest grows. Your next role may be somewhere else.
First-Time Instructional Leader
For teachers stepping into coaching, specialist, team lead, and other first-time instructional leadership roles.
Led by Devin Lewis and Renicka Bearden
Planned for January 2027
See this pathInstructional Design
For educators moving into instructional design.
Led by Holly Owens
Planned for January 2027 alongside First-Time Instructional Leader.
See this pathMore paths ahead
Your destination belongs here, too.
Don’t see the role you want? Explore more career possibilities and tell us what interests you. Your interest helps shape which cohorts we build next.
Join the waitlist from the Paths page to hear when there’s news about your next direction.
Explore more pathsWeekly pace
Flexible, not a two-hour minimum.
Some weeks may take an hour or less. Spend more time when you want more practice.
Live calls
Two calls a month.
Alongside short videos, practice on your own schedule, and connection with your cohort.
Pricing
Pricing is still being finalized.
Waitlist members will hear first.
How a cohort runs
Learn with a practitioner, try the work, get feedback, and build your portfolio with a cohort. We’re planning support through your first 90 days in the new role, too.
Learn from people who have held the job.
Devin LewisFounder, former Director of Teacher Evaluation
Renicka BeardenDirector of Secondary Program Success
Holly OwensInstructional DesignWhy Devin built NextGround
“I intentionally did more in every role so I could be ready for the next.”
Taking on new responsibilities gave me practice before I made my next move. I’m building NextGround to help other educators prepare with guidance, feedback, and people headed the same way.
Don't spend another hiring cycle guessing.
Explore a path, or tell us which role you want to prepare for. Your interest helps shape what we build next.
Hear first
when the first path opens
Shape it
tell us what you need to prepare for
Follow along
as each new route takes shape
NextGround is still being built. Waitlist members will hear first as plans develop.