Teaching Strategies Employee Spotlight: Kyle, Public Policy Manager

Meet Kyle, a Public Policy Manager on the Public Policy Team.

Kyle’s primary role is to ensure that our solutions and services are approved at the state level:  wherever our solutions are eligible for some sort of state approval, he makes sure they get it. He also manages our repository of alignments to state standards and assists customer-facing teams with questions related to how our solutions meet various state learning standards. In this work, he consults with company content and product experts and partners with the marketing team to get them published on our website.

Recently, we asked Kyle about his experience at Teaching Strategies and his thoughts on our mission and solutions. Here’s what he had to say.

What attracted you to Teaching Strategies?

Initially, a friend (now colleague—still a friend!) spoke with passion about the mission of Teaching Strategies, its history, and where it was moving with its services. After doing my own research, I was convinced to apply and interview, and the last six years have in all honesty flown by. The company has evolved quite a bit in this time, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with many truly exceptional people.

Share with us how our mission resonates with you.

Supporting young children’s early care and education with the highest-quality solutions and supports is of the utmost importance. I’m proud to do my small part in ensuring that these market-leading products and solutions make it into classrooms for use by our youngest learners and those that support them—across our country and around the world.

How has Teaching Strategies supported your growth, both personally and professionally, during your time with the company?

I was initially hired onto the Content Development team, where I supported our professional development and state alignment efforts. After a couple years, I wanted to move into more policy-related work, so my team was understanding and flexible as I pursued and completed my master’s degree at night at American University. I completed my M.Ed. in Education Policy and Leadership and was granted the opportunity to move to our Public Policy and Government Relations team, where I’ve worked ever since. I’m grateful to Teaching Strategies for supporting my educational goal, as well as my move to my new team. Also, I became a father during that time, and I really appreciate all of the support!

Tell us about a time you have really been able to see your impact in your work or with our customers.

I am not usually in a customer-facing role—I primarily communicate externally with state education agencies. However, in the past couple years we have had a few occasions of needing extra staff to conduct a call campaign to customers in Ohio to support the implementation of our products in that state. I was a little nervous and not in my usual lane, but it was truly a delight to speak with so many customers in the field. They are the kindest people and are doing such critical work.