“The growth of any school depends on the collaborative capacity of its teachers and leaders.”
— Micheal Fullen
Meet Joan
Educational Leadership Expert | Implementation & School Improvement Strategist | Global MTSS Leader
Dr. Joan Schumann is a passionate, purpose-driven leader with more than two decades of experience building systems that work—for students, families, and the educators who serve them. From classrooms in Salt Lake City to international schools in Singapore and Beijing, and then as a principal in California, Joan’s leadership journey has always centered on one thing: Equitable and effective education for all.
She founded Leading for Learning out of one simple truth: Leading schools is incredibly hard—especially when you’re doing it right. Every offering; from leadership coaching to professional learning and MTSS systems-level support, is built from Joan’s firsthand experience of what it takes to lead meaningful, lasting change. Her work equips school and district leaders with the tools, guidance, and network they need to drive results that truly matter for students, staff, and communities.
Meet the Leading for Learning Team
L4L is supported by a growing team of seasoned MTSS consultants, practitioners, researchers, and implementation specialists. What brings us together is how we approach the work:
Research-informed. Experience-grounded. We know the evidence—and we’ve led the work in schools, districts, state systems, universities, and organizations.
One MTSS—not separate systems. We help integrate academics, behavior, social-emotional wellbeing, attendance, and student support into one coherent framework.
Committed to making improvement possible. Whether you need a thought partner for a few hours or support for systemwide transformation, we’ll help find a path that fits your specific leadership needs, capacity, and budget.
Meet Brian
Integrated MTSS • Implementation Science • Systems Change
Dr. Brian Gaunt helps schools, districts, and state agencies build coherent, sustainable systems for improvement. With more than 20 years of experience in integrated MTSS, PBIS, implementation science, and systems change, he brings deep expertise and practical experience leading large-scale improvement efforts.
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Integrated MTSS & PBIS
Implementation science & systems change
Data-based problem solving & continuous improvement
Leadership development & implementation coaching
Organizational capacity, alignment & sustainability
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Brian has worked alongside—and led improvement efforts with—schools, districts, state agencies, and international partners. As Florida’s former State MTSS Inter-Project Coordinator and Assistant PBIS Program Director at the University of South Florida, he helped shape the state’s vision for integrated MTSS and develop leadership and coaching networks designed to build lasting local capacity.
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Brian believes sustainable improvement happens when organizations build the capacity to lead, implement, and continuously improve from within. He is passionate about helping leaders replace fragmented initiatives with practical, aligned systems that educators can own—and that ultimately work better for students.
Working to strengthen MTSS or align systems across your organization?
Meet Lori
Integrated MTSS • Behavior & Inclusion • Systems Implementation
Dr. Lori Lynass helps schools, districts, and state agencies build integrated systems that strengthen academic, behavioral, social-emotional, and inclusion supports. With nearly three decades in education and experience supporting more than 2,000 schools, 200 districts, and four state departments of education, she brings deep expertise in MTSS—and extensive experience helping leaders translate that expertise into sustainable practice.
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Integrated MTSS & PBIS
Behavior, mental health & inclusion
Restorative practices & restorative justice
Special education systems & supports
Implementation, coaching & systems change
Leadership development & organizational capacity
Research, evaluation & professional learning
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Lori began her career as a special education teacher, supporting students with learning disabilities and social-emotional and behavioral needs. Her leadership has since spanned schools, districts, universities, state systems, nonprofits, and national organizations. She completed postdoctoral work as a Research Scientist at the University of Washington, led the Northwest PBIS Network as Executive Director, served as Senior Director of MTSS for CharacterStrong, and founded both Sound Supports Consulting and Advanced Behavior and Inclusion Supports. She has also taught at the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University.
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Lori is passionate about building systems where all students belong and get the support they need without having to fail first. Her work helps leaders connect MTSS, behavior, special education, restorative practices, and inclusion into coherent systems—so schools can move beyond isolated programs toward practices that are effective, equitable, and sustainable.
