In 1991, educators John and Blanch Linton began producing training videos that would catch the eye of administrators across the United States and Canada. What began in the humblest of circumstances—a family business driving throughout North America in a motorhome—would become one of the world’s largest and most successful on-demand professional development tools for educators across the globe. In 1991, however, the Lintons could not imagine what their idea would become or what they would have to go through to get there.
“It was crazy, and it was amazing, and it was hard—very, very hard,” says Blanch Linton of the company she began with her husband. “And it seemed sometimes that the only keeping us going was to pay next month’s rent or buy this week’s groceries. But you know the thing that kept us going? It was the teachers. They’d light up when they saw what we produced, as if it were the final piece to a very difficult puzzle. Doing what I do . . . I’m so blessed. I’m so blessed!”
In 2007, the Video Journal of Education became what we now know as School Improvement Network. Chet Linton, CEO and president and eldest son of John and Blanch, worked to place the ever-growing Video Journal library online so that educators could access training wherever and whenever they need it. Chet’s idea became PD 360, the world’s first on-demand professional development platform. PD 360 is now home to the world’s largest online professional learning community (PLC) and an entire suite of products designed to meet educators’ needs, including Common Core training, classroom walkthroughs, and educational equity.
School Improvement Network remains to this day family owned and educator operated. We know what educators need, and we bring together the most successful strategies and research-based training in a network of the world’s most innovative leaders in education.
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