Leaf Academy was founded and launched by Doc Schwartz, M.Ed. a recognized expert in the field of education with more than 25 years of experience and academic research. 

And one of the three education pilot programs he researched and ran was called the Teacher Development Program, which helped 5,000 teachers become experts in the classroom. Now the reason why this program is so important is because right now the school system does not provide teachers with high quality professional development that gives teachers enough support in the classroom or helps them develop their careers.

Therefore, as a result most teachers end up feeling completely overwhelmed and burnt out. In fact, the Missouri State Teachers Association did a survey of teachers in 2024 and found that 78% of all teachers were "thinking of quitting the profession." And you don't get 78% of anyone thinking one way, unless the entire K12 system is doing the wrong things.

That's why the State of NJ approved the Teacher Development Program as one of the leading teacher support programs in the State. And not only that, but this program is the reason why the State changed its legal requirement for teachers from one year of mentoring to two in 2014. To this day, the NJ Department of Education still uses Doc's annual Professional Development Documents with more than 100,000 teachers.