Working to strengthen MTSS, behavior, inclusion, or restorative systems?
Meet Jenice
Implementation Science • Leadership Capacity • Sustainable Systems
Jenice Pizzuto helps schools, districts, and organizations turn good ideas into practices that actually take hold and last. An internationally recognized implementation capacity expert, she has partnered with more than 2,000 schools, districts, state agencies, nonprofits, and ministries of education to build the leadership and organizational capacity needed for sustainable improvement.
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Implementation science & implementation capacity
Leadership development & organizational change
Implementation fidelity & continuous improvement
Systems alignment & sustainability
Evidence-based practice implementation
Strategic planning & leadership coaching
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Jenice has worked alongside leaders from individual schools to districts, state agencies, national organizations, and international ministries of education. She is the author of Implement With IMPACT: A Strategic Framework for Leading School and District Initiatives (Solution Tree, 2024), and her IMPACT Framework has been used to guide large-scale implementation and systems improvement. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Implementation Society, helping advance the field of implementation science internationally.
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Jenice believes schools rarely struggle because they lack good ideas—they struggle because even the best ideas require the conditions and capacity to be implemented well. She is passionate about helping leaders move beyond initiative overload to build the structures, skills, and shared ownership that turn evidence-based practices into meaningful, measurable, and lasting change.
Ready to move from adoption to sustained implementation?
Meet Heather
Instructional Leadership Capacity • PLCs & School & District Improvement
Heather Silvia helps schools and districts build practical, coherent systems that improve student outcomes and strengthen educator effectiveness. With more than 30 years in education, she brings firsthand experience leading integrated MTSS, high-performing PLCs, instructional improvement, and sustainable school change.
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Integrated MTSS implementation
Instructional leadership & school improvement
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
Data-based decision making & collaborative teaming
Literacy & academic improvement
Leadership development & implementation
Attendance, engagement & student support systems
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Heather spent decades doing the work alongside educators and ultimately leading it as a school principal. At Donlin Drive Elementary, she built an integrated approach connecting academics, behavior, attendance, and social-emotional supports while strengthening collaborative teams and collective responsibility for student success. Recognized as a Model PLC at Work® principal, Heather understands firsthand the competing priorities, implementation challenges, and day-to-day realities school leaders navigate.
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Heather believes sustainable improvement happens when educators have clear systems, strong teams, useful data, and shared responsibility for every student. She is passionate about helping leaders turn MTSS and school improvement from plans on paper into practical ways of working that strengthen both student outcomes and the conditions in which educators teach and lead.
Ready to strengthen PLCs or instructional systems across your school?
Meet Bella
School-based Mental Health • Counseling • Behavior & Inclusion
Dr. Bella Bikowsky helps schools and districts integrate mental health, behavior, and social-emotional supports into coherent systems for students. A Child and Adolescent Clinical Therapist and ESA Certified School Counselor, she brings more than 25 years of experience spanning K–12 education, clinical mental health, and systems-level consultation.
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School-based mental health & integrated MTSS
Behavior assessment & intervention
PBIS & social-emotional learning
Trauma-informed & culturally responsive practices
Restorative practices
Function-based assessment & intervention
Child, adolescent & family mental health
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Bella has worked across schools, districts, residential treatment, inpatient psychiatric care, and private clinical practice. She has served as a school counselor and behavior specialist and is the Executive Director and owner of Inua Group, where she partners with schools and districts to strengthen mental health, behavior, inclusion, and student support systems.
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Bella believes student behavior and wellbeing must be understood in context—not simply managed. She is passionate about helping educators better understand the needs beneath student behavior and build responsive, restorative systems that support the whole child while increasing schools’ capacity to respond effectively.
Working to strengthen mental health, behavior, or inclusion?
