🌟Our Story: Building Systems That Serve Communities
Dr. Rob Collins Jr., Ed.D., is an educator, innovator, and lifelong advocate for building authentic, equitable systems of learning. Over the past decade, Rob has served as a teacher, teacher leader, program manager, and policy consultant, working at the intersection of education, community development, and public innovation to spark and sustain transformation across Kentucky and beyond.
Rob’s journey began in the classroom, where he discovered the power of connecting students to real-world issues and authentic learning experiences. Innovation was never a buzzword — it was the heartbeat of his teaching. As his leadership grew, so did his reach, leading him to roles as President of the Greenup County Education Association, a teacher fellow with the Prichard Committee and Teach For America Appalachia, and eventually as a state-level program manager at the Kentucky Department of Education, where he oversaw multi-million dollar innovation initiatives and supported more than 100 districts in designing future-ready systems.
Rob’s work has been instrumental in launching transformational efforts like the Kentucky Portrait of a Learner, Local Laboratories of Learning (L3), the Kentucky Innovative Learning Network (KY ILN), and the Kentucky Innovative Teacher Fellowship. He has also helped bridge competency-based pathways between K–12 and postsecondary education, creating smoother, more meaningful learning trajectories for students across the Commonwealth.
Nationally, Rob’s leadership has been recognized through his selection as a 2024–2025 Obama USA Leader, a Catalyst Fellow with the EdSAFE AI Alliance, and collaborations with the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Throughout every chapter, one driving belief has remained: systems should serve communities, not constrain them.
💡Why CIP Learning Was Born
Rob founded Commonwealth Innovation Partners (CIP Learning) to bring that belief to life in a new way.
At CIP, we partner with schools, districts, nonprofits, small businesses, and community organizations to design and implement systems that are:
Competency-Based and Future-Focused 📊
Hands-On and Joyful 🙌
Community-Rooted and Sustainable 🏙️
Ethical and Human-Centered, Especially with Emerging Technologies 🤖
Our work isn’t about chasing trends — it's about building capacity, connection, and opportunity where it matters most.
We help turn bold ideas into real-world change by blending strategic design, technical assistance, leadership coaching, and creative problem-solving into every project.
The future isn’t something we wait for — the future is a verb.
Through every service and every partnership, we are helping communities actively build the futures they want to see.
🐙About the Octopus
At CIP Learning, we chose the octopus as our symbol because it represents everything our work aspires to be:
Intelligent and Adaptive 🧠
Creative and Agile Problem-Solvers 🌀
Masters of Multitasking and Mastery 🛠️
Playful, Curious, and Future-Oriented 🎭
Just like the communities we serve, the octopus thrives through creativity, resilience, and collaboration.
🚀 The future is a verb. Let’s build it together. 🚀
Whether you're reimagining education, expanding nonprofit capacity, or launching a bold new community initiative, CIP Learning is ready to partner with you.
Together, we'll build systems that empower people and honor the potential already thriving within every community.