The document discusses the need for more creative solutions in education that involve those impacted by education such as students, parents, and educators. It introduces LEANLAB Education, a nonprofit founded to address failures in education and ensure all children can reach their full potential. Over 5 years, LEANLAB has supported 28 ventures impacting over 3 million students. However, inequalities persist locally. Moving forward, LEANLAB is committed to finding breakthrough solutions to hard problems through partnerships and cultivating innovation.

2. Our education
system is
in need of
more creative
solutions
and...
those most
impacted by
education—
students,
parents and
educators—
are the real
experts who
should be
involved in
the creation
of new
solutions.

3. I
t’s a hard thing to balance pride and urgency; on
one hand, I am endlessly proud of my team and our
community for the work that has been accomplished
the first 5 years of our existence. At the same time, I
feel more urgent than ever about realizing our vision.
I founded LEANLAB Education as an emboldened teacher,
who envisioned an education utopia--a world where all
childrencanreachtheirfullpotential,becomingfreethinkers,
fully prepared for the future. I believed staunchly that the
future of education should be co-created with those most
impacted by education--parents, students and educators.
And I started this journey committed to where I grew up,
and a belief that Kansas City would become a lighthouse
for educational innovations--birthing game changing
solutions that would begin here, yet scale beyond borders.
It was with this unwavering belief that led me to cash in
my teacher retirement account without a safety net, a
social network, nor any pre-committed seed capital---
staples I would later learn are essential for successful
startup life. Here I was, a young LatinX woman in a
conservative midwestern market, aiming to solve one of
our city’s [and country’s] most notorious and shameful
problems--how we’ve failed generations of children.
Since our founding, I’m proud to say that LEANLAB
Education has mobilized 28 ventures who have collectively
impacted over 3 million students. Many of these ventures
are solving meaningful problems in new ways; they are
workingonmakingschooltransportationmoretransparent,
safe and reliable, making it easier for school leadership
to make data-informed, strategic decisions, and making
critical thinking and inquiry based lessons accessible to all.
Yet, it is arduously painful to acknowledge that in our
own backyard of Kansas City, not much--quantifiably--has
changed for in the day-to-day experience of our black and
brown children living in poverty. It is even more daunting
to note that this vision is not unique--it is across the nation.
However, while I reflect on the urgency of our current
predicament--that we remain steadfast to achieving
educational equity at a time where income disparity
widens,the future seems growingly uncertain and divisions
along race and class endure--I am sincerely hopeful.
Perhaps what inspires me most are the more qualitative
achievements of the last five years, namely:
We’ve grown an incredible international network of
promising and inspiring education entrepreneurs,
investors and philanthropists dedicated to the
future of learning.
We have built enduring, trusting relationships with
those closest to the issues at hand--our teachers,
principals, parents and students.
We have made dramatic and vast improvements to
our entrepreneur support programs year over year.
Through supporting other entrepreneurs, while
being young entrepreneurs ourselves, we’ve been
blessed to share so many learnings and form
so many relationships--bonded by the hustle,
aspiration, setbacks and comebacks that uniquely
bond entrepreneurial communities.
KATIE BOODY
CEO & Co-Founder

4. And moving into 2019, we’re ready to challenge ourselves to have an unprecedented next 5 years.
Expect from us the following:
Shameless and relentless R&D for the hardest to solve problems in K12 education:
Give us your inefficiencies, redundancies, budget shortfalls. Give us your staggering inequities, your stagnating
test scores… these are the problems that we are committed to solving. Social-emotional learning, out-of-school
factors, declining proficiency rates--we understand the realities of schools and we are committed to finding
breakthroughs that accelerate student learning regardless.
Better partners
Through CZI, we aspire to write the playbook for how proven education innovations can most effectively and
efficiently get into market and scale their impact.
We hope to cultivate and grow our current partner schools into an expansive network of schools who share our
common vision and believe through innovation we can, and will, achieve...
Ushering game changing innovations through to scale

