Growing up, Elizabeth Orme ’15 EdS would describe herself as a child with a “busy brain.”
“I was totally the third grader doing handstands against the wall,” the University of St. Thomas alumna recalled about her experience as a neurodivergent student. “My teacher figured out that I learned in different ways. So, naturally, I was drawn to how people’s brains worked and the different strengths they had.”
Orme’s fascination with the various ways students grasped information sparked her interest in special education and later helped foster her start-up, Creatively Focused, a software company that supports special education teachers.
According to the company’s e-book, 50% of special educators depart within five years, and 75% within a decade, a staggering statistic for schools and students who rely on these essential faculty members.
“Administrative and collegial support is really important to the retention of special education teachers,” stated Dr. Shelley Neilsen Gatti, special education professor at the University of St. Thomas. “Research shows that teachers leave because of the workload. Sometimes the workload is just too much, and there’s not enough teachers … there’s just not enough time to do all the work.”
Orme saw the toll the demanding and time-consuming profession took on her colleagues during her experience at the University of Chicago, where she assisted teachers who were often drained from their workload. But when Orme collaborated with them on innovative tasks, such as developing new curriculums, she felt their excitement from doing creative work in a community with other people who understood the daily challenges they faced as educators to students with special needs.
Wanting to help those in the field retain their passion for their profession while making their workload easier, Orme went back to school in 2013 after working as a special education teacher at Twin Cities Academy. Two years later, she earned her education specialist degree and principal and director of special education licensure from the University of St. Thomas. She did all this while working as a special education coordinator for Twin Cities Academy.
Orme continued to advance her career, becoming the director of special education services for the academy when the idea for her start-up formed. After meeting with a family whose child needed a third new case manager for the student’s individual education plan because the former teacher resigned, Orme reached her tipping point.
“I felt like the student deserved better,” she explained. “The family deserved better … it was kind of in that moment where I started really asking myself the ‘what if’ questions.”
Orme literally went to the drawing board, brainstorming ideas on her whiteboard for how she could create a company to help support those in the special education field. She took a day off to begin developing Creatively Focused, the name inspired by characteristics of her brain, which also spoke to the experience of people around her.
With the help of her colleagues, Orme designed a logo for her start-up, and in 2016 founded Creatively Focused as a services company that provided coaching to Minnesota school districts and special education teachers. Originally, Orme expected Creatively Focused to be a fun side project, but one month after creating the start-up, she had 15 districts that were interested in utilizing the platform for their schools. From there, Orme made the switch to full time, and later hired colleague Shannon Hady, a special education teacher and coordinator Orme worked with at the academy, as her executive assistant for the company.
“I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Elizabeth for almost 13 years, and I can honestly say she’s one of the most driven, passionate, and inspiring people I’ve ever known,” Hady said. “Her dedication to Creatively Focused goes far beyond a job – it’s a mission she pours her heart into every single day.”
Orme’s ambition is evident through her continuous work to improve Creatively Focused. Four years after its founding, she transformed Creatively Focused into a technology company. Through its software platform axis3, Orme provides personal support, task management help and professional development tools to prevent burnout, elevating special educators’ retention and maintaining their passion for teaching.
Sarah Pratt, director of special services at Northfield Public Schools, expressed her gratitude for the special education start-up.
“Creatively Focused embodies what it means to be a true partner. The platform has been incredibly simple to both implement and use, making it easy for our staff to get up and running. Working with Creatively Focused has also proven to be financially beneficial for our district, enabling us to be more cost-effective. Thanks to Creatively Focused, our staff has the resources they need at their fingertips!”
Since its launch in Minnesota, Creatively Focused has spanned across 10 states, receiving recognition from EdTech Digest, Forbes, Star Tribune and Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. In addition, Creatively Focused raised over $3 million through the support of venture capital firms to help scale the start-up faster and implement its services in larger districts and other states to promote national growth.
“It’s really helping,” Orme concluded about her company’s achievements. “Special education teachers are feeling like they have what they need when they need it, and special education directors and administrators are getting their time freed up to be able to really work on the needle moving things that can really improve student outcomes.”
