Dr. LaKimbre Brown Joins Always A Lesson’s Empowering Educators Podcast

Dr. LaKimbre Brown, Chief Program Officer at Leading Educators, recently joined Always a Lesson’s Empowering Educators podcast to talk about how schools are evolving to meet the diverse needs of today’s students, from shifting curricula to addressing representation in both classrooms and leadership.

She reflects on her journey through education and what it will take to create schools where both students and teachers thrive. With more than twenty years of experience as a result-driven teacher, principal, chief of schools, and nonprofit leader, LaKimbre’s insights highlight both the challenges and possibilities in education today.

Read some of the highlights from her conversation in this piece. Her story reminds us that education isn’t just about academics—it’s about opportunity, meaningful goals, and building systems that allow every student to reach their full potential.

🎧 Listen to the episode here.

1. Providing Opportunity Takes Intention

LaKimbre’s calling into education began unexpectedly when she was tutoring college peers who were struggling to stay enrolled. She quickly realized that many bright students hadn’t been given the same preparation and access she had.

⭐ That eye-opening experience sparked a career devoted to ensuring that schools don’t just serve some students well, but provide every student with a fair chance at success. She has carried that commitment from the classroom to the district office and now to a national stage.

She notes,

All schools are different, and the school you go to has a significant impact on what happens later for you in life. I had a chemistry degree, and I was like, ‘I need to do something more with this.’ So I started teaching middle school math and science, and the rest is history.”

Her words remind us that education can either open doors or reinforce barriers. The difference often comes down to whether students have access to excellent teaching, the right resources, and support.

2. Systemic Change Can’t Wait

While one excellent teacher can change a student’s trajectory, LaKimbre stressed that true progress requires the entire system to work in harmony. Teachers often operate within structures they don’t control, such as school schedules, curriculum design, or district policies. 

She shares,

If you want to have systemic change at a district level, you need to really think about coherence and how all the systems work together. Systemic change happens when all of us are rowing in the same direction.”

⭐Without alignment across classrooms, schools, and districts, even the strongest individual efforts can get lost. That’s why Leading Educators focuses on helping schools and districts build that coherence—so that every decision, from curriculum choices to professional learning, reinforces a shared vision for student success.

3. Educators Must Believe that Everyone Can Learn

LaKimbre spoke powerfully about how reflecting on her identities and lived experiences informs her understanding that representation shapes what students believe is possible for themselves. Growing up, she rarely saw teachers or leaders who looked like her in advanced science and math courses, and now she embraces the opportunity to be a model for others.

I think it’s important to see yourself in anything that you aspire to do.  You need to see someone who looks like you and realize, ‘Oh, wait, I can do that too.’ I’ve really learned how much representation matters in terms of allowing people to see themselves doing something that maybe they don’t normally see.”

⭐ Equally important, LaKimbre emphasized, is holding high expectations for every student. Too often, lowered expectations create invisible barriers to achievement. She says, “You have to believe that the student sitting in front of you can actually do [the work].”

High expectations, paired with strong relationships and deep content knowledge, set the stage for students to grow into confident, capable learners.

4. Successful Teachers Commit to Lifelong Learning and Flexibility

LaKimbre admits that her own teaching journey required unlearning old habits. As a math and science student, she excelled at memorizing formulas and algorithms, but as a teacher, she realized that true understanding required modeling, breaking concepts down, and helping students see the “why.”

She says,

I struggled [as a new teacher] because I knew how to do the math and I knew how to get the right answer, but I didn’t understand the why behind it, and as a teacher, you needed to be able to understand the why. So I had to do a lot of studying, in a discipline that I had excelled in all my life, to understand what that first step is that I take to break it down so students actually understand why this is happening?” 

⭐ This humility and openness to growth still guide her today. She urged educators to remain learners themselves, adapting to new research, changing student needs, and emerging tools. She reminds us that, “As an educator, you can never stop being a student.”

She noted that education is a field in which the ground is constantly shifting. The most effective leaders and teachers are those willing to evolve alongside their students.

5. Meaningful Innovation Can Create New Opportunities

In her current work, LaKimbre is excited about helping teachers and school systems integrate high-quality instructional materials more effectively and use technology wisely. She sees technology as a way to free teachers from time-consuming tasks so they can focus on what only they can do—building relationships, making instructional decisions, and guiding student growth. 

She notes,

[Leading Educators] is paying attention to how we can use aspects of AI and technology to help teachers better integrate the curriculum that they’re using so they can get back some of their time, they can get back some of their freedom, and reserve some of their thinking for the things that can only be done by them.”

While Leading Educators works alongside a district to help them reach their goals, she stresses, “We don’t come in with directives. We work side by side, building on strengths so educators can do their best work.”

This partnership approach reflects a deep respect for teachers, school leaders, and system leaders as professionals. By modeling, coaching, and gradually releasing responsibility, her team helps schools build lasting capacity so improvements continue long after outside partners step away.

The Takeaway

Dr. Brown’s story is a powerful reminder that education is not simply about delivering content. It is about ensuring every child has a real shot at success–however they define it for themselves. It is about supporting teachers with the tools, time, and confidence they need to live into a really complex, highly consequential calling. And it is about building school systems that work together by design instead of in silos.

Her vision is clear: We need coherent, inclusive, and inspiring schools—places where educators are energized and students are prepared for whatever comes next.

At the core of her work, she’s inspired “every time I walk into a school and see the growth over time, that’s what energizes me.”