WASHINGTON, D.C. — E.L. Haynes Public Charter School is proud to announce that CEO Toni R. Barton, J.D., has been selected to join the prestigious founding cohort of Bett Builders. Ms. Barton was selected for this role following her work as a Google GSV Education Innovation Fellow. This is a significant national honor and speaks to the level of work taking place at E.L. Haynes and the future we are building together.
This invitation-only group of elite K–12 leaders is tasked with helping envision the inaugural Bett USA, launching in Nashville on November 8–10, 2027, as the U.S. bridge to the leading global education and innovation conference. Bett USA’s mission is to ensure every educator in America can access and confidently implement the best of what is possible in learning.
By helping to shape the future of learning design and instructional practice and global best practices at the highest level, this opportunity strengthens the work we are doing every day at E.L. Haynes. It keeps us close to new ideas about learning and allows us to bring those ideas back into our classrooms quickly and thoughtfully. Our students benefit from a school that is constantly learning, improving, and raising the bar for what is possible. As a Founding Bett Builder, Ms. Barton will advocate for the tools and frameworks that empower every educator to implement the best of what is possible in learning, starting right here in our own classrooms.
I’m excited to be part of the Bett Builder Community because…
We are at a tipping point where the “best of what’s possible” in learning is finally within reach for every student. I’m here to join a cohort of builders who aren’t interested in decorating a broken system, but in fundamentally redesigning it for the modern era.
To me, K–12 innovation means…
Designing for human flourishing. It’s the intentional act of closing the gap between how our legacy systems were built and how children actually learn. It isn’t about the gadgets we put in the classroom; it’s about the courage to change the architecture of the classroom itself.
Innovation only happens when…
We stop asking students to “fit” into our models and start demanding that our models fit our students. It requires us to trade the comfort of “how we’ve always done it” for the rigorous pursuit of what actually works.
K–12 leader-led innovation matters because…
Systems don’t change themselves; people change them. When leaders prioritize innovation, they create the “permission space” for teachers to be creative and for students to be seen. If the leadership isn’t driving the change, the status quo will always win.
An innovation bright spot I’m leading right now…
At E.L. Haynes, we are interrogating the intersection of intellectual rigor and radical belonging. We are moving beyond “one-size-fits-all” instruction to build a multi-campus model where every learner—regardless of their starting point—is met with high expectations and the specific structural support they need to meet them. We are proving that when you design for the “margins,” you actually build a better system for everyone.
Toni R. Barton, J.D.
CEO, Author, & Visionary Leader
“We don’t have a talent problem in our schools; we have a design problem. Innovation allows us to build systems that finally match the way students actually learn.”
Toni R. Barton is a leading voice in the movement to redefine the American educational experience. A visionary leader and strategist, Toni is on a mission to prove that educational excellence is the natural byproduct of environments designed for human flourishing. By pairing intellectual rigor with a deep commitment to belonging, she is challenging the status quo to build a future where every child is seen, heard, and equipped to succeed.
As the Chief Executive Officer of E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., Toni leads a multi-campus program that she is actively transforming into a national model for student-centered innovation. Her career spans over two decades of high-impact leadership, including founding Spelligent Education and the Inclusive Schools Leadership Institute at Relay GSE. There, she pioneered the frameworks used by school leaders across the country to dismantle barriers and improve academic outcomes for the students who need it most.
Recognized for her forward-thinking approach, Toni was selected as a 2025-2026 Google GSV Education Innovation Fellow, joining an elite cohort of U.S. leaders driving the next wave of instructional technology. A prolific author and sought-after speaker at SXSW EDU and the ASU+GSV Summit, she is the author of Six Principles for Building a Truly Inclusive School (Routledge, 2025) and Disrupting the Status Quo (2024).
Toni holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois and a Master’s in Education from Trinity Washington University. As a Founding Bett Builder, Toni is driven by a singular conviction: ‘We don’t have a talent problem in our schools; we have a design problem.’ She champions innovation as the key to building systems that finally align with how students actually learn.