Education Revolution: Dr. Susanne H. Thompson Of Moreland University On Innovative Approaches That Are Transforming Education
You can’t solve everything by yourself. Create a strong network of colleagues and reach out to them with questions. When you are stuck, ask for help.
The landscape of education is undergoing a profound transformation, propelled by technological advancements, pedagogical innovations, and a deepened understanding of learning diversities. Traditional classrooms are evolving, and new modes of teaching and learning are emerging to better prepare students for the complexities of the modern world. This series will take a look at the groundbreaking work being done across the globe to redefine education. As a part of this interview series, we had the pleasure to interview Dr. Susanne Thompson, President of Moreland University, a College of Education.
Dr. Susanne H. Thompson is the president of Moreland University, a Colibri Group education brand. Susanne has been in the education industry for 32 years, serving as a public educator in Pennsylvania as a classroom teacher, building administrator, director of curriculum and instruction, and superintendent of schools.
She has extensive experience in the education industry and has held leadership and executive-level positions at organizations like Discovery Inc. and Discovery Education, Northwestern Lehigh School District, and the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit. In 2022, Susanne was selected as one of the “Most Inspiring Women in Business” by Aspioneer Magazine.
As a creative and decisive thinker, Susanne prioritizes people, performance, innovation, and active listening while building ownership and partnership within cross-functional teams both internally and externally to deliver customer and business results with a values-based, mission-driven spirit.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share the “backstory” behind what brought you to this particular career path?
Honored to be here, Eden — thank you! My initial career plan was actually to become a doctor or a scientist. I was thinking pre-med in undergrad, and I started taking education classes as a backup plan, just to make sure I’d have a job when I graduated. But during my last year of college, once I started student teaching, I knew education was the right place for me.
The light, joy, and curiosity I saw in the eyes of my students completely energized me. Once I started teaching full-time, I also noticed that, as educators, we did not have much in terms of coaching, collaboration, or high-quality sustained learning. I am forever grateful to the team of second-grade teachers I worked with, as they really got me through that first year. But continuous learning for educators was just not part of the system.
I started working with our local educational service center in Pennsylvania, and that gave me opportunities to connect with and learn from educators all around the area. As I focused on continuous learning, I kept finding myself working with incredible educators. I tested new ideas — and definitely failed a few times — but I never stopped believing our school systems could innovate.
So, professional development has always been central to my career path. Teaching is complex, incredibly rewarding, and truly requires a specialized set of skills and knowledge. At Moreland University, we are a college of education, so our full-time focus is on educators and helping them succeed and feel confident in their skills in the classroom.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Educators have loads of interesting stories, and many of them revolve around students. One of my former kindergarten students and I just reconnected after almost 30 years, and she is now an amazing ESL/English teacher, a mom, and is transforming future generations herself. She and all of my students will always have a big place in my heart.
I also think about my 12 years working in ed-tech. One project was to bring digital content and high-quality professional development to educators and schools across Egypt. It was a vision from the Egyptian Ministry of Education, and it was an honor to serve on a project with such a large scale.
Through intentional planning and collaboration, we created solutions that drove measurable impacts and growth in student engagement across schools in Egypt. We saw evidence of the change in classrooms and in the data we collected, and the entire project shone a light on how educators can connect around the world to ignite a positive change for children and their future.
I am humbled by all the lessons I’ve learned from my students and educators around the world. I’d say a central lesson from my career is that whenever we connect with open hearts and minds, listen to each other, embrace our humanity, and collaborate to educate, we will break down barriers and find common ground to improve the lives of those around us.
Can you briefly share with our readers why you are an authority in the education field?
This is my 34th year in education. I’ve served in diverse roles such as superintendent of schools, director of curriculum and instruction, educational specialist, and classroom teacher. As a business executive, I’ve been an SVP/COO in multiple roles focused on educational program development for school districts and Fortune 500 companies. I’ve fostered customer-success operations and built and empowered teams in the U.S. and the U.K.
