Elevate Your School to Greatness

Unlock impactful solutions with our expert team, dedicated to building your capacity for sustainable success.

Our team of seasoned educators and entrepreneurs transforms ideas into high-impact solutions, driving success for students, schools, districts, and communities.

With over 30 years of experience, we partner with foundations, school districts, state agencies, and more, united by our commitment to transforming public education and preparing students for future opportunities.

In 1992, Ted Fujimoto relocated his technology company, Landmark Consulting Group, and was struggling to find employees that had the skills to work on complex projects. By 1996, in collaboration with the business community and the school district, he co-founded the creation and design of the Napa New Technology High School - a groundbreaking alternative district public high school for struggling students.

This innovative institution embraced a radical approach with no lectures, only workshops and all learning through projects to solve real-world problems. With an intentionally created culture of trust, respect and responsibility, students thrived. Ted's company provided the school with project management protocols and tools, mirroring those used in real-life scenarios. This laid the groundwork for what is now widely recognized as "Project-Based Learning."

The success was evident early on with students so engrossed in their projects that many had to be urged to leave the school building by 7:30 PM. Within the first year, Napa New Technology High School surpassed every other high school in the County in all academic measures - a testament to the power of authentic learning, student engagement and intentional school design.

Napa New Technology High School became a U.S. Department of Education National Demonstration site and has hosted over 22,000 visitors and trained over 232 schools from 6 continents.

Ted then co-founded the New Technology Foundation which utilized inspired methods from Ritz Carlton and other world-class organizations to scale with impact and quality through intentional design, culture and execution-based accountability. It has evolved to what is now known as the New Tech Network - a national school design network with over 350+ schools (mostly public district schools), 20,000 educators and over 100,000 graduates.

Where it began

1996

Today

+350 schools
+20,000 educators
+100,000 graduates

Scaling Impact

Around the same time as the establishment of Napa New Technology High School, Big Picture Learning (The MET) emerged in Providence, Rhode Island. This initiative took an even more radical approach to engage at-risk students, focusing not only on projects but predominantly on learning through internships.

In 1998, Ted Fujimoto collaborated with the Big Picture Learning founding team to formalize the timeless and essential school design elements crucial to the success of their model. Additionally, he played a pivotal role in developing their strategic plan. This collaboration helped propel Big Picture Learning's two schools to a global network encompassing over 275 schools - another testament to the enduring impact of innovative education strategies.

Ted also helped create the pivotal strategic plans for a number of the early charter school management organizations that opened up dozens of schools.

Big Picture Learning - Internship in Fashion

+275 schools

Boosting Performance

The journey to provide a structured approach to improve the quality of established schools started when Ted Fujimoto was asked to develop the overall strategic plan and help launch the California Charter Schools Association with the focus on support services to help the movement grow with quality. He subsequently trained and help build the capacity of the school support teams of 16 other state charter school associations. Landmark Consulting Group oversaw the evaluation of proposals for all Federal School Improvement Grants for the State of Louisiana.

Walton Family Foundation engaged Landmark Consulting Group to work in six states along with the charter school associations to shape a strategy and develop programs to boost the quality of charter schools. This spawned the Elevate Charter Schools improvement program that worked with charter school leaders and boards to understand the obligations of their charter contract and create and/or implement school designs.

Elevate Public Schools: Empowering struggling schools to redesign and helping high-performing schools sustain and scale their success.

7 states
17 charter school state associations
Federal school improvement grant evaluations

Redesign your school to elevate performance

School Design Studio

School Design Studio™ offers a revolutionary method for transforming schools and revitalizing educational missions. Our approach transcends superficial changes, using design thinking to reshape core principles and establish robust, future-proof operational protocols. This methodology has already benefited hundreds of schools, creating lasting impact and legacy.

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Overview

Insights from "From Within" Documentary:

The film explores the challenges faced by two failing schools in Arkansas and how School Design Studio methodologies sparked transformative changes. Testimonials underscore the power of building trust, improving communication, and fostering collaboration among educators, students, and families.

Watch

Changing your teaching methods can be daunting, and the benefits may not always be immediately clear. Advanced Reasoning In Education (ARIE) has globally pioneered deeper learning processes and systems, respecting diverse cultures. Over the past decade, Steven Zipkes, founding principal of Manor New Technology High School, expanded his vision of school redesign, fostering creativity, deeper learning, and systemic change, leading to a Nationally Recognized, 100% Project-Based Learning STEM School.

ARIE Global Project-Based Learning Academies offer trainers with real 100% PBL classroom experience, promoting deeper learning through interactive, authentic project development.

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Unlock the Potential of Every Educator to Teach Students How to Learn

ARIE PBL Academies

Develop Your Organization's Roadmap for Quality and Growth

Strategic Planning

Our strategic planning clients have achieved:

$500M+

Philantrophy Funds Received

1,100+

Schools Launched/ Redesigned

1M+

Students Served

Our distinctive process empowers clients to create ambitious, realistic strategic plans that consider change, people, biases, and capacity building.

Our approach goes beyond the conventional, fostering deeper stakeholder engagement and transforming plans into actionable agreements.

Foundations and investors appreciate the clarity, transparency, execution potential, and risk management in our plans.

A few of our clients

Starting Point: Individual team members come together to form a team.
Team Calibration: The team aligns itself with world-class top performers.
Core Elements: The model focuses on three main areas:
- Design Elements
- Evolving Practices/Tools
- Environment, Regulation, and Standards
Overarching Principle: "Healthy Culture & Execution-Based Accountability" governs the entire process.
Action Cycle: These core elements feed into "Action-Based Agreements."
Outcome: The actions lead to specific outcomes.
Ultimate Goal: The process aims to fulfill a "Promise to Society & Impact."
Continuous Improvement: Feedback loops ensure ongoing refinement of each component.
Foundational Aspects:
- Alignment of purpose and intention
- Non-negotiable design elements for long-term success
- Adaptable practices and tools
- Responsiveness to external changes

Joint Venture Partners

COLLABORATION

ELEVATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS is a joint venture between Landmark Consulting Group, EF International Advisors, Advanced Reasoning Institute and a growing list of collaborators under a unified vision, purpose and pedagogy.

Leadership, Sustainability, Finance, and Strategic Planning