Emaginos - Engaging Every Child Through Customizing Education
 Call us at: 571-222-7195
info@emaginos.com

 Emaginos History
Summary of our 30-year Journey to Transform America’s K-12 Public School System; and with it the Nation

In the Beginning … (even before the 30-year journey) ...

"An idea before it’s time must wait, for no one is crazy enough to grasp it… at the moment. 
And an idea whose time has passed must hope for a future in which it’ll be needed again.
But an idea whose time has come is a force. It changes the world. It alters reality. It’s unstoppable!
There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come."  Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885)

1816 –Thomas Jefferson legislated the current public school system based upon the English and French model from the 1700s. It was based upon memorization and teaching to the test. This model is still being used in in virtually every country throughout the world. However, it was never Jefferson’s intention that the model should not evolve as society and culture changed. As he so famously said, “Changes to institutions must go hand-in-hand with the progress of the human mind As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times … We might as well require a man to wear still the coat that fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of barbarous ancestors.“ Unfortunately, the K-12 education system has not evolved to keep up and provide the skills needed in a global economy, and the model for America’s current system is about 300 years old.  

And then Jack Taub got involved....

1977 – Jack Taub founded The Source which pioneered the consumerization of online computing that spawned CompuServe and America On-Line, etc. leading to the consumerization of the Internet.  

1980-1995 – Al Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and Ed McElroy, AFT VP, advised Taub on customizing education and remained friends and advisors for life. They pointed out that only 4.9% of high school graduates have reading proficiency; producing approximately 10,000 students per day who are essentially unemployable which led to the precipitous decline of the middle class and emergence of the underclass). This was before the Internet turned the world flat. They believed that all special-needs children are entitled to an IEP (Individualized Education Plan).  Taub and Shanker came to the realization that every child is special, and their education needs could only be met by customizing education for all children. All children are at risk. Some are at greater risk than others. This applies to the 54,000,000 current students and the generations to come.

1983 – The year of the Nation at Risk Report. Taub and Dr. Keith Larick, Supt. of Valencia School District got together and agreed on a goal that every child is special and would greatly benefit from a customized education.  

1980s – 2000s – The Internet became consumerized, creating a flat world and moving jobs all over the world; changing the skills required to earn a living from memorization to discovery, innovation, and high-performance skills.

1984 – Senior IBM executives host the first demonstration of an early attempt at transforming education with an award to Jack Taub, Part of the award in the form of a limerick said,
"No longer will there be learning pollution
for now we have the solution.
Combine High-Touch with High-Tech,
confidently stick out your neck,
and join the Taub Revolution.”

1986 – Created a joint venture with AT&T and Keith Larick to create: “The School of the Future” 

1986 – 2002 – Dr. Keith Larick is the Chief Education Officer for Emaginos and a long-time educational leader in California.
•Superintendent Placentia Yorba Linda - 1976-1986
•Superintendent Sacramento City Unified - 1986-1990
•Association of California School Administrators - Founded Executive Leadership Center - 1990-91
•President of Vistar Technologies - 1991-1995
•Superintendent Tracy Unified - 1995-2002
•Superintendent of Year - 1998
. 

2001 – Larick, Taub and others establish the Tracy Learning Center (TLC) as a demonstration of the Discovery and Innovation model for customized education based on their 20-years of efforts.  The program at the TLC has now been in operation for 10 years with over 10,000,000 hours of student and teacher classroom experience with outstanding results.  

In designing the program, the following criteria were followed:

  • Be affordable and scalable to all K-12 schools in America 
  • Use retrained volunteer teachers 
  • Have union support 
  • Create multidisciplinary project-based small group learning environment
  • Integrate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) 
  • Excel on all state standards 
  • Students work in diverse settings and small groups.
  • Eliminate student boredom and teacher burnout
  • Produce graduates with High Performance Employable Skills (i. e. Teamwork, initiative, reliability, creativity, communications, etc.) 

2007 – National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) votes unanimously for a policy supporting the goal of providing all children a customized education.

2009 – AT&T after appropriate due diligence and with the support of CEO Randal Stephenson, agreed to assist with the design and implementation of a comprehensive technology infrastructure to support a national network of districts of schools of Discovery and Innovation.

We are now working with the Commission to Transform K-12 Education and our grass-roots organization, The Power of US, to implement a national K-12 transformation.

The Commission includes: Chairman, Mort Bahr, President Emeritus of the Communications Workers of America; Vice Chairmen, Ed McElroy, President Emeritus of the American Federation of Teachers; Bill Brock, Former U. S. Senator, Secretary of Labor, and Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Other members include Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way, Raul Yzaguirre, President Emeritus of La Raza (presently inactive and serving as U. S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic) Pamela Tate, President and CEO of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL); Amy Kaslow, Senior Fellow at the Council on Competitiveness, Bonnie Bracey Sutton, Executive Director, The Power of US Foundation.  

During the American Revolution, Thomas Paine said, “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” That same opportunity exists now through transforming our public school systems, by enabling and empowering every child.

In April of 2011, Emaginos founder and Chief Visionary, Jack Taub, passed away.  The rest of the Emaginos team is proud to continue pursuing his dream.