About Actuate

Changing lives. Transforming performance.

Actuate Development Company, LLC is dedicated to transforming educational practices. We believe strategic, literacy-focused practices are the key to improving student performance and lives.

Founder & CEO

Dr. Essie B. Hill

Meet the Founder

An instructional leadership coach with 20+ years in secondary education.

Dr. Hill's experience in K-12 education highlighted a critical issue: too many students, particularly from marginalized communities, are locked out of future opportunities due to low literacy skills.

We equip educators with secondary literacy training to foster student achievement and well-being while also building a more confident, motivated, and satisfied educator workforce.

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About Actuate

Five commitments behind every engagement.

Professional Empowerment

We provide secondary educators with advanced, specialized literacy tools so they feel masterful, motivated, and fulfilled in their craft.

Evidence-Based Excellence

Discipline-specific literacy strategies rooted in rigorous research, actionable data, and proven classroom practices that reliably boost achievement.

Holistic Well-Being

By reducing instructional frustration and fostering engagement, we support the mental, emotional, and academic well-being of teachers and students.

Collaborative Partnership

We actively partner with secondary educators and school communities, listening to their unique needs to deliver tailored professional development.

Equity Through Literacy

By equipping teachers to unlock complex, discipline-specific texts for every learner, we dismantle achievement gaps and expand opportunity.

Biography

A leader at the intersection of literacy, equity, and instruction.

Credentials

Doctorate in education with a focus on instructional leadership.

Author

Author of three publications on caring, engaging, and strengths-based education.

Experience

20+ years across classrooms, coaching, and facilitating professional learning.

Impact

Documented student gains including a 90.4% state standards pass rate.

Equipping secondary educators with the specialized literacy tools needed to unlock content-area access, college readiness, and career success for every learner.