Perseverance in Education Brings Entrepreneurial Success

Marc Hoffman KLHT’95 traces his success as an education entrepreneur to eighth grade. He was nervous about entering the Upper School, as students often are. Sue Cesare LH’48, Head of School at the time, saw Marc’s hesitancy and was intent on seeing him move up and thrive.

“Sue Cesare is an amazing person,” Hoffman said. “I am where I am now because of the leadership role she took with me and the support I was given.”

Hoffman flourished in the Upper School. He became an excellent student and was named captain of the football team, voted homecoming king, and elected student body president. He developed relationships with students throughout the school. He graduated with perfect attendance.

“I do not believe there was a clinical terminology for ‘growth mindset’ and ‘inquiry-based learning’ back then,” said Hoffman, who channels his passion for education into seminars and workshops for schools and organizations. “King was on the cutting edge of education. That is why I was able to thrive.”

After King, he studied psychology at Williams College, worked in the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and earned his master’s degree in child clinical psychology at Yeshiva University before making education his career. He founded the Hoffman Educational Group to offer academic coaching and educational advocacy services for students and their families.

Emilia Approach, a child-centered, inquiry-based approach to learning. Students explore the environment within intentionally designed spaces that allow them to actively engage in their learning. The students’ interests and curiosity drive the curriculum, often resulting in long-term project work that helps develop concepts of knowledge and understanding.

—Marc Hoffman

In 2014, he founded Strong Start Early Care and Education, a project-based, early-education program for children from birth to five years old. The program serves nearly 400 children in Shelton and Trumbull, Connecticut.

“Strong Start is an extension of my experience in learning with King’s project-based model,” Hoffman said.

Like King’s Lower School, Strong Start’s philosophy is rooted in the Reggio

Sue Cesare LH’48 Remembers…

“Learning is not one-size-fits-all,” Hoffman said. “If I look at the people I work with professionally now, these are just übersuccessful people who all look at issues or solve problems differently, many of them being dyslexic and ADHD like myself. The learning environment is imperative to help cultivate that. If I had been in a passive learning environment where I was lectured, I would have had trouble, so I am committed to creating environments like the one I had.”

Hoffman loves seeing curiosity lead to discovery in the Strong Start students, including his son, Avi, 3.

“I have seen the project-based model’s impact on how he sees the world, how he applies what he learns in the classroom outside the classroom,”

Hoffman said. “That kind of learning model is so perfect; the openness, the exploration of it, is so good for kids. Everyone in education should be doing project-based learning.”

In 2021, he published “Positive Mindset, Self-Awareness, Perseverance,” a guide for students with learning differences and ADHD to find their strengths. “I am committed to ensuring kids have a strong start like I did.”

In addition to a desire to create learning opportunities for children, Hoffman left King with an appreciation for perseverance. He credits those formative years with his ability to thrive as an entrepreneur. According to Harvard Business Review, 90% of new businesses fail. He equates those odds with his chances of thriving in high school.

“Talent matters, but grit is more important,” he said. “Perseverance is key to success. Many people shy away from entrepreneurship because of the statistics. I thrive with those kinds of odds. I gravitate toward challenges, and that comes from that time in eighth grade. I know I can make it. I know what it takes.”

Just as King left an impression on Hoffman, so he did on the school. Since the 1990s, when Hoffman was still a student, Prize Day has featured the Marc L. Hoffman Award. The recognition is given to “a rising senior who has utilized strengths along with embracing a sense of an effective learning style to achieve academic excellence. Furthermore, this student has demonstrated honor, integrity, sound judgment, and fair play.” Hoffman enjoys attending the ceremony to meet the award recipient.

“I love King,” he said. “I owe so much to King. Whether they were clinically talking about growth mindset or emotional intelligence, the learning environment was conducive to cultivating all of those qualities. And now, as an educational entrepreneur, when I look back, I see how important and resonant that was.”

Hoffman plans to be part of the King community for years to come.

“I look forward to Avi attending King,” he said. “I can’t imagine a better launch in life.”