5. An underlying, dynamic infrastructure exists for resource
sharing and continuous improvement
Connect Educators
Area educators are able to plug into a connected infrastructure
that works for them, connecting them to high-quality vendors, a
community of support, and opportunities to conceive, identify, pilot,
inform and adopt high-quality innovations
New innovations are conceived, prototyped, validated,
commercialized, and scaled.
Launch Innovations
K12 Fellowship works to conceive, validate, and scale new solutions.
sstrategic and creative partnerships and approaches work to
cultivate regional pipeline of innovators
The communities most impacted are connected,
active collaborators in solution making.
Engage Community
those most impacted by the problem are well connected and
coordinated, identifying issues in need of innovation and areas of
needed coordination/collaboration.
knowledge and resources are readily available and accessible so
that all aspiring innovators can begin creating.
All children are prepared for the future.
The Vision
All children are reaching their fullest potential because of the active
use of high-quality learning tools and solutions that are proven to
increase proficiency, advance critical thinking and inquiry and propel
learning forward at unprecedented rates.
LAUNCH
I N N O V AT I O N S
CONNECT
ENGAGE
C O M M U N I T Y
ALL CHILDREN
ARE PREPARED
FOR THE FUTURE
E D U C AT O R S

7. ACADEMY FOR INTEGRATED ARTS
ALLEN VILLAGE SCHOOL
ALTA VISTA CHARTER SCHOOL
ACADÉMIE LAFAYETTE
BROOKSIDE CHARTER SCH.
BELINDER ELEMENTARY,
BLUE VALLEY & SHAWNEE MISSION
BROOKSIDE CHARTER
CARVER DUAL LANGUAGE SCHOOL
CENTER MIDDLE
CENTRAL ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE
CHRISTA MCAULIFFE ELEMENTARY
CITIZENS OF THE WORLD, MARTIN CITY
CRISTO REY KANSAS CITY; AND
CRITTENTON DAY SCHOOL
CROSSROADS PREPARATORY ACADEMY
DELLA LAMB ELEM.
DIGISTORY KC
FAXON ELEMENTARY
FRONTIER SCHOOL OF INNOVATION
FLAT ROCK ELEMENTARY
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACADEMY;
GARFIELD ELEM.
GENESIS SCHOOL INC.
GORDON PARKS ELEMENTARY;
HEATHERSTONE ELEMENTARY
HOGAN PREPARATORY ACADEMY.
JA ROGERS ELEMENTARY
JAMES ELEM.
JOHN T. HARTMAN ELEM.
LONGFELLOW ELEM.
LEAFSPRUNG SCHOOL AT WYNDHAM,
LEAFSPRUNG SCHOOL AT CHARTER COLONY,
LINCOLN COLLEGE PREP ACADEMY;
MANUAL CAREER TECH CENTER
M. L. KING ELEMENTARY
MPCSC
NORTHEAST HS
NORTHEAST MS
NOWLIN MIDDLE SCHOOL
PITCHER ELEM.
PRIMITIVO GARCIA ELEM.
SCUOLA VITA NUOVA CHARTER
SOUTHEAST HIGH SCHOOL
SPRING BRANCH ELEM.
SHAWNEE MISSION EAST
ST. THERESE SCHOOL
TRAILWOODS ELEM.
TROOST ELEM.
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
UNIVERSITY OF SAINT MARY
WENDELL PHILLIPS ELEM.
WINNWOOD ELEM.
WESTWOOD VIEW ELEMENTARY
To the many students, parents, teachers,
administrators, community members and
schools that made our listening tour possible
THANK
YOU

12. We work relentlessly
to conceive a world
in which those closest
to issues in education
have the agency and
resources to reimagine
teaching and learning,
creatively and
courageously.

16. LEANLAB envisions
a world where
all children are
free thinkers, well
equipped for the
future.

17. FINANCIALS
Funders
Individual
Donations
In 2018, the majority of our funding came from foundations (99%). Of that remaining one percent,
half came from program service fees, 0.3% from corporations, and 0.2% from individuals.
In 2018, the majority of our funding came from foundations (99%). Of that remaining one percent,
half came from program service fees, 0.3% from corporations, and 0.2% from individuals.
Kinsey Kudrna
Bonnie Look
Margo Quiriconi
Jonathon Stewart
Nicholas Valdes
Laura Weber