About Us
We work in evidence-based inquiry cycles to design and implement real levers for equity.
Education 4500 supports leaders to create equitable literacy conditions and outcomes by focusing on the necessary content and processes that critically engage the humans at the center of schools: teachers and students.
Our Vision
We believe that middle and high schools are dynamic learning labs where students and teachers can design, test, and refine equitable systems.
Our Mission
We work collaboratively with educators to create the conditions and systems that allow students and their educators to be agents of their own liberatory literacy.
We are driven to help create schools that:
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honor the students and teachers at their core
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create engaged communities
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accelerate learning
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provide critical literacy opportunities for all students
I believe that the promise of schools is not yet delivered upon. Far too many students cannot read at grade level, are not empowered to be critical members of their communities, and are not affirmed and challenged by the work in schools. This can change. To make these changes, we have to engage in different work and in different ways of working. It is this change that excites me.
Kate Crist
Founder and Director of Education 4500
Meet Kate
Educator • Researcher • Coach • Founder and Director of Education 4500
Hello!
I am Kate Crist (she/her), founder of Education 4500, LLC. I am a runner, a mother, an educator, a researcher, and a nerd. I live in the Eastern Sierra Nevada with my husband and children. We spend as much time as we can out of doors hiking, swimming, and enjoying the wilderness.
When I started my career in education in 2004, I was astounded at the power of learning to effect change. I witnessed this power within both my high school students and myself. I have remained in education because I still believe in this power and I deeply enjoy work that is grounded in justice, connection, and transformation.
For my entire career, I have focused on literacy -- whether in my work at Lindamood Bell, with students as a history-social science teacher, with teachers as a literacy coach, or with leaders in various high schools and national organizations as a designer and facilitator of professional learning.
I earned an MA in teaching from the University of San Francisco and a BA in world history from the University of California Santa Cruz.