When Jacob Carr joined the Butte County Office of Education last year, it was more than a career move. It was a homecoming.

Carr is no stranger to the region. A product of both Butte College and Chico State, he grew into his profession in the classrooms, coffee shops and conference rooms of Butte County. And while his voice has reached national and even international audiences as a keynote speaker, podcast host, author and educator’s educator, his compass has always pointed back home.

“I knew I wanted to keep living here and serving this community,” Carr said. “So I asked myself, ‘Where can I do the most good?’ If I can work for BCOE, then maybe I can help the teachers in my own backyard.”

That sense of purpose guides everything Carr does as a teacher and coach in BCOE’s EdTech Department. For him, joining BCOE wasn’t just a new chapter, but an alignment of his values. His passion for professional learning emerged more than a decade ago, sparked by a realization that he could make a bigger impact by helping instructors do their jobs better.

“What I really loved doing was affecting change,” he said. “I could continue doing that one classroom at a time. But if I hit teachers, I hit more students.”

Tracey Allen, EdTech’s Senior Director of Professional Learning, has seen that approach firsthand with Carr on her team. It’s one of the main reasons she was delighted to bring him to BCOE.

“Jake truly lives the motto ‘Students come first’ by always looking for thoughtful, creative ways to support students and adult learners,” Allen said. “He goes out of his way to find time-saving solutions for teachers, so they can focus more on what matters most—caring for and supporting their students.”

That ripple effect came into sharp focus after a conversation with a teacher who approached him after a workshop. With an eye intensely focused on her retirement nine years away, she told Carr that she had come to hate teaching and that for years, she had basically been phoning it in.

“There are teachers who have tied a knot at the end of their rope and are barely hanging on,” Carr said.

But that teacher told Carr that his message had helped reinvigorate her and reengage. On the flight home, he reflected: For the next nine years, how many students would now have a better chance, a better future, just because he connected with one teacher?

Carr sees professional development as a form of service—especially for teachers. At BCOE EdTech, he can direct that service toward local educators who want to give their students the best opportunities to succeed.

“Jake is so curious, reflective, and eager to stay at the forefront of educational thinking,” Allen said. “He doesn’t just want to keep up–he wants to contribute to the future of teaching and learning in meaningful ways. He’s an ideal fit for our BCOE team.”

Indeed, Carr wants to hold space for the bigger questions: What’s working? What’s outdated? What does meaningful change actually require? His role at BCOE lets him straddle both timelines: the urgency of today and the shape of tomorrow.

Carr spent 16 years in the classroom before joining BCOE, teaching nearly every grade between first and 12th. His experience spans traditional public schools, music teaching, Waldorf education, charters and independent study. He thrives on the bigger stages, whether it’s speaking at leading national workshops, publishing books, or hosting podcasts that reach thousands of listeners. But talk to him for five minutes and it’s clear: His core identity is still that of a teacher.

Carr’s approach to teaching is right at home in the fast-moving world of educational technology: Learning is hard. Teaching is hard. And it’s the challenge that students and educators must face together that makes it so valuable.

“It’s pain. It’s discomfort, and leaning into the fact that it’s there,” Carr said. “It’s confronting your own lack of knowledge. It’s saying, ‘I don’t know what that is. I don’t know how to do this. I am not able to do this. But I can get there.’”

This mindset defines Carr’s work. Whether he’s leading a session on instructional design or hosting a podcast conversation about the future of education, he’s always pushing for depth, honesty, and what he calls “productive discomfort.”

It’s within that discomfort that breakthroughs happen. Part of Carr’s style is to challenge learners to embrace the navigation of those feelings as part of the learning process.

““You have to walk the road,” he said, referencing a quote attributed to the Greek poet Hesiod. “We can’t trick ourselves into thinking we can skip the road itself just to get to the gates.”

Carr’s impact extends well beyond Butte County. He’s the co-host of the What Teachers Have to Say podcast, where he chats with leaders and practitioners on everything from artificial intelligence to student agency. He’s authored “The EduProtocol Field Guide ELA Edition,” keynoted conferences, and facilitated professional learning across the country and around the world.

But his work has never been about personal recognition. Instead, Carr uses each platform as an invitation for educators to rethink the assumptions they carry, to reflect on what they’re modeling for students, and to consider how their practice shapes not just test scores, but lives. That approach has given him deep meaning at BCOE, back where it all started for him as a student and a teacher.

“It’s serendipitous. I love doing this,” Carr said. “I love professional development, I love teaching, and it’s just rewarding to help people grow.”

Travis Souders is the editor of BCOE Today and the Communications Officer at the Butte County Office of Education.

For more information about BCOE Educational Technology, including available offerings for professional learning and technology resources, visit edtech.bcoe.org.