The Operating System for Sustainable Early Childhood Programs
Rooted helps early childhood leaders move beyond burnout and build programs where teachers feel supported, children thrive, and families experience consistency and trust.
We combine research-based teacher trainings, leadership coaching, and 24/7 AI-powered support into one cohesive system—designed to strengthen your team, deepen classroom practice, and create a healthy, long-lasting program culture.
Rooted is more than PD. It’s a complete approach to running a stable, sustainable, well-supported program.
Pause for a moment.
Why did you become a teacher?
What brings you joy in your work?
What drains you?
We ask these questions because they matter — not just to reflect, but to reclaim.
We help directors implement intentional practices to reduce what drains them and bring purpose and joy back into their work.
It starts with your vision.
Key Challenges for Early Childhood Leaders
-
❌ Fragmented, Piecemeal Professional Development
Most programs collect trainings from many different sources. This leads to inconsistent classroom practices, gaps in teacher knowledge, and management friction. Parents feel the inconsistency. Teachers feel under supported. Supervisors expend significant energy managing misalignment.
-
❌ Burnout & Constant Crisis Management
Leaders and teachers alike are exhausted. Without proven ‘systems’—and no support in building them—leaders spend their days firefighting. The result: burnout, turnover, and a revolving door of staff who never get grounded enough to do their best work.
-
❌ Lack of Leadership Tools & Operating Systems
Most directors were promoted because they’re strong educators—not because they were trained in management, operations, conflict resolution, or culture-building. Without concrete strategies and systems to support them, leaders often feel ineffective in their role.
The Rooted Approach
-
Everything effects everything - all systems should work together
Most early childhood programs treat different ‘systems’ as separate - professional development, teacher supervision, financial management, hiring, etc. We believe these systems should reinforce each other.
Rooted is a one-stop operating system where teacher training, leadership coaching, and practical management systems all work in harmony.
This creates something powerful: program synergy.
-
Everyone must feel appreciated, supported and effective
This field is chronically undersupported at the leadership level. When leaders aren’t supported, teachers can’t be fully supported—and children and families feel the impact.
Everything starts at the top.
We strive to create organizations where everyone feels appreciated, supported, and effective in their role. This is the key to educator longevity.
-
Supportive coaching + training works better than training alone
Professional development on its own rarely creates lasting change. Educators may gain insight, but without ongoing support, implementation fades—especially in high-stress environments.
Coaching bridges the gap between knowing and doing.
When teachers and leaders receive ongoing guidance, feedback, and real-time problem solving, training becomes practical, sustainable, and deeply embedded in daily practice.
We’ve built the kind of program directors dream of.
Most directors can’t imagine a program where…
– Staff love showing up and stay for years
– Teachers support each other and grow together
– Parents line up years in advance to enroll
– Directors have energy left at the end of the day
But that’s exactly what we built — not once, but over and over again.
Over 40+ years in early childhood education, we developed a system of leadership, support, and operations that transformed a one-room program into a multi-site school serving hundreds of families.
Here’s what that looked like in practice:
🌱 Teachers stayed 8+ years on average — teachers felt valued, supported, and invested in
🌱 Directors stayed 20+ years on average — leaders had the support & systems to sustain themselves
🌱 Zero marketing spend — every new family came through reputation and referral for the first 20 years
🌱 2-year waitlists — families held spots before their children were even born
🌱 Thriving team culture — teachers loved their 1-on-1 director check-ins and leaned on each other
🌱 Self-funded expansion — 4 state-of-the-art campuses built entirely from program revenue
🌱 Transformational impact — children who struggled elsewhere often flourished here
🌱 Strong family partnerships — parents turned to directors and teachers for guidance and support
This wasn’t luck — it was the result of repeatable systems developed through decades of hands-on leadership. And it’s the foundation of everything we teach through Rooted.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Many of the challenges directors face today have been solved before — we know what works, and we’re here to share it.
🌿 Rooted is your partner in sustainable, effective, and inspired early childhood leadership.
We’re creating a new category of support for early childhood programs — a complete system designed to transform how directors lead and how programs run.
