Trusted by Texas districts. Proven nationwide.
A TEA-approved Texas Strategic Leadership provider bringing strategic planning, leadership development, HQIM expertise, and implementation support together in one coordinated partnership between Relay Graduate School of Education and Teaching Lab. The complementary expertise we bring leverages the Effective District Framework to support work from diagnosis through implementation.
Why Texas Districts Build With Relay + Teaching Lab
One Partnership Across the Work
Strategic planning, leadership development, curriculum and instruction, performance management, and implementation are interconnected. Relay and Teaching Lab bring those capabilities together so districts can move across the Effective District Framework with one coordinated partner rather than a collection of disconnected providers.
Start With What the Data Says
Strong strategy starts with understanding what is already happening across a system. Needs assessment, landscape analysis, stakeholder input, and performance data establish the starting point, so priorities and support reflect the district’s actual context rather than a predetermined solution.
Strategy Through Implementation
Identifying the challenge is only the beginning. When strategic planning surfaces opportunities in curriculum, instruction, leadership, or implementation, the same partnership can stay with the work; connecting system-level strategy to the professional learning, coaching, and implementation support needed to put it into practice.
Responsive, Not Prescriptive
District priorities evolve as the work moves forward. Support is built around each district’s goals, capacity, community, and stage of implementation, with the flexibility to respond as new information and needs emerge.
Texas Experience at Every Level
Our teams have worked in Texas classrooms, partnered with Texas systems, and collaborated with TEA and ESC-20. That experience brings an understanding of the Effective District Framework, Texas accountability structures, Lone Star Governance, and the realities district leaders navigate every day.
TEA-Approved, Statewide Experience
Relay and Teaching Lab bring experience across multiple TEA initiatives and partnerships, including Texas Strategic Leadership and LIFT, alongside work with districts and education leaders across the state.
From Strategic Priority To Daily Practice
A strategic plan matters when people across the system can act on it. Our model is relationship-based, evidence-informed, and designed to meet Texas districts where they are. Our partnership connects the work that happens at the board level with the leadership, instructional, and implementation practices that carry priorities into schools and classrooms.
1. Understand the Starting Point
We use needs assessment, stakeholder perspective, and data to identify the highest-leverage opportunities across the system.
2. Set a Clear Direction
We support districts in developing a shared vision, strategic priorities, and goals that translates what the district learns into focused priorities, measurable goals, aligned resources, and a practical roadmap for implementation, creating stronger outcomes for students.
3. Build the Systems to Carry the Work Forward
We help teams establish the plans, tools, routines, and roles needed to turn priorities into coordinated action across the district.
4. Make Progress Visible
Through data analysis, dashboards, progress-monitoring cadences, and continuous-improvement cycles, we help leaders understand progress, surface challenges early, and make adjustments along the way.
5. Strengthen Leadership at Every Level
We partner with executive teams, superintendents, school boards, principals, and instructional leaders to strengthen the leadership practices that make improvement sustainable
4. Learn and Adjust
We use evidence from implementation to understand what’s working, surface challenges early, and adapt the work as district needs evolve.
Educator Voices
“Relay has consistently delivered high-quality adult learning that simultaneously holds our educators’ full-selves, anchors on a rigorous and belonging student experience, and results in tangibly better-empowered teachers.”
– Caitlin Butler, Deputy Chief of Talent, KIPP Texas
Grounded in Texas
Our Texas Partnerships Team has partnered with superintendents, school leaders, educators, and systems from El Paso to Dallas to the Gulf Coast. Work with TEA and ESC-20 on the Texas Superintendent Learning Academies has deepened our experience with the frameworks Texas leaders use to guide improvement, including the Effective District Framework, Texas accountability structures, and Lone Star Governance. We believe the strongest partnerships aren’t imported into a district. It’s built around the people, priorities, systems, and work already there.
Connect with Our Texas Partnerships Team
Wesley Kline, Director of Strategic Partnerships
A former Texas teacher and campus administrator, Wes leads relationship-development and partnership strategy for Teaching Lab’s Texas portfolio. He collaborates directly with district leaders to design LIFT plans that build coherence, strengthen instruction, and support teacher growth.
Chris Garcia, Managing Partner Relay Professional Education
A former Texas educator and leadership coach, Chris leads Relay’s Texas team in delivering high-impact coaching and professional learning. He partners with districts to build aligned systems that improve instruction and student outcomes across schools.
Rachel Sherman, Partner, Relay Professional Education
Rachel leads Relay’s Texas team in supporting districts to implement high-quality instructional materials with fidelity and impact. A former school leader and school leader manager, Rachel partners with school and district leaders to design aligned systems that strengthen teaching, accelerate student learning, and ensure access to rigorous instruction.
See How We Approach Strategic Planning
What does the work look like in practice?
Explore our strategic planning resource for a closer look at how leaders can move from identifying priorities to building a strategic story that guides decisions and implementation.