We're on a mission to make teacher feedback meaningful.
At Tandem Education, we believe that when administrators are freed from paperwork and equipped with evidence-based insights, they can provide the kind of feedback that actually improves teaching practice—and, ultimately, student outcomes.
Our name reflects our philosophy: real growth happens in partnership. Administrators and teachers working together. Human expertise and AI support working together. That's the tandem approach.
Born from real experience, built for real classrooms.
Tandem Education didn't start in a boardroom or a venture capital pitch meeting. It started in hallways, classrooms, and late nights spent writing evaluation reports.
Our founders have spent decades in education—as principals navigating the impossible math of teacher evaluation, as instructional coaches helping teachers grow, and as technology leaders building solutions for complex educational challenges.
We saw firsthand how the evaluation process had become a time-consuming compliance exercise that left teachers feeling judged rather than supported. We knew there had to be a better way.
Elevate is that better way: an AI-supported platform that handles the administrative burden so evaluators can focus on what they went into education for—helping teachers become the best version of themselves.
Our Leadership
Rolland Hayden
Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer
16 Years of Administrative Leadership
Rolland Hayden brings 16 years of administrative leadership to Tandem Education, rooted in a 22-year career spanning both High School and Middle School education. Guided by the conviction that "genuine school improvement starts with elevating teaching practice", Rolland has dedicated his career to moving supervision away from "gotcha" moments and toward the coaching that drives growth. His commitment to school culture and instructional excellence has earned him an Innovation in Teaching and Learning Award, the Apple for the Teacher Award, and the Teen Truth Best School Staff and Student Culture Award. His ability to operationalize best practices is further evidenced by his success in guiding a former campus to become an ENVoY Certified School. Rolland helped to found Tandem to scale this impact, combining his on-the-ground expertise with technical innovation to foster the professional growth that leads to student achievement.
Sarah Hayden
Co-Founder & Chief Learning Officer
Expert in Reflective Practice
Sarah brings a deep expertise in professional development to the Tandem Education team with 22 years in education. Having served as an Instructional Coach for the Gresham-Barlow and Salem-Keizer School Districts, she has led district-wide initiatives in proficiency grading, data teams, and coaching frameworks. A recipient of the Crystal Apple Award and the Oregon Reading Association's Exemplary Program Award, Sarah knows what excellence looks like in the classroom. She built the coaching logic behind Tandem, based on methodologies like "Reflective Conversations", to ensure every teacher receives the specific, actionable feedback they need to succeed.
Julian Pscheid
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
20+ Years in Technology Leadership
Julian is the technical visionary behind Tandem Education. With over two decades of technology and product experience, he co-founded EMERGE, a digital product agency serving clients including Stanford University, Georgetown University, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Julian also served as an advisor to the Foundation's Technology Partner Network. As Founder of Hedy AI, Julian is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to enhance professional communication and human performance. He brings enterprise-grade engineering and advanced AI architecture to Elevate, ensuring our platform delivers secure, accurate, and meaningful insights. With executive education from Wharton and London Business School alongside his CS and Business degree from the University of Oregon, Julian bridges the gap between complex technology and the human needs of the classroom, ensuring our AI serves the pedagogy, not the other way around.
What guides us
Human judgment at the center.
AI is a powerful tool, but evaluation is fundamentally a human endeavor. Our technology assists and supports—it never replaces the professional judgment of educators.
Evidence over opinion.
Meaningful feedback must be grounded in specific, observable moments. We help evaluators capture and communicate evidence that teachers can reflect on and build from.
Growth over gotcha.
Teacher evaluation should be a catalyst for professional development, not a compliance checkbox. Our approach uses invitational inquiry to invite reflection rather than defensiveness.
Privacy as foundation.
Student data protection isn't a feature we added—it's a principle we built the entire platform around. FERPA compliance is in our DNA.