“Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental.... We must insist upon this to give our children the fairness of a start which will equip them with such an array of facts and such an attitude toward truth that they can have a real chance to judge what the world is…”
----W.E.B. Du Bois

I constantly return to those words for inspiration as an educator, mindful that there is no greater purpose than to help prepare a child for a “real chance” in life. The cornerstone of my educational leadership has always been, and will always be, the belief that students come first and teaching should be positive, empowering and enthusiastic. The classroom should be a safe place for exploring unanswered questions, testing hypotheses about subject matter, and for developing character as an ethical and responsible citizen of our global community.

As a high school English teacher at Los Altos High School, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, a former child care program director with the YMCA, credentialed in K-12, a summer school principal, and bridge program director, I am experienced in education from the most critical first years of school through the challenging preparation for college years.

In my pursuit of continuing education, I elected to wait until I had practical experience in the classroom to pursue my Masters degree, which turned out to be a wise decision. After seven years of teaching, I knew that any program of study that I would undertake would have to be focused on developing my leadership as a more culturally and racially conscious educator. I had witnessed the challenges that students of color face daily and I knew there was more I needed to do to address the inequities that are still present in public education. As a result, I selected the Urban High School Leadership Program at San Jose State University as it is truly a cutting edge program that partners collaborative action research and building equity-centered anti-racist educational leadership as its fundamental focus.

I have had the rare opportunity to be a consultant on a national research evaluation effort, the Bill and Melinda Gates Network and High School District Reform Initiative. I also worked until my current assignment as a Teaching Ambassador Fellow with the National Evaluation of Writing Professional Development Project with SRI International. This work has provided me with the opportunity to learn how to evaluate and assess student work and teacher expectations through an objective and data driven methodology. Providing leadership and support to teachers in the area of assessment and evaluation of their own work is an area in which I am passionate.