Education Revolution: Noam Gerstein Of The bina School On Innovative Approaches That Are Transforming Education
An Interview with Eden Gold
You can do nothing great on your own — 98% of your focus should be supporting your people, relationships, and partnerships growth. Cherish them, listen closely, and be humble.
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 of interviewing Noam Gerstein.
Noam is the founder and CEO of The bina School, a global, digitally native school for 4–12-year-olds. As a leading expert in attentive education, Noam is shaping a new category of schooling crafted to educate Gen Alpha, utilizing today’s wonders. She focuses on impactful learning for students, educators, and families worldwide, drawing on insights from her extensive global research and interviews.
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?
I am originally a Jerusalemite. I entered university incredibly early at 16 and started my path as a builder at an NGO, promoting medical rights and doing operational and fundraising work. We opened a clinic for those without medical rights and access in my homeland. It was captivating and horrifying, and I needed to simplify to keep healthy. I moved to London, studied some more, returned a few years later, and accidentally opened my first business.
After selling my first company, I did not want to build again, but I was endlessly fascinated by massive industries with peculiar resource allocation. To me, those tend to be the corners of human activity most prone to positive impact aided by tech. My mind was racing around how primary education systems are conducted. I started sitting in schools and interviewing little humans and their adults to try and understand the systemic differences and similarities globally. For more than six years, I lived nomadically and changed my location once every couple of weeks on average, all while raising two kiddos of my own.
During the last year, I spoke to education professors, developmental psychologists, people from the business world, and technologists to understand if the ideas I had the honor to steward were possible and potentially positive. In 2020, we got a microgrant to test the methodology. In the following couple of years, we kept bina deliberately small to ensure we served each child and family precisely the education they needed.
Now, bina offers internationally accredited and expert-led education to more than 100 families in approximately 30 countries who demand more attention, accessibility, and a global perspective.
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?
I am super fortunate to have had an eventful 20-year career! To me, the most exciting stories are not the singular anecdotes but the longer, overarching learning processes. The most interesting recent path I have been busy on is building fruitful partnerships. To form successful partnerships, I found that each person’s needs, goals, and limits must be delicately articulated and considered. As a facilitator and instigator of relationships aimed at mutual growth, I strive to help children, parents, educators, and operators identify their needs and address them with kindness.
Can you briefly share with our readers why you are an authority in the education field?
I have spent years immersing myself in education systems around the world, conducting hands-on research with children, educators, and families in diverse cultural contexts. bina is a culmination of a decade of listening, iterating, and innovating — combining evidence-based developmental practices with cutting-edge tech to provide attentive education. This continuous cycle of learning, adapting, and refining has been my foundation as a leader in global education.
Can you identify some areas of the US education system that are going really great?
In comparison to some other systems globally, the US education system has made significant strides toward supporting diverse learning needs, especially with the latest growth of social-emotional learning (SEL) programs. These initiatives recognize that a child’s mental health and emotional development are just as crucial as academic achievements, setting students up for lifelong resilience. Encouragement and support of research-backed teaching strategies and methodologies are effective. For example, project-based learning allows children to connect their lessons to real-world applications.
Another promising area is the integration of technology to make learning resources widely accessible, enabling students from various backgrounds to access the tools they need to thrive. Last but not least, I have seen incredible educators in the US.
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?
- Invest in educators: Quality comes through respectful compensation and continuous learning. The future of human activity lies in teaching and care. The societies that know how to best foster these people and qualities will thrive. Teachers are the heart of any education system, and they are the ones holding all the keys to the future. Our job is to support them and ensure their voices are heard and their ideas implemented. When educators are honored and empowered, positive learning outcomes are undeniable.
- Attention is key: Smaller class sizes, especially for the primary age range, allow deeper, more meaningful, and accurate connections for educators with each student, and for students among their peers. Thoughtful approaches support learners through feeling seen, valued, and capable — this is where education can begin.
- Research → practice → research cycles: When we make decisions grounded in evidence-based practices, we ensure that every child benefits from the best we, as a global society, know. Practitioners should work closely with the research community to advance our knowledge about teaching and learning, and, as quickly as possible, bring conclusions into the daily practice.
- Start early and support families with young learners: The journey of learning begins well before school. Supporting families with young children through early education programs, parental learning and development opportunities, resources, and support nurtures our society as a whole, laying a solid foundation for kids’ future growth and helping them enter school with confidence and readiness.
- Ensure equitable access to quality education: Education should be a bridge, not a barrier. Every child deserves access to high-quality educators, settings, and resources, regardless of their zip code or background. By closing resource gaps, we can create a system where all children have opportunities to thrive. Education equity is a fundamental right that benefits everyone.
- Joy is what it is all about: Discovery and excitement are ways to obtain, retain, and maintain knowledge, skills, dispositions, and conceptual grasp. By focusing on creating environments where learning is joyful, we can nurture a passion for advancement. When students feel a sense of wonder and connection in their education, they deeply engage and push their paths forward.
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?
bina’s educational model is designed for the millions of families who need flexible, attentive, and globally-minded schooling that fits the new realities of life. Our approach combines high-quality, expert-led education with adaptability and accessibility that reflect how people live today.
Our curriculum is:
- Expert-led: Our educators have postgraduate degrees and extensive global experience, ensuring students learn from experts who bring a rich, international perspective every day.
