Jennifer Poon Email & Phone Number

I believe that every child deserves an education system that values them and helps them thrive. I am currently advancing this mission as Partner for Learning Design and Sense-Making at the Center for Innovation in Education, a national nonprofit founded by Gene Wilhoit and Linda Pittenger that works with education system leaders to create inclusive systems that are more responsive to the needs of all learners and families. I support internal learning and sense-making across projects in order to strengthen the work, identify insights, and create collateral that can help move the broader field toward more equitable systems of education. I am also a strategy and research consultant to other national nonprofits in education.Previously, I directed the Innovation Lab Network (ILN) at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), where I led a network of over a dozen states supporting ground-up innovations in student-centered learning through state-level policies and practices. I developed strategy, created content, coached state leaders, facilitated cross-state learning events, managed internal staff, organized external partners, and rallied funding so that more students would have access to personalized, learner-centered experiences resulting in the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required for post-secondary and lifelong success.At heart, I'm a scientist and a teacher, having conducted research in evolutionary biology; taught 9th grade biology and coached volleyball at King/Drew High School in Compton, CA; and served as CCSSO’s Research Director prior to my work with the ILN. I hold a B.A. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard University and an M.Ed in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Listed skills include Research, Curriculum Design, Staff Development, Grant Writing, and 22 others.