Special education teachers face a unique set of challenges in the classroom. During her time in the field, Elizabeth Orme found that many felt undervalued, isolated and suffered from compassion fatigue.
"In Minnesota, it's a crisis," Orme told Minne Inno. "In five years, many are burning out and leaving."
Hoping to provide the state's special ed teachers with the support they need, Orme founded Creatively Focused, a startup that works with schools to think creatively about the way they're serving special ed students and the people that care for them.
Creatively Focused offers a coaching model and professional development tools for a broad range of positions in the special ed field. It provides paraprofessional coaching and special education teacher coaching.
"We're really building the toolkit they need to manage the day-to-day," Orme explained.
Orme worked at a small charter school in East St. Paul for around eight years. During that time, her schedule and her classes changed unpredictably. She began by teaching younger students with one set of disabilities and was then transferred to work with an older class with a totally different set of needs.
"Some were in ninth grade and couldn't read yet. Others were in 10th grade and had cognitive delays that hadn't been identified," she said. "You're always expected to be an expert at the job you're doing, even if you haven't done it before."
In these instances, teachers can feel overwhelmed and isolated, Orme added. Creatively Focused helps these teachers through teacher cohorts, a series of 10 sessions that engage them with special ed experts and peers to receive practical support and guidance on a variety of topics.
Creatively Focused is part of the second cohort of Lunar Startups, a St. Paul-based accelerator for entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds. The program began in March and lasts one year. Orme said that the experience has helped connect her with the experts she needed to help the business grow.
"I had this idea in my mind of how this could scale nationally, but I was too scared to say it out loud," she said. "Lunar really gave me the platform and encouragement to start growing in that way."
Creatively Focused is currently assisting special ed teachers in 30 Minnesota school districts, including Anoka-Hennepin, the state's largest school system. Orme said that the company is in the process of developing a set of tech tools that would allow them to provide resources and support to teachers outside of Minnesota.
Ultimately, Orme hopes that her company will be able to increase the retention rate of special education teachers nationally.
"In education, we're always talking about how laser-focused you have to be on one goal. And because of that teachers can end up losing their creative edge," she said. "In reality, teachers are some of the most creative people working. We want to allow teachers to sit and problem solve in that gray area."
