About Us...

Natural Curiosity, Inc, an educational consulting agency based in the Chicago suburban area of Illinois, creates and delivers customized, specific educational solutions through its core services of Consulting, Professional Development, Teacher Training, Leadership Development and Professional Coaching.  Established in October 2004, under the direction of its founder and president, Lori Deichstetter, Natural Curiosity's services focus on K-12 curriculum and instructional enhancements, leadership development and systemic school improvement.  Since 2004, Natural Curiosity has expanded its services to reach hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers nationwide.

Natural Curiosity, Inc’s three proven solutions are customized systemic improvement processes for increasing student achievement.

The Leadership Team and Associates at Natural Curiosity develop a partnership with you and your staff. As a team we work with you and your staff to establish an organizational structure and effective system that meets your students' specific needs.

MEET NATURAL CURIOSITY’S LEADERSHIP TEAM...

Lori Deichstetter, M.S., Ed, Founder and President, is a nationally known consultant who has worked with over 200 schools and thousands of teachers on school improvement utilizing data-based decision-making and curriculum and instructional enhancements.  Ms. Deichstetter has more than 24 years of experience as a high school educator, special education coordinator, assistant principal, and alternative school director.  Ms. Deichstetter was instrumental in creating and administering the North Cook Youndg Adult Academy, an award-winning sixth through twelfth grade regional alternative school for troubled youth.  Currently, her work with regular and special eduction teachers focuses on data-driven decision-making, curriculum mapping and concept-based and differentiated instruction unit design.  Her work also includes leading teams in the adoption of a full inclusion model, and facilitating school teams in designing and implementing a Response to Intervention/Problem-solving model.  Her expertise in addressing the mandate of RtI/Problem-solving is valued in schools.  She brings an objective perspective resulting in cohesive school climates willing to serve all students' needs.

Barbara Habschmidt, Ed. D, Vice-President for School Leadership and Organizational Development, is formerly the Executive Director of the North Cook Intermediate Service Center (NCISC) in northern Illinois with responsibility for providing professional development for 40 school districts.  In addition, Dr. Habschmidt was awarded a $1.5 million grant for working with 28 schools on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Academic Early Warning List.  She designed a systems-approach for school improvement and led a team of expert professional educators who provided the support and resources schools needed to address the multi-faceted issues of meeting AYP.  Her systems-approach resulted in eleven of fourteen middle schools, originally on the Academic Early Warning List, meeting AYP.  Dr. Habschmidt continues to use this research-based and best practices systems-approach for school improvement in her work as a consultant.  She has worked with numerous schools in creating systemic change to meet or surpass the expectations of NCLB.  Prior to joining NCISC, she served as Director of The Principals' Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She was also a curriculum specialist, assistant principal and principal before receiving her Doctorate from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Emily Alford, Ed. D, Vice-President for Instructional Practices, is a highly sought-after curriculum and instruction consultant with over 40 years experience in elementary and secondary education as a principal and curriculum consultant.  For the past fourteen years, her work has centered on creating and implementing teacher training and interactive unit design workshops for inquiry-based instruction and K-12 literacy strategies.  Her Inquiry-based Instruction Design™ model demands a restructuring of existing, required curriculum topics using strategies that support student inquiry, the use of technology, and integration of metacognitive reading strategies to improve academic achievement and reading comprehension.  Dr. Alford consistently exceeds teacher expectations, having trained thousands of K-12 teachers.  Currently, Dr. Alford is involved in projects sponsored by Illinois Technology Centers, Illinois Regional Offices of Education and Archdiocesan schools.

Ms. Deichstetter, Dr. Habschmidt, and Dr. Alford have worked together for over eleven years improving schools from the inside-out.