Leveraging Summer School to Improve Tier 1 Instruction: Job-Embedded Teacher Growth
Monday, February 10, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST
Presented by Kate Mehok, Co-Founder & CEO, Crescent City Schools (LA); Gwendolyn Jones, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, Crescent City Schools (LA); Nancy Livingston, CEO, The National Summer School Initiative; and Keri Hubbard, Chief of Programs, The National Summer School Initiative
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As many districts face decreasing professional learning time, summer school presents an untapped opportunity for teacher growth. In this edLeader Panel, moderator Keri Hubbard, Chief of Programs at the National Summer School Initiative (NSSI), along with panelists Kate Mehok, Co-Founder & CEO, Crescent City Schools, Gwendolyn Jones, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, Crescent City Schools, and Nancy Livingston, CEO of NSSI, discuss how districts and CMOs are leveraging summer to develop teacher skills on focused instructional practices. You learn what these leaders prioritized to support teacher growth and the outcomes of their investments. Core ideas include:
Less is more — Set clear instructional focus areas for all summer school teachers
Coherence — Make sure the focus areas are on enduring skills teachers can take with them into the school year to improve their Tier 1 instruction
Make it easy for teachers to say yes to summer — Provide curriculum and supportive PL structures allowing teachers to focus on the targeted skill
You leave this session with best practices that you can replicate in your context. This recorded edLeader Panel is of interest to elementary and middle school district and school leaders.
About the Presenters
Kate Mehok is the Co-Founder and CEO of Crescent City Schools. A graduate of Haverford College, Kate began her career in Baltimore, teaching math and science to 7th and 8th graders – later serving as the Dean of Faculty for the Summerbridge program at the Isidore Newman School. Kate earned her EdM in Educational Leadership from Columbia University Teachers College, receiving a Principal’s and Superintendent’s License. In 2003, Kate served as the founding Assistant Principal at KIPP STAR in Harlem before moving back to New Orleans to coach principals through New Schools for New Orleans.
In 2010 Kate co-founded the Crescent City Schools (CCS) charter network to support and develop open-enrollment charter schools that raise student achievement and prepare students for college. CCS operates three PreK-8th grade schools serving 2,500 students. As CEO, Kate brings leadership, vision, and a commitment to supporting the growth of all students.
Gwendolyn Jones is the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for grades 6-8 at Harriet Tubman Charter School, within the Crescent City Schools network. Gwendolyn received a BA in Criminal Justice from Southern University and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Xavier University. Feeling inspired to foster change in the lives of New Orleans youth, Gwendolyn began her career in education at Harriet Tubman Charter School as a special education paraprofessional in the fall of 2014. In 2015, she moved to 7th and 8th grade social studies. In 2016-2017, her students outperformed the district with 54% of Gwendolyn’s students scoring Basic and above and 29% scoring Mastery on the 8th grade LEAP test. Gwendolyn became the ELA Instructional Dean in 2021 after four years of teaching middle school ELA. Most recently, she’s served as the grades 6-8 DCI since 2023.
Nancy Livingston is the CEO of NSSI. She has over two decades of experience in driving academic excellence and talent development in K–12 schools. As the former Chief of Schools for KIPP Nashville, she oversaw the expansion of the network from five to seven schools while building the core infrastructure to support teaching and learning. At KIPP NYC, Nancy led a significant realignment of curriculum, assessment, and professional development strategies, resulting in substantial gains in student performance. Her career also includes leadership roles at Achievement First and KIPP Foundation, where she focused on scaling talent programs and academic systems. She was a founding teacher of KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy in Denver, CO and a TFA Corps Member in New Orleans. Nancy holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude from Davidson College.
Keri Hubbard is NSSI’s Chief of Programs. After teaching high school math in Charlotte, North Carolina as a Teach For America corps member, Keri joined the Achievement First charter school network. Teaching seventh-grade math and eighth-grade algebra at the network in Brooklyn, she led her students for two consecutive years to 100 percent proficiency on the New York State exam, with 97 percent of eighth graders passing the Algebra Regents exam. Later, she joined KIPP in Austin, teaching sixth-grade reading, and rose to become Assistant Principal and Director of Curriculum and Professional Development. Keri was formerly the Director of Math at NSSI, where she supported an incredible team of teachers, PD leads, and curriculum developers tasked with providing rigorous math instruction to students across the country. Keri holds a B.A. in economics and sociology from Duke University.
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NSSI is a nonprofit that accelerates learning and deepens teacher practice through joyful, academically rigorous summer programs.