Growth MindEDConsulting
Leadership development & systems building

Leaders who can lead the work. Systems their teams can sustain.

I partner with executives, principals, and leadership teams to develop the people responsible for the work and build the structures that carry it forward.

Request a consultation Explore ISA
30+ years in education. 25 years leading schools, principals, and leadership teams.
ICF-certified executive coach
National Blue Ribbon principal
Interim head of school, charter school recovery
Supervised principals across a network of high-performing campuses
Creator of ISA
Nicole Bryan
About

Meet Nicole Bryan

Founder, Growth MindED Consulting  ·  Creator of the Instructional Support Accelerator

I started teaching at 18, as a Georgetown freshman at Shadd Elementary in DC, and later taught bilingual immersion in a DC public school. More than thirty years in, I have been the coach, the principal, the person supervising principals, and the network vice president.

That path is why I work the way I do. I have been the person receiving the consultant's recommendations, and I have been the person writing them. I know how it feels to be handed a beautiful plan in June that no one can run by October.

I have learned that ideas are rarely the problem, and neither is vision. What breaks down is everything after the decision: a meeting nobody owns, a form nobody fills out, a conversation a leader keeps postponing. I am good at finding the exact place where it slips.

My goal is not simply to solve an immediate problem. It is to help leaders build the systems their teams can keep running long after I am gone.

Read more about Nicole
Leadership Development & Systems Building

Develop the leaders. Build the systems. Most schools need both.

Some engagements start with a leader who is carrying too much alone. Some start with a system that exists on paper and nowhere else. Most need both, because a strong leader without a system burns out, and a system without a leader who owns it stops by October. The shapes, the timelines, and the prices are published on the Consulting page.

Develop leaders

People who can lead the work

01

Executive and principal development

A standing weekly conversation with an outside advisor, tied to your real priorities, decisions, and evidence. For executives, heads of school, principals, and directors. ICF-certified.

Start a conversation
02

Leadership team development

Build the skill of principals, assistant principals, site directors, and supervisors to run the work themselves, with the weekly routines that keep it going.

See how engagements work
03

Nonprofit executive and board support

Staff development, executive director evaluation, delegation, and board partnership for nonprofit leaders.

See nonprofit offers
Build systems

Structures their teams can sustain

04

Performance management systems

Role-specific expectations, rubrics that say what does not count, development plans, evidence-based reviews, and one annual cycle that connects them.

See how engagements work
05

Instructional improvement systems

Turning CLASS® and observation data into a working system: what coaches do, what teachers practice, and how leaders follow up. Home of ISA.

See the ISA system
06

Walkthrough and supervision design

Walkthrough routines, feedback cycles, and supervision structures that end in a decision instead of a page of notes.

See how engagements work
07

Charter school turnaround

Risk to Renewal is Growth MindED’s framework for charter school turnaround. It starts with a diagnostic that tells the board where the school stands, then moves through six phases until the school’s own team runs every system.

See Risk to Renewal

The goal is always transfer: leaders who can lead the work, and systems their teams can use and sustain.

See how engagements work
Client experiences

Working with Nicole

“Nicole has been a real support to me this year. Our weekly conversations gave me a sounding board for curriculum decisions and helped me map out next steps for our teachers and students. She also built tools we'll keep using at my school, including an intervention structure, individual student profiles, and a data tracker with clear guidance on how to use it. I'm grateful for her coaching and the work she put into our school.”

Kristin WalkerPrincipal, McIntosh Area School

“Working with Nicole has helped me grow as a leader and recognize the progress I sometimes overlook. She helps me think through difficult decisions, name my blind spots, and adapt my approach to the people and challenges in front of me. Our work has strengthened both the systems that keep our work moving and the relationships that make a team: shared purpose, trust, clear expectations, and opportunities for others to lead. As a result, I’m more confident using my voice, better prepared for challenging conversations, and seeing more ownership across my team. Nicole brings care and candor to our work. She helps me reflect honestly, turn feedback into next steps, and celebrate my growth. I’m grateful for a partnership that supports both my leadership and me as a person.”

Taylor MitchellExecutive Director, Platform of Hope

Shared with permission.

The Growth MindED Library

Tools for Schools

Coaching meeting structures, walkthrough forms, role rubrics, planning templates, and full PD systems. Built across 25 years of leading and advising schools, and formatted so your team can pick them up and run them.

Free toolsFreeForms and protocolsfrom $29Sets and toolkitsfrom $79Leadership systemsfrom $199Full ISA PD strandsfrom $2,750School and district licensingAsk Nicole
Browse the library Request a school invoice or PO
Our Flagship System
Instructional Support Accelerator (ISA)

Turn your CLASS® data into real classroom change.

CLASS® tells you the score. ISA teaches you how to change it.

CLASS® and GOLD® do something essential: they measure the quality of teacher-child interactions and show you where to grow. ISA picks up from there, building the everyday teacher, coach, and leader moves that turn those insights into visible growth in children's language, thinking, and understanding.

01

Professional Development

Clear definitions, examples, and teacher practice built around what high-quality instructional episodes actually look like.

02

Walkthroughs

Focused teacher and child transcript evidence, looking for exchanges that stay on one idea, run four or more contingent exchanges, and produce growth.

03

Coaching

Evidence-based coaching cycles with real practice, so teachers don't just hear feedback, they try a different move.

The Language Growth strand comes in English and Spanish. Not a Spanish summary. The full PD script, the full coaching guide, the full walkthrough tool, the full planner, reviewed by a native Spanish speaking educator. If your program serves Spanish speaking staff and families, this is the part you usually have to build yourself.
Watch one episode: Conceptual Language

Sixty seconds of Conceptual Language, one of the nine ISA indicators. The adult names a precise word, balance, and gives the meaning in the same breath: balance means we are going to get it high up. From there she stays on the child's idea across several exchanges while the child hears the word, uses it, and then applies it to the tower. Precise word, child-friendly meaning, and a child who is more precise by the end. That is a Conceptual Language episode, and it is the unit ISA trains, week by week.

Strand 1Language GrowthStrand 2Thinking GrowthStrand 3Understanding Growth
Request an ISA call Learn more about ISA
What Leaders and Teachers Say

From the people who ran the six week pilot.

An assistant principal and Pre-K teachers, in their own words, after running a six week ISA strand.

“
As a person who has CLASS certification training, I still wasn't as clear as I am now.
Assistant Principal · ISA Pilot
“
It has sparked something that wasn't there. Teachers are going to each other asking, is this an episode? Let's examine it together.
Assistant Principal · ISA Pilot
“
Now I understand why the scores are like this.
Assistant Principal · ISA Pilot
“
CLASS PD with a purpose.
Pre-K Teacher · ISA Pilot
“
The PD sessions really break CLASS down and help teachers effectively practice those skills.
Pre-K Teacher · ISA Pilot
“
The value of the PDs is in learning how to achieve desired outcomes during lessons and in instructional moments with scholars, particularly around concept development.
Pre-K Teacher · ISA Pilot
Quotes shared with permission. School names withheld.

Let's build the system your school needs.

Whether it's support for a leader, a system your team needs, or a conversation about ISA, start here.

Request a consultation

Choose the work you want to get done.

Tools and support for nonprofit leaders

Prepare staff meetings, board updates, and executive director evaluations with editable tools and completed examples.

Explore nonprofit leadership offers

Evidence before a school review

Request a defined review of the documents your school will use to show its work.

Request an evidence-review scope

Implement a product you own

Connect an existing Growth MindED system to your team, dates, and first use.

See implementation options