Head of Growth and Co-Head of Content, Michelle Gainer
Michelle’s career as an educator began with Teach for America. She has worked for the School District of Philadelphia for over 12 years both as an elementary school classroom teacher and her current role as Director of Culture and Community Engagement. She holds Master’s Degrees in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and in Education Policy and Leadership from American University. Michelle oversees marketing strategy and campaigns, brand positioning, content strategy, outreach, and instructional integrity.
Head of Technology, Jameson Sanders
Jameson comes from a family with deep roots in education, including teachers, principals, administrators and curriculum writers. With training in Graphic Design from the Art Institute, additional coursework in computer science and linguistics, and prior experience at Rosetta Stone, he sees involving families, teachers, and caregivers in learning as the gap Grade Level Guru is built to close. Jameson leads product design and app development, including Storytime Guru — the team’s first iOS app, currently in beta.
Head of Operations and Co-Head of Content, Amanda Gifford
After 20 successful years teaching middle and high school ESL and English Language Arts, Amanda left the classroom to pursue the creation of Grade Level Guru with Michelle and Jameson. She earned her Master’s in Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum from Drexel University in 2013 and a graduate certificate in ESL Teaching and Learning from the University of Delaware in 2023. Amanda helps out with design, product vision and feature definitions, business website, podcast structure and development, and content instructional integrity.
Our Story
Amanda and Michelle didn’t start Grade Level Guru in a boardroom. They started it walking down Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia.
The night before, Michelle had unexpectedly lost a co-worker, and Amanda drove into the city to spend the day with her grieving friend. As they walked through the August heat to grab lunch, they talked about education and how much they wished things were different.
Michelle, who taught 5th grade in Philly, saw how quickly students could fall behind. Amanda, who taught high school, saw what happened next. Too many students graduate reading far below grade level, struggling with basic math, and leave school without ever catching up. To them, that felt tragic and unjust.
Amanda often thought about her own childhood. In 4th grade, her mom noticed her test scores slipping and decided to help the only way she knew how. She photocopied Amanda’s textbooks from the Wright State University library, worked through math books with her on weekends, and spent hours teaching her how to study, highlight, and take notes.
Sometimes Amanda cried. Sometimes her mom cried too.
But after two years of hard work, 11 year old Amanda was scoring in the top 5% of students in her grade. She simply needed help filling learning gaps that busy classrooms could not always address.
Amanda and Michelle knew most families could not spend entire weekends tutoring their children. There had to be a better way.
Somewhere along Germantown Avenue, the idea for Grade Level Guru was born. At first it was going to be a workbook. Then Michelle sent Amanda a text:
“Let’s make an app.”
Michelle made a pitch deck and brainstormed every developer she knew: The build skill they needed came from an unexpected place — Amanda’s former roommate Jameson, a graphic designer they both knew through rock climbing. With his design and business background and current work in app development, Jameson joined as the third founder to help develop, build, and grow the products Michelle and Amanda envisioned.
Just like that, Grade Level Guru was born.