My Story
I am a consultant and project editor with more than 20 years’ experience providing support to districts and schools on personalizing the learning environment with a focus on school climate, culture, discipline, and restorative justice practices.
As a consultant with the BlueScope Group, I served as the principal researcher, developer, and writer of a top-to-bottom revision of the Safe and Supportive Schools Framework and Self-Reflection Tool for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that is now being used by districts and schools throughout the Commonwealth.
As an active volunteer member of the Education Law Task Force, I am well-versed in the challenges that Massachusetts districts and schools face to create excellent and equitable learning environments for the children of the Commonwealth. I teamed up with Massachusetts Advocates for Children in contributing to the recent publication A Pivotal Moment: Ensuring an Equitable COVID-19 Recovery in Massachusetts Schools as well as many other communications between DESE and ELTF/MAC regarding fair treatment of students and families during the COVID lockdowns and subsequent return to in-person learning in 2020-21.
Previously I spent more than 12 years as the Director of Publications and Marketing and Senior Program Associate with Engaging Schools (formerly Educators for Social Responsibility.) In that role I oversaw research and development for all the organization’s publications and materials. I also provided hands-on professional development and coaching on student engagement, classroom management, creating discipline systems with a restorative practices orientation, and advisory development and implementation.
Before joining ESR, I worked as a member of the Student-Centered Learning Team at The Education Alliance at Brown University. In that role I served on the core work group with the National Association of Secondary School Principals to produce Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform (NASSP 2004), and Breaking Ranks in the Middle (NASSP 2007), contributions to other publications include Changing Systems to Personalize Learning: Discover the Power of Advisories (LAB, 2003); Personalized Learning: Preparing High School Students to Create Their Futures (Scarecrow Education, 2003); and The Personalized High School: Making Learning Count for Adolescents (Jossey-Bass, 2010). I also served as a co-author and contributor on personalization and school change in several other journals and publications.
My Approach
I start by taking inventory of what’s what. Whether it is an all new project, or picking up something that’s already in progess, mapping is an important first step. Once I know the backstory and the requirements, I’ll create a project plan complete with benchmarks and budget parameters and then we’ll get to work.
Now what?
Contact me so we can discuss your project. Odds are that if I am not the right fit for you, I can recommend someone who is.