Joel Hammon is the co-founder of The Learning Cooperatives, a group of self-directed learning centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is also the co-founder and president of Liberated Learners, an organization that supports educators around the world to create self-directed learning centers in their communities. Joel is the author of The Teacher Liberation Handbook that details how he left teaching in public and private schools after 11 years to create an educational alternative for young people.