Transformational Leadership

Agents of Change is a beloved tradition among EP Alums. They gather to reconnect, hear from transformational leaders in education, and leave feeling inspired and renewed to be agents of change. In Chicago, the EP Chicago Alumni Board has amplified this annual event to celebrate the impact of our most EPic Chicago Alumni and EP Chicago’s work to drive improved educational outcomes for students. This event is open to all and happening on Friday, June 14, 2019. Save the date and join us! As a middle school teacher for fifteen years I'd often tell my students that if we all worked on trying to...

At Education Pioneers we invest in leaders because they embody our organization’s founding belief that talented leaders and managers can scale successful solutions for the education sector to impact millions of children nationwide. For Women’s History Month, we celebrate EP Alumni who are trailblazers in education – with a focus on Alumni who are entrepreneurs and/or pioneers. These are only a few of the inspirational women who have been a part of our program. Check out more of our EP Alums on our Meet Our Pioneers page. Brenda Darden Wilkerson (2015) CEO and President, AnitaB.org From...

Guest blogging today is Sam O’Bryant , an EP Alum who currently serves as the Senior Director for Equity & Partnerships at SchoolSeed Foundation in Memphis. Sam is a graduate of Alcorn State University and an advocate of historically Black colleges and universities. Sam is a husband, a dad, and a graduate student. When I began working in Memphis in 2012 at Memphis City Schools Foundation, I arrived during the halfway point of a major investment in teacher effectiveness. The work was worthy and victories were won, and the long-term focus was on making teachers the absolute best they could...

At Education Pioneers, we aim to embody the spirit of our core values, one of which is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion . It is important that we honor and continue to celebrate the contributions and commitments of diverse individuals in our world who are doing extraordinary work, inspiring new generations of leaders, and dedicating their lives to creating equitable educational opportunities for all. So, in celebration of Black History Month, we are spotlighting several EP staff who self-identify as black with a few Q&A’s: If you could connect with a Black History trailblazer who would it...

Bakari Ukuu moved to Kansas City as a Teach For America corps member in 2012. He is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma (and is very excited to hear EP is expanding there in 2018 ), but found his place in Kansas City and decided to put down roots. While an instructional coach, Ukuu joined Education Pioneers and worked in the Kansas City Public Schools in the Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development department where he helped embed social justice standards and develop culturally-responsive curriculum, while also delivering districtwide professional development. We talked to Bakari, now...

Stephen Fedore was a 2012 EP Fellow and now, he’s the Chief Analytics Officer at Tulsa Public Schools —an on-the-rise district serving approximately 42,000 students in 86 schools with roughly 7,000 employees. EP is expanding to Tulsa in 2018 where EP Alums Martin Green, Director of Academic Services and Impact (2014 Fellow); Quentin Liggins, Director of Talent Initiatives (2016 Fellow); and Stephen are already working at Tulsa Public Schools. Stephen was born in Oklahoma, but grew up in California. He never thought he would return to Oklahoma to make a life and career in Tulsa, but he’s...

EP teamed up with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to determine if we are meeting our mission to recruit, connect, and advance more diverse, transformative leaders into the education sector. AIR also examined how EP Fellows and Alumni persist in the education sector as they grow their careers. In September 2017, AIR reported on their findings in “Education Pioneers’ Fellow and Alumni Demographics and Mobility Analysis.” AIR’s research found that EP Fellows are highly educated: 81% of Pioneers held or were pursuing a doctorate in education, a juris doctorate or a master’s degree at...

To address the structural inequities that perpetuate the opportunity gap and affect low-income students and students of color, Education Pioneers is building a network of leaders and partners in education who can reimagine systems of schools nationwide. As Education Pioneers (EP) has been building a leadership movement to transform public education for nearly 15 years, EP recently teamed with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to examine our impact in the K-12 public education sector. We wanted to know: Is EP meeting our mission to recruit, connect, and advance more diverse,...

I’m proud to live in Denver – a city that values the importance of leadership. Last Thursday, I joined the Quarterly Forum’s holiday party to celebrate Colorado’s best emerging community leaders. Members of this organization recognize that to create great communities and schools, leadership matters. And learning matters equally. We have another example of leadership in Denver superintendent Tom Boasberg, whose next few years in the superintendent seat — which are likely to be his last — may result in a legacy defined by learning as much as it is by leading. Here’s why: Denver Public Schools (...

Derwin Sisnett asks big questions: How can we create a whole community of excellence? And how do you anchor communities with high-performing schools? In his work as Founder and Managing Partner of Maslow Development Inc. and Co-Founder and Senior Advisor of Gestalt Community Schools, Derwin seeks to answer those questions by harnessing the power of “wraparound” services—as well as wraparound infrastructure. To share the ideas from his work in Memphis around the country and help others do this kind of work, Derwin will be a panelist at the #EP2016 National Conference , where he’ll talk about “...