I’ve worked directly with school, state, and ministry level educational leaders to solve for digital and technological transformations in schools. And as an educational leader, I’ve spoken at major conferences, authored articles, conducted scholarly research, and served as an adjunct faculty member and course designer.
All that to say, my expertise comes from a mix of practical experience, continuous learning, and meaningful contributions that impact both the theory and practice of education in positive, lasting ways.
Can you identify some areas of the US education system that are going really great?
There’s a lot going well in U.S. education! You’ll find school systems harnessing AI to create innovative professional learning and coaching programs. You’ll find phenomenal mentorship and apprenticeship models that are transforming the way we support new teachers. Schools are partnering more actively with community business partners to address career planning, access to new resources, providing industry mentors, and creating more opportunities for our students to experience the real world. With advances in technology, we are tracking and understanding our students’ learning needs and progression more effectively than ever before.
Can you identify the key areas of the US education system that should be prioritized for improvement? Can you explain why those are so critical?
I believe there are 3 areas we need to prioritize to address continuous improvement.
- Student engagement: Prioritize and learn to measure student engagement alongside student achievement. When students are engaged in their learning process, the potential skyrockets for academic achievement, curiosity, and valuing their own learning process.
- Study innovations and success in schools: There are many examples of success and true innovation in our schools, both here in the U.S. and around the world. We need to further study these innovations, talk to the educators, students, parents, and school leaders involved, and megaphone these outcomes to scale these innovations. Our resources are maximized when we share.
- Teacher autonomy and empowerment: Our systems need to prioritize teachers’ focus on instruction. A recent Pew Research Center survey shows only 33% of teachers are “extremely satisfied” with their job, and a large part of that discontent comes from an overwhelming workload with more and more non-teaching tasks. If we free teachers up to focus on what they do best, teaching, their satisfaction will improve, teacher retention will improve, and that impacts everything down the line.
Please tell us all about the innovative educational approaches that you are using. What is the specific problem that you aim to solve, and how have you addressed it?
Our work at Moreland is innovative due to several factors. One is our cohort-based learning model. Our students learn in small groups, or cohorts, and they stay together to develop strong relationships and create a professional learning community. Each week, cohorts meet directly with their faculty via Zoom, so there is direct engagement and real learning happening between faculty and their students. This model personalizes the learning experience combined with activities and assignments designed to help aspiring teachers learn about what they will actually do in the classroom. Our faculty are also practitioners, so our students have ready access to experts working daily in K-12 education.
The National Center for Education Statistics studies teacher attrition and mobility. Between 8% and 20% of new teachers leave or move schools within the first five years of employment, and close to half of these educators are leaving the profession altogether. Moreland is working to solve this problem by preparing teachers so they’re not only licensed correctly but are extremely knowledgeable, skilled, and confident in their role as a classroom teacher. The result: 97% of our graduates’ supervisors report our candidates are having a positive impact on the profession. Our graduates feel inspired by their work and want to stay in their teaching jobs.
We are also deeply committed to diversity, and one of our solutions for that is our global model, which means our cohorts have students from around the world. So if you’re studying to become a teacher in Florida, for example, you’ll learn alongside teaching candidates from China, Africa, India, and other U.S. states. As our students work and study together, they share experiences, ideas, and perspectives, and everyone comes out better. Like I said earlier, our resources are maximized when we share. That includes sharing ideas and perspectives.
In what ways do you think your approach might shape the future of education? What evidence supports this?
Schools and districts around the country continue to struggle with teacher recruitment and retention. The bottom line is the traditional path, where a high-school graduate goes to college, studies education, and becomes a teacher for the rest of his career, is not working nor common anymore. We need to find and support teachers from different backgrounds, and we need to create new ways for them to enter the profession.
Moreland’s online education model, with our flexibility, weekly class meetings with faculty, and increased capacity for global collaboration and learning, is an excellent solution. We are shaping the way teachers are prepared and ensuring our schools have excellent teachers who really understand the job and are committed to staying in education. Of our graduates, 40% report being given leadership opportunities, 48% report increases in pay, and 31% report having received a promotion.
How do you measure the impact of your innovative educational practices on students’ learning and well-being?
