Advancing Anti-Racist Instruction in K-12 Curriculum

Speaker Details

Nicole Adell

Principal, Newburg Middle School, Louisville, KY

Nicole W. Adell earned her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her Master’s Degree from George Washington University in Washington DC, and is currently a second year doctoral candidate at the University of Louisville. Nicole is married to Scott, and they have two, young adult children, Jessica and Jordon. As principal of Newburg Middle School, Nicole’s daily philosophy is simple: Work hard and be kind!

Jennifer Coogan

Chief Content Officer, Newsela

Jennifer Coogan is Chief Content Officer of Newsela, an instructional content platform and one of the fastest-growing startups in K-12 education technology. Jennifer has a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Wellesley College. She lives in the heart of Silicon Valley with her husband and two children.

Lawrence Pendergast

Deputy Chief Academic Officer for the Division of Teaching and Learning, NYCDOE

Lawrence has 24 years of experience with the NYCDOE. Prior to his work there, he served as Executive Superintendent of Queens North, overseeing 168 schools serving approximately 148,000 students. Prior to that, he spent three years as Executive Director of Field Support in Queens North, spent four years as Network Leader in the Bronx, and worked as a teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, and Instructional Specialist.

James Darin Pope

Deputy Superintendent, Tuscaloosa City Schools, Tuscaloosa, AL

Dr. James Darin Pope is a passionate instructional leader with a focus on foundational reading skills and literacy across content areas. In his twenty-three years as an educator, he has served as a teacher, reading coach, literacy specialist, assistant principal, instructional specialist, elementary principal, reading coordinator, turnaround middle school principal, director of elementary education and director of student literacy. He has served on the National Advisory Council for Teaching Reading and presented his work on disrupting the status quo at the Model Schools conference.