Marc Isseks, PhD
There's a version of professional development that treats teachers like the problem. Marc has spent 30 years proving they're the solution.
Dr. Marc Isseks is an educational consultant, keynote speaker, and author who works with schools and districts that are ready to close the gap between the education their students are receiving and the education their students deserve.
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He came up through the classroom, teaching in New York City, then moving through curriculum development, staff development, and building administration on Long Island. He knows what it feels like to be the teacher who doesn't believe the PD is for them. He knows what it feels like to be the leader who brought in the speaker who didn't deliver. He knows what it costs, professionally, culturally, and financially, when professional development fails to land.
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That knowledge is what makes his work different.
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Marc's philosophy is not complicated: teachers don't need more things to do. They need new ways to see the work they're already doing. They need someone who walks into the room, earns their trust, and unlocks something in them that was always there - the curiosity, the creativity, the willingness to try something different the next time the bell rings.
Great PD doesn't pile on. It ignites. That's not a metaphor he uses lightly. Marc is a third-generation educator. When he says he believes in teachers, he means it.
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His book Captivate was born from a simple but urgent observation: students today are the most distracted generation in history, and the classrooms meant to reach them were designed for a world that no longer exists. His first book, Forward Fast, tackled the whiplash of rapid technological change and gave school leaders a framework for navigating it without losing sight of the whole child. Both books have been endorsed by superintendents, principals, and leadership consultants who recognized in them something rare - a practitioner's honesty combined with a researcher's rigor.
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Marc has been featured on national education podcasts, in widely-read education publications, and at conferences and schools across the country. He works with communities of every size - urban, suburban, rural - and brings the same directness, warmth, and absolute refusal to waste anyone's time to every single engagement.
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He doesn't do drive-bys. He does work that takes root.
There is only one Educational Pyromaniac. You're reading about him.