In the midst of a public health and economic crisis, Teddy Rice is ensuring schools have the resources they need to support their multilingual learners.

As the President and co-founder of Ellevation, an education-technology company, Teddy Rice is helping school districts to solve one of the biggest challenges currently facing public schools in the U.S.: ensuring that students who are English learners will have access to the tools they need to succeed and thrive.

“English learners have enormous human potential, but are not always well served by K-12 school districts and, as a result, generally perform well below their English-speaking peers,” Rice says. “This is a huge societal problem, as these students represent the fastest growing sub-population of students in our public school system. It is also a huge opportunity, because these students bring incredible cultural and linguistic assets to the classroom, which enriches everyone.”

Ellevation’s innovative software offers a solution, making it possible for administrators, teachers, specialists, and students to collaborate, measure the needs of English learners, and deliver effective instruction school district-wide. Currently, Ellevation serves over 800 partner districts and supports over 3 million students in nearly every state.