Brad Smith and Laura Bresko, the co-founders of TeacherMade.com, have spent all of their lives in the education world. Raised in families of Teachers– aunts, uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers and, most importantly, moms who all taught school, there was little doubt where they’d direct their professional attention. Coming of age during the 80s and 90s, they combined their natural attraction to technology with their education DNA. They’ve been making impactful edtech ever since– fueled by occasional stints in the classroom. They’re happiest when they’re solving problems for Teachers– and always capitalize the word out of respect for the beautiful, caring people who have enormous influence in each of our lives. We’re all “Teacher-made.”

Though we are a new site, we are not new to the edtech space. Our first company focused on the ELA classroom, making fully annotated and hyperlinked, multimedia books before the internet was available. A textbook publisher acquired it. In our second company, we made essential Teacher tools desktop software (remember that stuff?): puzzle makers, worksheet generators, test builders, etc. Harry Potter’s publisher bought most of those products. We didn’t really want to sell but sometimes it’s foolish to say no. So we kept our test maker software because we were excited about the promise of data-driven instruction. Laura and her content team wrote 100,000+ test questions, and we spent over a decade publishing Teacher favorites like FCAT Test Maker, STAAR Test Maker, and other state-specific assessment products. That company, Progress Testing, was acquired by Illuminate Education in 2018– and in 2022, Illuminate Education was acquired by Renaissance Learning. (Shhh. It’s a secret. 😉 So we’ve been supplying some of the biggest names in education with great products for decades.

With TeacherMade, we’re so glad to be back where our hearts have always been– with YOU, the classroom Teacher. (I hope you’re able to feel our joy right through this screen!) We look forward to hearing from each and every one of you. What was born in a pandemic now reaches around the globe to help Teachers everywhere deliver instruction in a more productive and personal way.