Skills to Serve

I decided early on in my life that I would dedicate my life serving this world to improve living conditions for all. I just was not sure how I was going to achieve this objective. After several unsuccessful attempts in science and politics, I clearly understood that if I were to make an impact in the lives of people, that I would become an educator. I had to fight and scrap to make that dream a reality.

At an early age, I became a father, stepfather, husband, and a full time low-wage worker all while trying to finish college and obtain my teaching certificate. I share this here to simply let others know that my path was filled with trials, tribulations, heartache and perseverance; elements that our students, families, and others in this quest for exemplary education for youth cherish like precious stones. In a way, we all have these personal stories of triumph and success, some still in process and others still wishing to be realized. I wear these personal stories in my heart. I carry my experiences of growing up in low-income neighborhoods as part of my badge and certification on life that we are all interconnected and need each other to excel in this life and beyond.

I have over eight years of experience working as a school leader, reformer and facilitator of the nations most innovative and progressive models in education designed to ensure that all students receive an exemplary high quality education. As a co-founder of an alternative high school in Detroit rooted in experiential learning, interest-based internships, and advisory experiences, I understand both the systems and processes' necessary to ensure that students graduate and are prepared for college. In Detroit, I took on a cohort of 17 students in 9th grade, and four years later graduated 100 percent of those students. When my work concluded at the high school level, I worked as a national coordinator of large school networks, in cooperation with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National League of Cities, to build capacity in Principal Training, Math and Quantitative Reasoning, Data Analysis, and College and Career Readiness. I co-developed, designed and facilitated our Annual Review Process for schools as well as develop network support plans, which identified specific network wide goals for each organization, leveraged existing resources and trainings, and measured and tracked progress. We published our results in Math and Quantitative Reasoning, and pushed forth the notion that all students can and will achieve academically by Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Numeracy in Our Schools. I coordinated a highly successful community involvement event, which brought together local, national and regional public, and private entities to provide wrap around services to those students often labeled at risk. At the Henry Ford Learning Institute, I worked as a curriculum specialist and ensured that the building and sustaining of our learning community was maximized so that teachers and school leaders could fully implement our model around design and innovation. Working with the Stanford University Design School, we led school leaders and principals with student centered instruction, and authentic experiences rooted in the community to engage urbanized youth. Additionally, I was responsible for designing, facilitating and sustaining our professional learning community by sharing resources through network wide conference calls, on line platforms and social media outlets. We also worked with curriculum writers and designed trainings to ensure that what we authored uniquely matched our student’s interests as well as academic needs.

More recently, I also worked as a Peer Reviewer for the United States Department of Education as part of the Investing in Innovation funds for local education agencies.

I bring a wealth of experiences and skills to this position and wholeheartedly dedicate myself to the work of ensuring that all youth receive a high quality education. I understand and value personal interactions and build on relationships to see that change is initiated, developed and sustained. I have a keen understanding of reporting mechanisms, developing teams and using a desired results framework to meet and exceed goals for educational programs both at a local and national level. Combined with my experience in school start up and development, I am uniquely qualified to exceed the expectations at this organization.