The Educators' Cooperative
When teachers work together, the future of education is greater than the sum of its parts.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Summer Workshop
During the weeklong summer workshop, teacher participate in a variety of activities focused on increasing community building, collaboration, and communication skills including:
Critical Friends Groups, Mindfulness and Social/Emotional Learning in all subjects, Teaching for Understanding, Human-Centered Design Thinking, EdCamp, and more.
Teachers begin the week with a dinner and welcome event and close the week with a closing event hosted at venues in the city. These elements of the workshop are key to creating a collegial and professional setting.
Continued Connections and Collaboration
Once the summer workshop is over, we enter the second phase of the Cooperative. Cooperative teachers share resources, provide professional support and problem solving, and share experiences and best practices in teaching and learning in a private online workspace, as well as at our monthly meetings hosted by schools in neighborhoods all over Nashville.Our monthly meetings are a mix of sharing the latest from our classrooms, following up on our online conversations, asking for help, support, or resources, and school visits. They provide a rare opportunity to see schools all over the city – the classrooms, faculty lounges, libraries, labs, and student work spaces all offer a great deal of information and new ideas.
EdCampNash
The Educators' Cooperative hosts Nashville's only regional EdCamp, open to teachers and members of the larger education community to gather, share, learn, and collaborate together for a one-day workshop.
Growth-minded observation, feedback, and evaluation.
Educators who bring a growth mindset to their work everyday are hungry for feedback, observation data, and evaluative comments on their teaching, planning, and classroom management. The Educators' Cooperative provides the planning, organization, rubrics, templates, and vision to provide participating teachers with the optimal number of observations and type of feedback needed to continually hone and improve their craft and effectiveness.
The EdCo Summer Collective
In order to develop the paths of leadership for teachers who choose to stay in the classroom, The EdCo Summer Collective serves as a platform for EdCo teachers to share their best practices with the larger Education community in Nashville. Member teachers lead workshops with their partners in other sectors. Keynote speakers set the tone, followed by a variety of workshop choices. Information about the first EdCo Collective can be found here. https://educatorscooperative.com/the-edco-summer-collective-2/
Where we work
Awards
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
The Educators' Cooperative
Board of directorsas of 08/28/2022
Dr. Ricki Gibbs
MNPS Principal
Term: 2019 - 2023
Alecia Ford
Community Volunteer - MNPS
Ricki Gibbs
Metro Nashville Public Schools
Gregory O'Loughlin
The Educators' Cooperative
Joel Bezaire
University School of Nashville
Christiane Buggs
MNPS School Board
Bo Daniel Parr
Community Volunteer
Jenna Davis
MNPS
Conor Duggan
JP Morgan Chase
Jon Eisen
Lemuel Holifield
LEAD Public Schools
Ashford Hughes
MNPS Central Office
Bela Lodygensky
Harpeth Hall
Emily Masters
MNPS School Board
Michael Mitchell
MNPS
Lindsay Roe
LEAD Public Schools
David Rutledge
LIUNA
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/28/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.