I’m a strategist, cheerleader, critical friend, and transformative collaborator. I help your team get things done.

Ways I can help

My work is responsive to client needs. I draw from a deep reserve of previous projects and experience, not off-the-shelf standardized approaches. See below for examples of the types of projects I typically take on.

Make Existing Programs Stronger

Is your program up and running, but something needs to shift? I’m good at getting under the hood and charting a course forward.

  • When the NC General Assembly passed legislation changing principal licensure requirements, the NC Department of Public Instruction needed someone to quarterback the change. I led a statewide stakeholder group to recommend, design and implement needed policy and practice shifts. In coordination with the NCDPI team, we moved these recommendations successfully to and through the State Board of Education.

  • Excel Charter Schools in Boston was seeing some inconsistencies their special education program. Working with network leaders, I led a comprehensive network wide assessment (data review, observations, interviews) and synthesized sticky list of key recommendations. A couple of years later, Excel can point to specific shifts that have driven student outcomes.

Build New Programs & Systems

Can you see something in your mind’s eye, but don’t know how to make it real? I like to build things that work and last.

  • The Camden Education Fund was eager to invest in transformative change for students with disabilities and multilingual learners. Drawing upon deep experience with inclusive leadership program design, and learning from previous grant effort, I designed an innovative grant initiative for Camden schools that has brought a fractured sector together to find common ground.

  • Achievement First has been intentionally inclusive of student with disabilities since its founding. As the the network grew, so too did programming for students with extensive support needs. But the student and educator experience across K-8 was inconsistent. Before programming grew to grades 9-12, we led networkwide stakeholder group to realign on the programmatic vision, and develop key systems to ensure that the intention of their student-centered programming came to life.

Increase Team Capacity

Colleagues have described me as a “force multiplier”. I connect the dots so the team is setup for success and I flexibly fill holes in team capacity.

  • When a small non-profit experienced unexpected staff turnover, they were stuck. Instead of jumping into hiring, they brought me on board to keep the trains running by managing a portfolio of projects, and provide thought partnership to the executive director. This gave them time to develop an informed staffing strategy without sacrificing the quality of their work.

  • As a leader in CCSSO’s Advancing Inclusive Principal Leadership initiative, I led two state teams to develop state-specific visions for inclusion and inclusive leadership. Although these colleagues were ostensibly from the same teams, the silo-ed nature of state bureacracy meant they didn’t have deeply established working relationships or systems for communication. I built systems for team collaboration to ensure that we got the most from each individual.

Areas of Expertise

I’ve been blessed to work on great projects, with great people, all across the country in a wide range of contexts. I’ve developed expertise in key areas, but I’m also good at getting up to speed quickly in new areas of inquiry.

  • I’ve worked with teachers and leaders in every possible type of educational environment, from tiny new charters to huge state and district teams. I have unique experience and expertise in building charter models, but I love thinking about how to actually make special education effective across the board.

  • Over 10 years at the Relay Graduate School of Education, I developed programs in teacher and leader development (certificate and degree, online and in-person) that scaled across the country. I built fluency with higher-ed program design and the variability in licensure across the country.

  • Some people love to think about curriculum, or instructional pedagogy or the content itself…but not that many people love to think about how all of those pieces fit together in a schedule. I love to build the program structure and program map, and develop the tools and resources so everyone knows how it works.

  • Since my first role as a 3rd grade self-contained special education teacher, to my recent work defining a Vision of Excellence for Inclusion and Inclusive Leadership for the District of Columbia, thinking about how every child can feel a sense of belonging and be pushed to their greatest potential has been my core motivator. Helping teams figure out how to accomplish this is my happy place.

  • Just recently I worked on a project that gave me the opportunity to dig into the world of residential programming for adults with disabilities. While I’m far from an expert, I’ve built understand of the landscape and established relationships with leaders in the field.

  • I don’t know tons about early childhood special education, 18-21 programming or career and technical education…but I know how to get smart on those topics! I’d love to work on a project that gave me a reason to dig-in to something new.

Superpowers

We all have strengths, but we’re not always in environments that give us the opportunity to shine. I have a few core competencies that I leverage to drive impact. I love learning what other people are good at, and working with people who have complementary strengths.

  • Need to brain dump a whole bunch of context that feels disconnected and disorganized? I’m good at making sense of it and synthesizing information into a set of facts that everyone can align on.

  • Spreadsheets are my love language. I can get a project up and running—vision, timeline, action plan, roles/responsibilities, communication systems—in warp speed.

  • Bringing together groups of stakeholders, with diverse opinions, to get on the same page, make decisions and align on a plan is super fun. I’m equally comfortable leading training sessions for hundreds of leaders at a time.

  • Drop me into a meeting with little-to-no context, and I can find my bearings quickly. I’m good at establishing rapport and asking strategic questions.

  • I actually love making decisions. Once I have enough context, I can help your team refine the criteria for decision-making, and then carefully track all possible solutions against those criteria so you have a robust rationale for your choices.