In the Moment

Nicholas Hobar believes in advancing the frontier of learning -- it's his passion. He strives to make learning at the speed of light accessible and affordable to a wider population. As the president of LearningFRONT, he offers professional and custom LearningFRONT communities to the education, government, and corporate sectors.

Nick is leading LearningFRONT to move from one teacher for many learners to thousands of teachers for each learner in virtual schools, workplaces, and homes. He is striving to scale this vision worldwide through LearningFRONT virtual professional learning communities.

Education. Nick earned his Bachelor of Science in Education Degree at California State College before earning his Master and Doctor of Education Degrees at The Pennsylvania State University.   

Teaching and Learning. He started his career teaching in the Michigan public schools. After that he taught and supervised associate teachers for The Pennsylvania State University in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia public schools. Next, he taught at Fairmont State College, the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and, currently, as an affiliate professor at Loyola University Maryland. For LearningFRONT, Nick facilitates virtual professional learning programs as a professional coach.  

Results. He initiated a graduate course at the Johns Hopkins University for integrating total quality in school reform and graduate courses at Loyola University Maryland for standards-based and data-driven instruction and assessment and technology for school leaders. Recently, he authored and delivers LearningFRONT virtual professional learning programs related to dynamic teaching and learning; creative thinking, collaboration, and innovation; data-driven instructional leadership; and action research for school improvement.

State Education Leadership. Nick provided statewide leadership and support in two state departments of education. In the West Virginia State Department of Education he directed learning systems for improving curriculum, instruction, teacher education and certification, professional development, and student learning. He provided statewide leadership for implementing a standards-based teacher education and program approval system, including the evaluation of approximately 500 teacher education programs in 17 institutions of higher education. Also, he supported a state task force to create a local school district needs-based professional development system for helping all teachers to improve student learning. On the technology front, he helped to pioneer for West Virginia public school general education the design, installation, and operation of the first statewide microcomputer network in the United States.  

Results: These policies and program efforts helped to create a totally aligned education system -- Pre-K through teacher education and certification and into public school professional development. This alignment moved education from a process-based to performance-based system and represents a pioneering effort that was created and supported by educators at all levels.  

For seven years he was the Assistant State Superintendent of Instruction, Maryland State Department of Education. In Maryland, he implemented early, middle, high school, and adult instructional programs; a state plan for ending adult illiteracy; computer-based learning and training delivery systems; workplace basics programs; school improvement models; total quality management strategies; and large scale assessment programs. He also supported programs for special populations, such as prekindergarten children, gifted and talented students, and non/limited English speaking students.  

Results: These leadership efforts contributed to increases by Maryland students on basic skills tests for reading, writing, mathematics, and citizenship; high stakes content and writing performance assessments, and completions of high school competency requirements for graduation. 

Nick co-founded LearningFRONT and became its president with the vision of creating new and better ways of learning. Since its start-up and over the years, LearningFRONT has helped its clients in the following ways.

Education

• Advised the Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, Texas, and Washington State Departments of Education and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission in efforts to define their education reform initiatives.
     
• Supported college faculties to apply performance-based and multimedia approaches to teacher preparation and portfolio assessment.
     
• Re-defined the Teach For America summer institute into a performance-based format.
     
• Assisted local schools and districts in Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas to implement quality-driven school improvement strategies, standards-based instruction, alternative assessments, technology plans, and TaskBuilder™ software and web sites.
   
• Developed performance-based standards for teacher education and certification that were adopted by the 50 states membership of the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification.
   
• Assisted the National Center for Alternative Certification to develop, launch, and support a searchable database for Teach-Now.org.
   
• Designed and delivered an online program for classroom assessment for the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence.
   
• Supported urban low performing and trailblazing schools to use data-driven instruction and assessment to meet school reform and accountability standards.
  
  Results: Professional services contributed by LearningFRONT helped states to re-conceptualize their policies, standards, and programs; teachers and schools to increase student achievement on classroom and state assessments; teacher educators to become performance-based; and organizations to align with state and local standards and programs.

Nick assisted the ASHLIN Management Group to implement a standards-based learning system for the U.S. Department of Labor Job Corps Office; develop a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) e-learning program for HIV Testing and Linking to Care; create and deliver a comprehensive worksite health curriculum that was delivered through four training models for the CDC; and design and deliver cultural competency and bias training to support Federal Drug Administration (FDA) personnel to improve health equity for minorities and under-represented populations.  

Results: Professional learning services supported the pilot-testing of three Job Corps Centers of Excellence and customized the LearningFRONT platform to deliver the CDC worksite health curriculum through hands-on, online, blended, and train-the-trainer training models to approximately 500 employers and trainees.

LearningFRONT initiated a strategy in 2019 for partnering with subject matter experts to develop and offer virtual professional learning programs to small and mid-size companies. The first program focused on The Power of Service Objectives to improve a company's planning, operation, and customer service goals and processes. In this approach, Nick supported the program SME to convert content and media into Learning Layouts for virtual delivery and provided technical support during online and F2F meetings.   

Results: A Baltimore IT company completed The Power of Service Objectives and developed its customized Services Objectives Project Plan to improve sales, customer on-boarding and satisfaction, network operation, helpdesk, and service delivery processes.

Nick has been recognized for his vision, leadership, and support at the international, national, state, and local levels. For example:

Results: The Governor of Maryland recognized Nick for his leadership, dedicated service, and innovation related to instruction, technology, and early childhood development programs. He was elected by his state department of education peers as the Chairperson of the National Council of States on Inservice Education and as a Vice President and Executive Board Member of the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification. He was appointed by the U.S. Department of Education to the Advisory Panel for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to serve as a consultant on the video study of classroom teaching in the United States, Germany, and Japan. He served as a board director for the Monarch Academy Charter School in Baltimore, MD. Currently, Nick is an active member of Insight, Peer Groups Exclusively for Business Owners, the Learning Revolution Worldwide Community, and the Ortus Academy Advisory Council.

Working with members of the LearningFRONT Team and its customers, Nick has created professional learning programs, the Dynamic Learning Lab, solution briefs, blog posts, digital media, software, and web-based applications.

Results: Check out LearningFRONT products and services