We built schools that beat the odds. Now we help others do the same.
Simply Great Schools was founded by Doug McCurry and Riley Bauling after two decades building and leading high-performing schools. We help school and system leaders turn belief into results with a ready-to-run system for readiness, coaching, and professional learning.
17 cities • 20,000+ students served • 600+ leaders supported
Our story
How Simply Great Schools came to be
When Doug McCurry co-founded Achievement First, he made a promise that most people thought was naive at best. AF schools — serving a student body that was 98% Black or Latino, with 85% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch — would outperform the wealthiest suburban schools in the state.
People had heard talk like that before. Nobody had actually done it.
Twenty-one years later, the promise didn't look so bold. AF 8th graders across seven New York middle schools were outperforming the wealthiest districts in the state — Rye, Harrison, Mamaroneck — in both math and ELA. AF Amistad was named the #1 high school in Connecticut by US News & World Report. AF Hartford was #3. AF Iluminar was #1 in Rhode Island. It wasn’t magic. It wasn’t luck. It was execution.
It wasn't magic. It wasn't luck. It was execution.
Nobody understood that better than Riley Bauling. As a math teacher, Riley's students were performing 10 percentage points above the wealthiest districts in New York — not because he believed in some secret formula, but because he refused to accept a lower bar. He knew what kids were capable of. He just made sure they got there.
That belief carried Riley from the classroom to the principal's office, where his school earned a National Blue Ribbon designation, to regional superintendent, where the schools he led saw suspension rates drop 41%, math proficiency climb 48 points, and ELA proficiency climb 32 points.
They needed someone to show them exactly how.
When Doug and Riley both left AF and began working independently with schools across the country, they kept running into the same thing. Great cities. Great leaders. Leaders who believed in their kids — who knew their students were capable of so much more — but who didn't have the playbook or the skills to get from where they were to where they wanted to be.
They didn't need more motivation. They didn't need another framework to figure out on their own. They needed someone to show them exactly how.
That's why Simply Great Schools exists. Everything Doug and Riley spent 20 years building — the readiness system, the PD, the coaching, the tools, the scripts, the Arc of the Year — is now yours. You don't have to build anything. You don't have to figure it out alone. You just have to execute.
And when you do, your students will prove what Doug and Riley proved two decades ago: that zip code was never the point.
Want to see what we share? Start with the newsletter.
20 minutes. We’ll share if we can help and what it would take.
17 cities • 20,000+ students served • 600+ leaders supported
5 Ways We Can Work Together
1) Leader Curriculum
We’ve created a leadership curriculum that has saved leaders hundreds of hours of planning time, increased teacher and leader retention, and improved achievement results. It’s been used in more than 60 schools in the past two years.
Includes 50+ scripted PDs with PPTs, scripted practice clinics, and scripted coaching meetings with exemplar videos—so leaders know exactly what to do in every meeting they run.
2) Curriculum Implementation
We help schools drive math and ELA achievement through effective implementation of high-quality instructional materials, including the most widely used curricula.
3) 1-on-1 Coaching and PD
We coach C-level leaders, principal managers, principals, and APs to run great schools, develop teachers, and deliver results for kids—through practical routines and real-time feedback.
4) Keynote Speaking
We motivate and inspire leaders to reach their fullest potential through practical, immediately applicable insights. We’ve keynoted at charter school conferences, district PD days, and for education organizations running great teams.
5) Cohorts
We help organizations rapidly improve leader skill through customized cohorts combining live PD, individualized coaching, site visits, and robust resources.
Tell us what you’re trying to accomplish — we’ll recommend the best way to work together.
Not sure which is right?
Want a ready-to-run system for leader meetings and PD → Leader Curriculum
Need stronger math/ELA outcomes through high-quality materials → Curriculum Implementation
Need targeted growth for a few key leaders → 1-on-1 Coaching and PD
Want to build leader skill quickly across a group → Cohorts
Need a practical keynote that motivates and equips → Keynote Speaking
Tell us what you’re trying to accomplish — we’ll recommend the best way to work together.
Our Point of View
If schools are learning engines for leaders and teachers, they become learning engines for students.
Just as teachers need a strong curriculum to drive rapid student growth, leaders need a strong curriculum — a leader playbook — to drive rapid teacher growth.
The fundamental problem in American education is not a lack of innovation; it’s a lack of relentless execution on a set of proven systems and practices that support rapid leader, teacher, and student development. (We’re not anti-innovation. We just want much-needed innovation to be embedded within these proven structures.)
Is This a Fit?
Best fit if you …
Lead a school or system and need tighter execution
Want a leader playbook (meetings, PD, coaching routines)
Are ready to simplify priorities and build repeatable systems
Want hands-on support that sticks to implementation
Care about measurable growth for adults and students
Not a fit if you …
Want a one-time talk without follow-through
Prefer inventing your own tools from scratch
Want more frameworks instead of a usable playbook
Aren’t willing to narrow priorities to execute well
Want motivation more than implementation support
Want to see what we share? Start with the newsletter.
Want our best tools?
Join the SGS Newsletter for planning templates and execution moves built from work in 24 cities, serving more than 20,000 students and nearly 600 leaders.
Want to see what we share? Start with the newsletter.
Tell us what you’re trying to accomplish — we’ll recommend the best way to work together.
What you’ll get
Planning templates you can use immediately
Leader meeting agendas + PD scripts
Coaching plans and scripts with models that strengthen execution
Short examples from real schools