About UsI started teaching 4th graders in Compton, California when I joined TFA. After four amazing years with my students and colleagues, I decided to reflect on my work and explore my impact on education. Returning home, I studied school leadership and curriculum, eventually researching the role of leadership in implementation of policies, i.e. class-size reduction, in various urban schools. While writing my dissertation on that topic, I led the Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction in the creation of a toolkit designed to support struggling districts and schools in their school improvement efforts. My heart led me back to the classroom, and I worked in the complex system of Milwaukee Public Schools in a variety of grades. I was then fortunate to support an ECE-8 school in their school improvement efforts through my role as an instructional assistant principal, focusing solely on observation/feedback, professional development and data analysis. Next, I apprenticed under a Boston Public Schools’ leader for the year while taking reflective coursework at Harvard’s GSE. Afterwards, I moved to Denver to join their progressive project with a new teacher evaluation system. There, I penned the first version of the Framework of Effective Teaching, used for observing educators. I also led the work of a unique team, Peer Observers, who are recent teachers now serving as peer evaluators for teachers. Alas, my heart lives in schools, so I returned to a turnaround school as an assistant principal, and have continued working in similar schools, as a principal resident and now as a principal.
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