Our Membership
Rooted’s annual membership gives directors everything they need to strengthen their program — without piecing it together on their own. Members get:
🌱 Leadership Trainings: A complete leadership development system — with expert-led sessions on everything from teacher supervision to financial management.
🌱 Staff Meeting Trainings: Ready-to-go trainings designed for your teachers, aligned with best practice and PD hour requirements.
🌱 RootedAI: A 24/7 AI coach trained on our resources — to help leaders make better decisions, faster.
🌱 Time Savings Tool & Templates: Use our ready-to-go budgeting models, teacher observation forms, hiring guides, and more.
🌱 Parent Education Resources: Guides to help families feel supported and aligned with your program goals.
Even More Value (Included at No Extra Cost)
🌱 Personalized Program Roadmap: Every member starts with an in-depth assessment — we’ll analyze your current systems and provide a tailored roadmap to help you grow.
🌱 1:1 Coaching with Industry Experts: Personalized support from former directors who’ve built some of the highest quality programs in the country.
🎓 Explore Our Trainings
You can purchase trainings à la carte — or become a member for unlimited access and hands-on support.
Our growing training library covers the real-world challenges directors and teachers face every day. Each topic is grounded in decades of experience and designed to be immediately useful — not just theoretical.
Whether you're trying to build a stronger supervision model, set clearer expectations with staff, or strengthen parent partnerships — we’ve got a training for that.
Get a free teacher training
Try one of Rooted’s signature 90-minute staff meeting trainings—free.
You’ll get a full sample training, including:
Didactic Video – Expert-led videos to introduce new concepts.
Hands-On Activities – structured reflection and discussion tied directly to teachers’ real classroom challenges.
Teacher Handouts – practical tools teachers can bring back to the classroom the next day.
Parent Email Template – educational handouts for families to help them apply these same principles at home.
See how Rooted’s trainings save hours of prep time, improve teachers efficacy in the classroom, and create a more reflective, collaborative team culture.
Director Trainings
A Complete Leadership System — Built by People Who’ve Been There
At Rooted, our director trainings are more than isolated workshops — they provide a full operating system for your program.
Each training fits into a carefully designed framework developed over decades by leaders who’ve actually built and run top-tier programs.
You’re getting proven systems — for hiring, teacher supervision, financial planning, classroom observation, and more — all designed to work in concert with one another to transform your program.
All of our leadership trainings are eligible for professional development hours.
Every training includes:
🌱 Step-by-step systems & frameworks you can apply immediately
🌱 Real-world examples from high-functioning programs
🌱 Tools, templates, and reflection prompts
🌱 Led by experienced early childhood leaders
Building Strong Teams Starts With How PD Is Delivered
Many team-culture challenges are actually symptoms of how professional development happens in most programs.
When teachers learn in isolation—or only through self-paced modules—they don't build shared language, shared strategies, or shared trust.
We design PD to bring teachers together, strengthen relationships, and create opportunities to learn from one another.
When PD is collaborative, reflective, and grounded in real classroom practice, teachers naturally begin to support each other, share expertise, and build a culture they’re proud to be part of.
Stronger culture isn’t a “nice to have.”
It’s what keeps teachers growing, connected, and committed.
Staff Meeting Trainings
12 Month’s of Ready-to-Use Teacher Trainings That Save You Time and Strengthen Your Team
We know how hard it is to carve out time for meaningful professional development. That’s why we offer a full suite of ready-to-use teacher trainings—each one designed to fit seamlessly into a 60–90 minute staff meeting.
We position you—the director—as the facilitator of your staff’s learning and growth. We provide the structure, tools, and content - you and your team fill in the space.
These aren’t check-the-box trainings. Teachers love them and directors tell us they see stronger collaboration, deeper reflection, and more thoughtful classroom practice. Plus, each session can count toward staff professional development hours.
Why behavior challenges keep showing up in classrooms
When teachers struggle with children’s behavior, it’s usually because they’re missing the tools to truly understand what’s going on beneath the surface and what it means.
Teachers are trying to fix behavior without understanding development.
