In 2011, with just $99 (Rs 8,500) left in her bank account, Lisa Collum, a fourth-grade teacher from Florida, US, took a bold risk that would change her life and impact classrooms across America. Determined to help students excel in writing, she crafted a curriculum aimed at overcoming the challenges her students faced in state writing assessments—especially for those who spoke English as a second language.
What started as a humble side hustle, with a few binders filled with her lessons, evolved into Top Score Writing, a thriving multi-million-dollar enterprise that now serves schools across all 50 US states.
Collum’s career began at the Village Academy School, where she noticed her fourth graders struggled intensely with structured writing. Motivated by their anxiety over the state’s writing assessments, she devoted herself to helping them develop clear, well-structured essays. Her methods quickly proved effective: within a semester, 95% of her students passed the state test—up from a mere 38% the year before, she recalls. “It was incredible to see their confidence soar,” Collum tells CNBC Make It.
Over the next few years, her students’ proficiency levels continued to climb, prompting even the Florida Department of Education to investigate her methods, given the unprecedented success rates. This unique approach to writing instruction caught the attention of principals, who began requesting copies of her curriculum.
Initially, she hesitated, telling one principal, “There’s not an ounce of business in me. I can’t write this down and sell it.” But the demand persisted, and eventually, Collum started selling her curriculum binders for $75 each.
As word of her program spread, Collum’s side business began to eclipse her full-time teaching salary. In 2015, four years after launching Top Score Writing, she left her teaching role and poured her energies into her company. That same year, she purchased Coastal Middle and High School in Lake Park, Florida, a nonprofit private school where her curriculum could make a direct impact.
Today, Top Score Writing boasts nearly $1.9 million (over Rs 16 crore) in annual profits and has expanded to a team of six full-time and ten part-time employees. The curriculum’s digital version, launched in 2016, made it easier for schools nationwide to adopt her structured writing model, with prices now ranging from $125 to $625 depending on grade level and service packages.
Initially, Top Score Writing was designed with Title I schools in mind, aiming to provide accessible, structured writing resources for schools serving low-income communities. However, its adoption spread beyond these environments.
Yet, the curriculum has faced criticism, particularly in schools with high concentrations of “gifted” students. Parents and educators argue that its formulaic approach sacrifices creativity for structure, with some saying it trains students to perform on tests rather than to write meaningfully.
Reflecting on her journey, Collum admits that confidence didn’t come easily, despite her clear success. “The first five years, it was really hard to have confidence in myself, even though I had data that what I was doing worked,” she says.
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