Meet Tiesha
Instructional Leadership Capacity • PLCs & School Improvement
Dr. Tiesha Allen helps schools and districts improve student achievement by connecting high-quality instruction, targeted intervention, and data-based decision making. With more than 24 years in education, she brings particular expertise in strengthening mathematics and literacy outcomes through integrated MTSS systems.
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Mathematics & literacy improvement
Integrated MTSS implementation
Tiered academic & behavioral intervention
Data-based decision making & progress monitoring
Instructional coaching & professional learning
Implementation fidelity & continuous improvement
Leadership development & systems improvement
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Tiesha has served as a district leader, MTSS specialist, and Early Intervention Program Coach, supporting tiered mathematics, literacy, and behavior systems across multiple schools. She has worked directly with teachers and administrators to strengthen instruction, use student data to identify and respond to needs, monitor progress, and improve implementation across classrooms and schools.
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Tiesha is passionate about ensuring students receive strong instruction first—and the right support when they need more. She helps educators turn data into action, strengthen teaching and intervention, and build MTSS systems that make improved student achievement a shared responsibility.
Ready to strengthen mathematics, literacy, or academic supports?
Meet Daniel
Culturally Responsive MTSS • PBIS • Leadership & Organizational Change
Dr. Daniel Russell helps schools and districts build equitable, culturally and linguistically responsive systems that improve outcomes while honoring the strengths of every learner. With more than 30 years in education, he brings deep expertise in MTSS, PBIS, culturally responsive practice, restorative approaches, and organizational change.
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Culturally & linguistically responsive MTSS
PBIS & equitable systems implementation
Culturally responsive Tier 1 instruction
Restorative practices & inclusive school cultures
Leadership development & organizational change
Professional learning & instructional coaching
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Daniel’s experience spans the classroom, instructional coaching, school leadership, and national professional learning. He is the Founder and Co-Director of Advocates for Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness for Underserved Students and previously served as a Program Specialist with the Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning. He earned his Ed.D. in Organizational Change and Leadership from USC and co-authored Supporting Underserved Students: How to Make PBIS Culturally and Linguistically Responsive.
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Daniel is passionate about ensuring improvement efforts work for every student—not just some students. He helps leaders examine how culture, language, identity, and opportunity intersect with MTSS and PBIS, then translate that understanding into stronger Tier 1 instruction, more responsive systems, and school communities where every learner can belong and thrive.
Working to make MTSS more responsive and equitable for all students?
Trusted. Respected. Impactful.
“Dr. Schumann’s leadership has profoundly enhanced each school community I have witnessed her engage with, leaving a lasting and positive impact on the lives of countless students.”
“Joan is an outstanding professional and person. She is driven by a heart full of passion for education and has the expertise to support her gift of creating what is possible.”
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PhD, Special Education, University of Utah – Focus on PBIS and equity in school discipline
MS, Special Education, University of Utah – Focus on inclusive early intervention services
BA, Psychology (Honors) & Spanish, California State University, Chico
Multiple teaching and administrative credentials across WA, CA, UT, and OR
CA Superintendent Academy and completion of multiple leadership development programs
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Classroom Teacher, PreK–8 general and special education: Focused on multilingual learners and inclusive classroom practices
Intervention Delivery: Provided evidence-based literacy, math, and behavioral interventions, successfully exiting over 80% of students from support services
Mentorship: Guided student teachers and early-career educators, including a former mentee recognized as America’s National Teacher of the Year
Adjunct Faculty, University of Utah and Westminster College: Prepared K–12 educators in assessment, instructional design, and culturally responsive practices
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Principal, Elementary School in California: Leads district-level MTSS framework development, secured $2.5M in grant funding, and led significant improvements in student outcomes across all key indicators
Former Director, Student Support Services and Professional Learning & Instruction: Delivered 150+ professional development sessions and guided system-level MTSS design
District Leadership Initiatives: Led districtwide instructional alignment and leadership coaching, fostering coherence and collaboration across administrative teams
Founder, Leading for Learning: Provides coaching, strategic consulting, and professional learning to school and district leaders building inclusive, sustainable systems
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Founding Executive Director, International MTSS Association (IMA)
Founding Organizer, International MTSS Summit (IMS) and RtI for International Schools Summit (RISS)
Founding Director, International School Leaders of Educational Support (ISLES)
Founding Board Chair, Northern CA Literacy Collaborative
Executive Team Member, Evidence Advocacy Center (EAC)
Executive Board Member, The Reading League – CA
Presenter at state, national, and international conferences, including CA-PBIS, APBS, EduTech Asia, and CEC
Published in peer-reviewed journals and handbooks, including The Practical Handbook of School Psychology, Handbook of Positive Behavior Support, and Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Recognized for aligning MTSS implementation with critical areas such as absenteeism, SLP services, and family engagement
L4L Staff
Tristin Toews supports the day-to-day operations of Leading for Learning, working closely with Joan, our consultants, and our partners to keep projects organized and moving forward. He supports client communication and follow-through while helping manage the administrative details behind L4L’s growing partnerships.