Without a clear understanding of developmental milestones, teachers often misinterpret behaviors or set expectations that children aren’t yet ready to meet.
They’re unsure what skills children are building at their age.
This leads to an emphasis on correcting the behavior, rather than scaffolding the skills lead to positive behavior patterns over time.
They don’t know how to scaffold social-emotional skills.
Without tools like co-regulation techniques, emotion narration, or reflective questioning, teachers see little improvement in the child's ability to self regulate, and establish positive patterns of behavior.
Our staff trainings are different.
Our staff meeting trainings give your team the language, insight, and support they need to truly understand children’s “behavior as communication” — and respond intentionally.
We focus on:
🌱 Understanding development and what children are ready for
🌱 Seeing behavior as a window into skill-building
🌱 Practical strategies to meet children where they are
🌱 Tools to scaffold emotional regulation and problem-solving
🌱 Hands-on activities where teachers can apply new strategies to their own classroom challenges
Meet RootedAI: Your On-Demand Leadership Coach
Real-time answers. Rooted expertise. Always by your side.
RootedAI is your 24/7 thought partner — trained on all of Rooted’s tools, templates, and frameworks — and built to help early childhood directors make better decisions, faster. Whether you're handling a team conflict, planning a parent meeting, or reworking your staff schedule, RootedAI gives you practical, research-based guidance tailored to your program’s unique needs.
✔️ Ask about leadership challenges, difficult conversations, or teacher supervision practices
✔️ Get help applying Rooted’s frameworks to real-time situations
✔️ Access quick links to trainings, templates, and parent resources
✔️ Available anytime
No more guessing. No more Googling. Just intelligent support — whenever you need it.
Hear from our founders
David Shapiro
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Robin Shapiro
Co-Founder & Chief Learning Officer (CLO)
What directors say they really get from Rooted
-
🌱 The Confidence to Lead Your Program
“In the past, I’ve felt like I’m on an island. I don’t have anywhere to check myself. Now I feel confident leading my program."
-
🌱 Re-alignment With Your Purpose
“I want to do the right thing for kids, teachers, and parents. I find that Rooted mirrors that intention. It’s given me the confidence that this work IS a good thing to do and it gives you a system to do that. It’s connected me back to WHY I started doing this work in the first place.”
-
🌱 Time Back and Peace of Mind
“These systems and tools mean I’m not spinning my wheels anymore. I’ve stopped reinventing the wheel every week. Everything Rooted provides works together.”
Struggling with teacher turnover, burnout, or constant team challenges?
In this free, 10-minute video we share the key systems and mindsets that help programs create thriving, stable teams — where teachers stay for 8+ years and directors stay for decades.
Learn the strategies we use to strengthen culture, reduce stress, and keep great educators growing in your program.
SEEDS
Our work is grounded in our proprietary SEEDS Framework
We help you plant the foundations for sustained excellence in your Early Childhood program
-
In understanding how everything is interconnected, we help you build integrated systems, create wellness, improve program quality, and save time.
-
Your teachers are your most valuable asset. Through our ‘teacher first’ strategy, we help you support, develop, appreciate and retain them.
-
Self-care is critical. We teach you how to create schedules, policies and expectations to preserve everyone's energy and motivation.
-
Lead with clarity. We help you use a clear mission and vision to simplify decision making, align your team, and attract families who are the right match for your program.
-
Financial wellness is critical to program success. From budgeting to daily planning, we show you how to create efficiency, effectiveness, predictability and intentionality for you and your program.
If your cup feels empty, you’re not alone.
Most directors are endlessly meeting the needs of children, parents, and teachers. It’s easy to feel like the job is just too much.
But here’s the truth
Your role doesn’t have to be this hard.
We’re here to fill your cup.
What directors are saying
-
"The Rooted team is absolutely incredible. The impact they’ve had on my program is life changing. I cannot recommend them enough.”
Maureen, Preschool Director
-
“Before working with Rooted, I was on the verge of shutting down. I was burned out and desperate for guidance. Rooted changed everything — they gave me support I couldn’t find anywhere else and inspired me in new ways.”
Katie, Preschool Director