Why we made Dot It

The standards aren't just about the state test.

The standards make better teachers and learners.

As former teachers, we understand how hard it really is.

30+years working in districts across the country

2018the year we started building Dot It

For more than 30 years, we’ve worked in districts across the country. We kept seeing the same thing. Teachers worked hard. Districts bought recommended programs. And meeting grade level standards was still very complicated.

Too many documents. Too many steps between a standard and a lesson students can learn from.

So in 2018, we started building Dot It. Every standard has its own page, and everything a teacher needs is on that one page: the lesson, student practice and assessment, all made from the standards.

Today, teachers open Dot It, pick a standard, and get to work. We see what happens next every day, and it’s still our favorite part: the joy of seeing students meet standards daily.

When teaching standards becomes easy, everyone can meet standards daily.

Teachers

go from overwhelmed

to confident.

They walk into class knowing exactly what each standard expects, and the day feels doable.

Leaders

go from hoping

to knowing.

They know where students are today and where to help next.

Teams

go from dread

to joy.

Everything is on one page, so teams are on the same page, and team meetings feel like a joy.

The people behind Dot It.

Where education and engineering expertise meet.

Co-founder

Susan Milliones

Susan has consulted with districts and trained thousands of educators at every level across the United States in instructional improvement and organizational change. She is a graduate of the Learning Forward Academy for professional learning. She has presented at national conferences, including National Title I, and has worked on federal grants for MTSS implementation. Her work with district and school leaders to raise expectations in purposeful teams has closed achievement gaps and improved the quality of educational experiences for students and adults alike. Susan is a co-founder and systems developer for Dot It.

Co-founder

Laurie McDanel

Laurie has an Ed.S. in School Administration and a Master’s in Special Education from Western Carolina University, and a B.S. from the University of Tennessee. She has 20 years of special education classroom experience and 10 years of leadership experience at the school and district levels. Her innovative leadership as a Special Education Director led to the significant closure of achievement gaps for students with disabilities in her district. Laurie is a co-founder and the application designer of Dot It.

Chief Technology Officer

Britt McDanel

Having grown up around educators, Britt holds tremendous respect for the work you do, especially the flexibility and empathy your jobs require. After graduating from Wake Forest University, he channeled that respect into building Dot It. Britt is responsible for the development, enhancement, and security of Dot It, making sure it is quicker, clearer, and better than any other tool on the market. He is happy to field any questions about getting the most from Dot It in your schools.

Software Engineer

Bradley McDanel, Ph.D.

Bradley holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard University and M.S. and B.S. degrees from Wake Forest University. As a professor at Franklin & Marshall College, he is known for his hands-on approach and his dedication to making deep learning concepts accessible to students. At Dot It, Brad combines his expertise and his understanding of student needs to build a platform that supports educators and learners in an effective, user-friendly way. In his spare time, he enjoys online chess.

District Success Manager

James Stevenson

James earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Centre College and went on to work at a Fortune 500 company. He is our collaborative, energetic customer success advocate and in-house creative. His expertise in software engineering and experience design shows up in our intuitive, self-guided software with a human touch. James is happy to show you the full power of Dot It professional development and software, and to find the package that’s right for your teams.

Who we serve

Our heroes are school and district leaders. Your heroes are the teachers you support.

You want teachers meeting grade level standards daily. So do we.

Superintendents
Acedemic Officers
Special Eduation Directors
Title I Directors
Principals
Coaches

See Dot It for yourself.

In 30 minutes, we’ll show you how Dot It makes standards visible, teachable, and measurable daily, all on one page.

Schedule a demo →