Contact Tristin for: Scheduling, contracts and agreements, invoices, client and consultant coordination, meeting logistics, and connecting with Joan or the L4L team.
tristin@leading4learning.com
“I love being part of a collaborative team and helping turn great ideas and partnerships into meaningful work for schools. It’s inspiring!”
Danielle Ebalde supports Leading for Learning’s marketing, communications, and digital presence. She helps share the work of L4L and our partners through social media, outreach, promotional materials, and content development—helping us stay connected to the educators and organizations we serve.
Contact Danielle for: Marketing, social media, communications, promotional materials, and sharing L4L’s work and resources.
danielle@leading4learning.com
“I love helping share work that has a meaningful purpose and being part of a team committed to making a difference for schools and students.”
What Trusted Colleagues Say About Joan
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“Joan is an incredible leader who understands MTSS from both the academic and behavior side. She also understands the critical role of getting the adult piece right and how to leverage implementation science to create the conditions for successful, sustained implementation. She is always a pure joy to work and interact with."
Dr. Clay Cook, Implementation Scientist & Chief Development Officer at CharacterStrong
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"Joan is one of the most upbeat, intelligent school leaders with whom I've had the privilege to work. A true values-driven leader, unafraid to make hard decisions, she is also incredibly productive and results-oriented without sacrificing a strong focus on relationships, which has made her a beloved and respected leader. "
Bridget McNamer, Leadership Coach
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“Joan's warmth, energy, enthusiasm, and passion is contagious. She is one of those rare leaders who has the technical skill to lead K-12 systems efficiently but also the adaptive leadership to deliver results.”
Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden, Founder of SpringMath and Educational Researcher
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"At the heart of her mission was always a fundamental duty of care for our students...I miss her, but am grateful for the lasting contributions she has made."
Paul Swanson, Director of Innovation and Technology
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“Joan is a transformational, innovative leader. Her instructional leadership leads to improved student outcomes and her boundless energy is contagious."
Mele Benz, Technical Assistance Provider & Former Principal
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“I am but one of many who have grown in their skillset by working with [Joan]. I am forever grateful for what she has done for the children in our school as well for myself professionally.”
Ms. Shawna Diamond, Special Education Teacher, Instructional Coach and Administrator
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“Joan has the ability to quickly identify challenges, develop solutions and build teams and systems to get things done. She possesses a high degree of integrity, a notable work ethic, and a great sense of humor.”
Steven Dexter, School Principal
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"It has been a pleasure to watch as [Joan] deliberately seeks out vastly different experiences to grow her expertise and view student learning from every angle. She is both knowledgeable and passionate about her work, while caring deeply for her people. I am confident you will thrive under her mentorship."
Heather Newell, M.Ed. – Lecturer, Teacher Education and Leadership, Utah State University, and former principal