- Attentive: With a 7:1 student-to-teacher ratio, we provide individualized learning plans tailored to each child. SEL and life skills are at the core of our curriculum, helping students develop the interpersonal and self-management skills they need. While our educators run the relationships, the narrative, and the plans, AI-driven tools support them in creating responsive and engaging learning experiences that fit the interests and needs of every child.
- Home-based: bina’s model works for families anywhere — and bina comes with you. Learning from home means a stable, safe environment, no commute, and more time together as a family, offering both consistency and flexibility.
- Accredited: We fully cover standards from the US, UK, Australia, and Canada, so our students can transition seamlessly to any international school worldwide, with an education that is universally recognized and respected.
- International schooling: Every day, our students and educators from different parts of the world meet and grow together. Our cross-cultural and cross-geographical approach gives children the global skills and perspectives they need to thrive. Through play and project-based learning, we ensure their foundations are strong and their creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving are nurtured within a global community.
In what ways do you think your approach might shape the future of education? What evidence supports this?
Our approach could shape the future of education by redefining what schooling is. Old schools look remarkably similar across the globe — structured, standardized, and often impersonal. Yes, it worked, somewhat, but our resources are completely different today and so are our goals.
School is a set of activities for a small group of small people and their educators. Those take place in an emotionally supportive, growth-inducing exciting environment. It occurs when teachers and peers wisely choose to match individual growth paths and goals.
The content and methodologies balance personalization with standardization, creating something only possible today thanks to advances in educational insights and technology. And, it is hilarious and fun.
The impact of this model is clear from how students respond — they are more engaged, confident, and invested in their learning. Learning outcomes are unmatched. We are building a framework that could be a foundation for the future of education: flexible, supportive, and reflective of the needs and interests of each child, and their parents.
How do you measure the impact of your innovative educational practices on students’ learning and well-being?
We take a holistic approach to impact measurement with qualitative and quantitative metrics. Academically, we track progress against international standards and bina additions such as SEL and life skills. We work with a learning taxonomy of micro-credentials and continuously update it for each of our learners.
Student and family perspectives and feedback are part of the cycle. The guiding principle is: that the closer the opinions of the stakeholders (student, family, educators, and system) about the learning, the better we do as a whole.
We work with students and their families to define personal learning goals and craft plans for how to achieve them. This multidimensional assessment helps us continually improve and ensures that we are supporting both the educational growth and the well-being of each student.
What challenges have you faced in implementing your educational innovations, and how have you overcome them?
Anyone who has ever dipped a toe into children’s education knows it is challenging, changing, speedy, and incredibly rewarding.
When building parallel systems, we must consider: where do we delicately stand on the shoulders of giants, taking the amazing body of work that we know as primary ed and re-implement? What parts do we believe did not age well and need a change?
A primary challenge has been establishing credibility in a deeply traditional field. We were not educated to educate this way! We have addressed this by being transparent about our methodology and outcomes and creating a strong support network for families to ensure they never feel alone in parenting.
Building trust and consistently delivering high-quality education in this new format requires meticulous attention to detail, curiosity, and a deep commitment to each family’s experience.
Keeping in mind the “Law of Unintended Consequences” can you see any potential drawbacks of this innovation that people should think more deeply about?
Gen Alpha will need both digital and physical social tools in their toolbox. bina students spend a quarter of each day working explicitly on the social-emotional curriculum. Certain aspects of socialization that traditional school environments, such as soccer and sandbox time, are not available in a virtual school. We are mindful of this and actively ensure our families engage in educational physical activities in their local communities.
Another concern is that emphasizing digital wonders could inadvertently lead to “screen fatigue” in younger learners. To counter this, we incorporate plenty of hands-on activities moving children away from the screens and plenty of movement breaks into our schedule. Staying aware of these potential consequences is critical to maintaining a balanced, healthy educational experience for each student.
What are your “5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started”?
If I could fly back to tell this to my younger self, she probably would not have listened. I am glad I am not young! I would say:
- Practice, practice, practice some more, oh, and practice. Moving mountains looks impossible, but if you are at it with all your might every day, then it becomes inevitable.
- You can do nothing great on your own — 98% of your focus should be supporting your people, relationships, and partnerships growth. Cherish them, listen closely, and be humble.
- When you have a clear set of values, all small decisions are easy. This is the best remedy for decision fatigue. If you feel like you are working hard on making decisions, look under the hood. You may lack some clarity in the value engine.
- People need more context! This requires a lot of patience. I am still working on this one!
- No, you do not need a co-founder.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Don’t just do something, stand there!” Deep observation and careful listening are critically important to make sure you are spending energy on the right things. It took me years to start building bina, and I am endlessly grateful I did not end up “moving fast and breaking things.”
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 🙂
Melinda Gates. I have some ideas for her.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Readers can stay up-to-date on the latest by visiting www.thebinaschool.com and can connect with me on LinkedIn.
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
About The Interviewer: Eden Gold, is a youth speaker, keynote speaker, founder of the online program Life After High School, and host of the Real Life Adulting Podcast. Being America’s rising force for positive change, Eden is a catalyst for change in shaping the future of education. With a lifelong mission of impacting the lives of 1 billion young adults, Eden serves as a practical guide, aiding young adults in honing their self-confidence, challenging societal conventions, and crafting a strategic roadmap towards the fulfilling lives they envision.
Do you need a dynamic speaker, or want to learn more about Eden’s programs? Click here: https://bit.ly/EdenGold.
Education Revolution: Noam Gerstein Of The bina School On Innovative Approaches That Are… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.