We measure our impact in several ways at Moreland. First, we’re focused on making sure our candidates have a relevant and collaborative learning experience designed to model and learn in the ways they are really going to teach. This level of relevancy is critical in ensuring they are confident and prepared for the classroom, with the skills, content, and pedagogical expertise required to truly make a positive impact on the students. Our graduation rates are 30% above the national average, at 87–91% depending on program type, and 94% of our graduates report being very satisfied with their studies.
And the impact our graduates are making is clear. Jazzmyne Townsend, a Moreland grad and early childhood certified teacher, was named the 2025 D.C. Teacher of the Year. We are so excited and proud of Jazzmyne’s stellar work in the classroom!
What challenges have you faced in implementing your educational innovations, and how have you overcome them?
The challenges in education are plenty. Regulation and policy can be truly antiquated at times due to limited resources or human capacity to tackle the workload. I’ve never met an educator or school system that indicated they had plenty of resources to fulfill their mission. As educators, we are familiar with facing new challenges every day coming from all fronts. Where we shine is looking at these challenges as opportunities for growth, innovation, or transformation.
Our goal at Moreland is to help our partners and candidates overcome their challenges. For example, we know money is always an issue in education, and that’s why we’re intent on keeping our cost low — less than $7k for our certification program, with optional payment plans or financing to make it even more accessible.
And we know the importance of having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom, which is why our program is rigorous and engaging. Online programs are sometimes seen as isolating or impersonal, but Moreland is the opposite. Our faculty meet with and see their students every week via Zoom, we have calls, texts, online dialogues, collaboration, and information sessions. It’s a true community.
Keeping in mind the “Law of Unintended Consequences,” can you see any potential drawbacks of this innovation that people should think more deeply about?
Absolutely — when introducing innovations in education, especially those that radically shift teaching and learning methods, it’s essential to consider unintended consequences. We won’t be able to predict every possible outcome, but potential unintended consequences are why it’s so important to be deliberative and thoughtful on the front end. And it’s why at Moreland we’re so committed to collaboration, to including diverse perspectives in our thinking and planning. The more we talk and work together, the more of those unintended consequences we can avoid.
What are your “5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started”?
1. You can’t solve everything by yourself. Create a strong network of colleagues and reach out to them with questions. When you are stuck, ask for help.
2. Don’t be afraid to try new methods. Tell your students you are trying a new idea and want their input. My students had brilliant ideas — tap into their minds and creativity.
3. Technology will continue to rapidly change, and so will the world around us. Don’t focus on the hectic pace of change or the lack of time. Instead, focus on 1–2 tech ideas at a time, test them, try them out, get feedback from your network of colleagues.
4. Focus on doing 1–2 things really well rather than trying to get to everything. There is no timeline for success, take one step forward each day. You are not always on call.
5. As an educator, you are nurturing someone else’s most precious creation. Kindness and authority can happen simultaneously.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I love quotes and have tons of them around me as tiny points of light and inspiration. One that has traveled with me the longest is: “Crisis is opportunity riding a dangerous wind.”
I was 18 when I first heard this quote, and let’s get real, life on planet Earth can be filled with unending joy and blessings but also some really, really hard days. This quote allows me to reframe the hard days. When life, work, or family gets heavy, this quote reminds me to look for the light and the opportunity within the crisis. When you look, the light is always there. The learnings, life lessons, and caring people are always there.
We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
There are millions of amazing people on this planet I would love to meet and learn from! Two people I would cherish the opportunity to meet, work with, and collaborate on fostering more positive outcomes in education are Michelle Obama and Melinda Gates. Both women are inspiring, genuine, and thoughtful on so many levels. They consistently focus their efforts to raise others up and give generously of themselves to improve the lives of those in need.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Please join me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanne-h-thompson-ed-d-2b069921/. I value engaging there with all types of educators and business leaders doing really important, serious, and positive work in our world. If you want to learn about Moreland University, I welcome you to visit www.moreland.edu.
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
Education Revolution: Dr Susanne H Thompson Of Moreland University On Innovative Approaches That A was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.