Doug Lemov's field notes

We often introduce ourselves in our workshops by sharing that Teach Like a Champion is more than just a book, but that we are actually a team of people who have come together to study teaching with the belief  that any contemplation of a more just, equitable and inclusive society requires that schools are not just better, but radically better for children, especially those in our most underserved communities. ​

And we are excited to share here (albeit belatedly), that that our team is continuing to grow and expand. We’re excited to share that six veteran team members have taken on larger leadership roles in our organization and that we have added two additional team members who we already can’t imagine living without. Please join us in celebrating the changes on the #BTE (internal nomenclature for “Best Team Ever”).

Tracey Koren: For you long time TLACers, the name “Tracey Koren” is probably synonymous with TLAC. She has been your consistent go-to for all things TLAC. Her email response time heroically averages 6.5 minutes, and she keeps all the trains moving at TLAC Towers. Hardly a day goes by without us saying that we truly don’t know how we would do the work without Tracey. We are so proud to now call her our Associate Director of Operations.  

Hilary Lewis: We are thrilled to announce that Hilary is now Managing Director of Consulting and Partnerships. With over 16 years of experience in the education sector, Hilary’s knowledge, passion, and expertise has helped our organization grow since 2015. A thought leader for our classroom and school culture work, Hilary has developed and facilitated countless workshops for educators across the world. Most recently, Hilary has worked alongside our CEO Darryl Williams to build our consulting and partnership work from the ground up. In her new role, Hilary will manage our Consulting and Partnership team portfolio of 25 schools and organizations impacting over 500,000 students.

Colleen Driggs: In keeping with the marathon runners theme, many of you know Colleen from some of our earliest TLAC Clips and we’ve had the honor of continuing to learn from her since she joined the team in 2007. Colleen now leads our Reading Reconsidered Curriculum and Training work as our Managing Director of Curriculum and Professional Development. In this capacity, alongside Doug and Erica, Colleen has built a team that has brought a knowledge rich, book-based curriculum to market – most recently gaining the approval of the Knowledge Matters Campaign. Our team is so lucky to get to learn from Colleen’s expertise and insight each and every day. 

Dan Cotton: We are thrilled to announce that Dan is now Senior Director of Strategy and Partnerships. For years, Dan has helped shape the Teach Like a Champion team’s core products and services—from developing and managing our Plug and Play portfolio to the design and launch of TLAC Online. Under his leadership, our team has established deep partnerships both stateside and abroad with organizations such as TNTP, Aptus, QELI Australia, Harmony Public Schools, and the Bluum Foundation. In his new role, Dan will manage our partnership strategic planning and development, seeking opportunities to work with organizations in service of students, teachers, and their communities.

Jen Rugani: Joining our team after her years as a principal in 2018, Jen Rugani has been pivotal in shaping the development and implementation of the Reading Reconsidered Curriculum. We are thrilled to announce that she is now a Director of Curriculum and School Support. In her new role, Jen will continue her incredible curriculum development work while sharpening her focus on the support of curriculum pilot partner schools through PD and extended coaching partnerships. In addition to her work on the curriculum team, Jen leads our TLAC Fellows work alongside Sadie McCleary and our DEI work alongside Brittany Hargrove.

Emily Badillo: Our Reading Curriculum is currently comprised of 37 novel based units serving grades 5^th-8^th. This wouldn’t be possible without Emily’s vision for high quality ELA curriculum and her perseverance in creating it. We are pleased to announce that Emily will now be serving alongside Jen as our Director of Curriculum and School Support. In her new role, Emily will continue to support pilot schools through PD and coaching while leading the team in content development. Given Emily’s brilliant work as a curriculum writer and meticulousness as a project planner, we’re excited that she will be focused on leading the team in our important work of revising existing units based on the rich feedback we’ve gotten from schools using our curriculum.

Christian Sparling: Christian is joining our team as our Senior Director of Operations after working for the past 15 years in schools and organizations where his focus on operational excellence built a lasting legacy for schools in NJ. His work at Relay Graduate School of Education and Leverage Leadership Institute created pathways for countless teachers and leaders to gain invaluable experiences. On Team TLAC, he is working with Array and our Operations Team to more strategically budget, plan, and operate, so that we can continue to impact as many schools and classrooms as possible.

Alonte Johnson: And our most recent addition to the TLAC Team is none other than former principal Alonte Johnson who joins our team as Associate Director of Curriculum and School Support. Having been on the team now for just a few months, Alonte has already made an incredible impact. Internally, we’ve learned much through his insights and thoughtful perspectives as a former teacher and school leader. Externally, he’s led several remote and in-person PDs and is focusing on deep support of curriculum implementation in a pilot program with NYC DOE schools, and also supporting Brittany Hargrove in our Advocacy work.

It’s truly pinch-worthy that we get to work alongside so many incredible people. To meet the rest of the #BTE, please check out our team here.