About Us
Meet Our Team
Meet Larry
Larry Ainsworth is the author or co-author of more than 20 books, including his most popular titles: Rigorous Curriculum Design; Common Formative Assessments 2.0; Prioritizing Common Core State Standards; Power Standards; “Unwrapping” Common Core State Standards, and “Unwrapping” the Standards.
Larry’s comprehensive new book series, Integrating Teaching and Learning: “Timeless Essentials” for Creating Integrated Units of Study (2024), explains and illustrates in detail how PK-12 educators can develop quality units of study that intentionally align standards, assessments, instruction, and data analysis to positively impact student learning.
Currently an independent author-consultant, Larry served as the Executive Director of Professional Development at The Leadership and Learning Center in Englewood, Colorado, from 1999 to 2013. He traveled nationally and internationally to assist school systems in implementing best practices related to standards, assessment, curriculum, and instruction across all grades and content areas. Throughout his career as an education consultant, Larry has delivered keynote addresses and breakout sessions across North America and in Argentina and Switzerland, and regularly worked on-site and virtually to assist leaders and educators in understanding and implementing “timeless” education practices in all content areas, pre-kindergarten through grade 12.
Drawing upon 24 years of experience as an upper elementary and middle school classroom teacher in demographically diverse schools in several U.S. states, Larry brings a varied background and wide range of professional experiences to each of his presentations.
Since 2020 Larry has been presenting to educators and leaders across the U.S. a series of virtual workshops based on his Integrated Teaching and Learning System©, a dynamic unit-design framework that includes: prioritizing and aligning PreK-12 standards, “unwrapping” Essential Standards, writing Student-Learning Targets and Success Criteria, designing quality formative and summative assessments with easy-to-use Scoring Guides, identifying Learning Progressions for daily instruction, planning Quick Progress Checks to provide teachers and students with timely feedback, and creating Standards-Aligned Learning Tasks to engage all learners. If you would like more information about his Integrated Teaching and Learning System© (ITLS), please visit Larry’s website at www.larryainsworth.com or contact him directly at larry@larryainsworth.com.
Jennie Hurley, Exec. Asst./Educ. Success Facilitator
Jennie is passionate about supporting student success through education. After receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Child Development & Family Studies from California State University, Long Beach, she worked for 18 years at CSULB, six years as a Program Coordinator in the Extended Studies College, and then 12 years as the Associate Director of the President’s Scholars Program at CSULB. After receiving her Master of Education Counseling degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills, she worked as an articulation officer and faculty member at Cypress Community College before transitioning to teaching college classes and providing academic counseling at Fullerton College.
After moving to Boise, Idaho in 2018 with her husband and two children, she received certification as a career counselor and worked at Boise State University as a temporary career counselor. Seeking a job that continued to support education and allowed flexibility as a parent, she has been working with Larry Ainsworth Consulting for the last two years as an Executive Assistant and has enjoyed supporting the K-12 education community as an Education Success Facilitator.
Jena Sautter, Professional Learning Associate
Jena is excited to join Larry’s team because she believes that every child should be supported to feel and become successful. She passionately believes that teaching educators and leaders how to use the “Timeless Essentials” of Larry Ainsworth’s new book series, Integrating Teaching and Learning: “Timeless Essentials” for Creating Integrated Teaching and Learning, and the related workshops, will exponentially increase student success through this process.
After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and her Elementary Teaching Credential from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Jena began her teaching career in Costa Rica. There she became proficient in Spanish as preparation to then become a bilingual teacher in Denver, Colorado. She taught in Denver Public Schools for three years before joining a school district in suburban Denver.
Jena then took her teaching ability to the corporate setting and began training sales representatives for a national leader in the insurance and financial industry. After starting a family, she and her husband decided to return to the world of educating children by opening and operating two franchised preschools, which they did together for 17 years. During her time as administrator of the preschools, she created curriculum and taught teachers and parents about all aspects of education and child development.
After eventually selling her two preschools, in 2024 Jena wanted to continue being part of the world of teaching and was invited to join Larry Ainsworth Consulting, LLC, as a Professional Learning Associate, where she continues to actively support PreK-12 education by working closely with Larry to market, promote, and implement his “timeless essentials” workshops in school systems throughout the U.S. and beyond.