About our firm
We infuse sustainability across the curriculum.
What do we do?
Creative Change Educational Solutions is a sustainability education consulting firm focused on transforming curriculum, so students can thrive in a changing world. Founded by Susan Santone in 2002, we have helped thousands of educators in K12 school districts, colleges, and universities develop curriculum and courses to give students a unified understanding of the world by cultivating cultural, ecological, economic, and technological literacies in unison. Our clients benefit from high impact professional development and curriculum supplements shown to improve engagement and achievement.
Educators tell us that our ecumenical approach and extensive content library help them revolutionize the learning experience.
Our work integrates the best of project- and place-based learning, environmental- and multicultural education, critical pedagogy, social-emotional learning, and STEAM. The combination of these approaches reflects the principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), an international movement bringing together educators for a common goal: to reorient educational systems to meet the demands of the 21st century and beyond.
TEDx TALK
The future is a story yet to be written. How can curriculum empower students to become authors of a better world? Susan Santone shares her vision.
Who comprises our team?
Our staff, board, and advisors are veteran teachers, university educators, and content experts from science, business, and public policy fields.
Susan Santone
Founder and Executive Director
A former classroom teacher, she specializes in interdisciplinary curriculum design, educational policy, and teacher education. She is also an adjunct instructor in Teacher Education at Eastern Michigan University. She earned teacher certificates in social studies, music, and TESOL; and a Master’s degree in Intercultural and International Management from the SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont.
STAFF
Lisa Babe
Senior Program Designer
Lisa’s educational career work has combined science, English as a Second Language, multiculturalism and social justice. Lisa has served as an instructor at Alpena Community College, and coordinated educational programs in paleoclimatology for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She has a Master’s degree in Secondary Science from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Kim Reynolds
Senior Instructional Designer
As an experienced classroom teacher, Kim brings expertise in curriculum development, online learning, and professional development for K12 teachers. She earned her elementary teaching certificate at Western Michigan University, and is endorsed in early childhood, science and language arts. Her Master’s degree in Social Foundations from Eastern Michigan University focused on ecojustice and sustainability pedagogy.
Anne Delaney
Program Support Specialist
As a pre-service teaching candidate at Eastern Michigan University, Anne is focusing on Elementary Education with certification in math. In addition to her work at Creative Change, she is working with regional schools on infusing the arts into elementary math instruction. Her interests include sustainability and place-based learning.
BOARD
Martha Kaufeldt
Martha is a professional development specialist, consultant, and author. Her specialty is putting educational neuroscience into action in classroom practice. She has taught at all grade levels, served as a district-level gifted coordinator and staff developer, and most recently was the lead teacher and restructuring coordinator of a “brain-compatible” school. She has a Masters degree in Human Behavior.
Jim Haughn
Jim is an attorney based in Toledo, Ohio, and is a member of the Bar Associations for Toledo, Wood County, and the state of Ohio. As a peace corps volunteer in Senegal, Jim focused on in agriculture and reforestation. He volunteers to support sustainability initiatives at Carlton College, his alma mater.
David Reynolds
David specializes in social movements, labor-community coalitions, curriculum development, and strategic planning. He currently works as a professor and researcher at the U-M Dearborn Labor and Community Studies Center. He has also taught at Wayne State University. Reynolds is on the Doing Development Differently in Metro Detroit (D4) board and is a member of the Growing Together or Drifting Apart Taskforce in Washtenaw County. He has also helped lead Citizen for Responsible Education (CARE), a community-based school improvement coalition in Ypsilanti. His Ph.D. is in government from Cornell University.
Paula Sizemore
Paula is a passionate educator with over more than 20 years experience as an educator. She has taught in public schools, charter schools, college summer camps and was a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s College of Education. She believes in social justice for all, advocating for multicultural competence and inclusive curricula that address true experiences of marginalized people.
Pastor Brian Vieira
Brian is an ordained minister as well as an award-winning educator and public speaker with over 25 years of classroom, administrative, and counseling experience. Rev. Vieira is the founder and President of ScholarSkills Learning Center and the former principal of ScholarSkills Christian Academy — a New York State registered school for grades 3-7.
William Williams
William is a presenter and climate leader with the Climate Reality Project, where he focuses on educating others about climate change. He has also served as a firefighter with the Detroit Fire Department, as well as an Informational Technology engineer at Wayne State University. He’s tutored foreign language students in English and currently volunteers at William Beaumont Hospital. A Detroit native, he was educated at Marygrove College in the heart of the city.
ADVISORS
John Warbach is a Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University, where he co-directed multiple initiatives on sustainable community development, placemaking, and creativity. John earned a PhD in Urban Forestry from Michigan State, a minor in environmental psychology from the University of Michigan, and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of California-Berkeley.
A veteran educator, Maura Jung, Ed.D. has served many roles, including teacher, science consultant, assistant principal, and nonformal environmental educator. She earned a doctorate in education with a focus on leadership, curriculum, and instruction from Wayne State University, along with a degree in natural resources from the University of Michigan. She is actively involved in equine therapy for children and land conservation.
Shari Saunders is a Creative Change Research Fellow and professor at the University of Michigan. Her work focuses on preparing teachers to educate for social justice through the integration of place-based education, social-emotional learning, and restorative practices. She earned her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia.
By enlisting the energies and creativity of schoolchildren in addressing the urban crises, [Creative Change] provides children and young people with opportunities to take ownership of problems or issues affecting their school and their town.
Grace Lee BoggsWould you like to talk with us about your needs?
Let’s schedule a conversation (preferably with coffee involved).