Learning Leadership Network
A National Network to Catalyze Secondary School Transformation (2022-2024)
The purpose of the Learning Leadership Network (LLN) was to support secondary school transformation in the United States. The LLN was a two-year initiative designed to support, showcase, and study systems that created engaging and effective learning experiences for their secondary students.
Nested within the Foundation’s Future of Learning portfolio, the LLN supported the leadership teams of 10 districts to advance their secondary school transformation priorities, build improvement capacity, and cultivate awareness, contribute evidence, and create support for systemic improvements in secondary education. Moving forward, the LLN aimed to provide examples and evidence of systems that educated students through diverse modalities and settings, improved their progress through high school, and strengthened their connection to high-quality post-secondary pathways.
The network sought to provide a proof of concept for how secondary instructional systems could be organized to strengthen student success and identify key policy enablers for implementing these approaches at a persuasive scale.
Participating Districts
- Akron Public Schools
- Baltimore City Public Schools
- Battle Creek Public Schools
- Guilford County Schools
- Northern Humboldt Union High School District
- Oakland Unified School District
- Phoenix Union High School District
- Sacramento City Unified School District
- School District of Lee County
- Tulsa Public Schools
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LLN Staff
Senior Fellows
Mike Hanson
Janice K. Jackson
Dr. Erin Driver-Linn
John Bailey
Dr. Chad Gestson
Scott Bess
Founding Partner at The JMH Team, Inc.
Mike Hanson
Mike Hanson is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is the founding partner of The JMH Team, Inc., specializing in executive coaching and strategic advising to education systems and state agencies across the U.S. He serves as the Superintendent Advisor to LEAs working with the California Collaborative for Excellence in Education. He is the former superintendent of California’s third-largest urban school district and co-founder and inaugural president of CORE. This nonprofit organization seeks to improve student achievement by fostering highly productive, meaningful collaboration and learning between California’s largest school districts. Mike is a California Education Partners board member and serves as the Chair of the Board for Valley Children’s Healthcare System, where he also chairs the compensation committee.
Before his 12-year tenure as superintendent, Mike served in many roles as a public educator in New York and California, including deputy superintendent, high school principal, social science teacher, and coach.
His work has focused on teacher, school, and district improvement through building capacity in others, systems knowledge, formalized collaborative relationships, and improved governance. His work in continuous improvement focuses on issues of equity and access, and organizational transformation. Areas of demonstrated expertise include improved student achievement, improved behavior of students, increased diversity of high-quality human capital, systems alignment, and leadership development systems. Mike is a California native who lives in Sacramento with his wife, Julie. They laugh constantly with their four adult children.
CEO at Hope Chicago
Janice K. Jackson
Dr. Janice Jackson is a Senior Fellow whose work at Carnegie focuses on equity issues, such as improving high school and college attainment nationwide, and ensuring that African American, Latinx, and Indigenous students receive exemplary education and social and emotional support. She is the CEO of education nonprofit Hope Chicago and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
Jackson’s tenure at CPS—the nation’s 3rd largest school district with more than 355,000 students, 38,000 employees, and an annual budget of $7 billion—is most notable for the results the district attained in advancing equitable outcomes for its students. Jackson’s efforts, along with those of Chicago’s dedicated teachers and principals, have propelled CPS students to record-breaking improvements in academic achievement, high school graduation, and post-secondary completion. Education experts across the country regard Chicago as a national leader in improving results for young people at scale.
She began her career within CPS in 1999 as a social studies teacher and debate team coach at South Shore High School. Subsequently, she served as a high school principal, District Network Chief, and Chief Education Officer. Appointed CEO in 2017, she was the first CPS alumna to serve in the position. Jackson holds a B.A. and M.A. from Chicago State University, and an M.A. and Ed.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also a board member of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
Higher Education Leader | Learning Design Strategist
Dr. Erin Driver-Linn
Dr. Erin Driver-Linn is a nationally respected expert in institutional learning, inclusive pedagogy, and academic innovation. Formerly the Dean for Education at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Associate Provost for Institutional Research at Harvard, and the founding Director of the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, she has led transformative innovations in programming, had significant impact on policy change for educational equity, and created and implemented a multifaceted grants program.
Vestigo Partners, Founder and CEO
John Bailey
John serves as a strategic advisor and investor, leveraging cross-sector experience in government, philanthropy, and the private sector to drive solutions in AI, technology, workforce development, climate technology, and behavioral health.
He currently serves as a fellow at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He has supported a range of investors and philanthropies with designing their strategies, launching initiatives, and developing policy agendas.
John served as a domestic policy advisor in the White House where he coordinated the Bush Administration’s efforts during the credit crisis to stabilize $200 billion in student loans and served as a negotiator for the reauthorization of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. As the Deputy Policy Director to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, he contributed to the first national pandemic preparedness strategy and worked on policies related to American competitiveness and comprehensive immigration reform.
He co-founded the strategic advisory firm Whiteboard Advisors and served as a senior program officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Earlier in his career, John served as the nation’s second Director of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, where he co-chaired the interagency Advanced Education Technology Initiative. While working for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, John spearheaded several technology and education initiatives, including a statewide broadband mapping project.
John currently serves on the board of directors for Zearn Math, the Federation of American Scientists, U.S. Digital Response, the Just Trust, and American Policy Ventures. He also serves on advisory boards for Trustible.ai, the XPRIZE, the FPF Center for Artificial Intelligence, and the Tech Talent Project. In addition, John is a Pahara-Aspen Institute Fellow and a moderator and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He is also an alumnus of the American Council on Germany Young Leaders Program. In 2022, 2023, and 2024 the Washingtonian named him as one of Washington’s Most Influential People in policy.
He previously served on boards for the Aspen Institute’s Future of Work, Indego Africa, and the Data Quality Campaign.
Founder and Executive Director, Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy; Special Advisor to the President on PK-12 Initiatives, Northern Arizona University.
Dr. Chad Gestson
Dr. Chad Gestson is the Founder and Executive Director of the Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy and serves as the Special Advisor to the President on PK-12 Initiatives at Northern Arizona University.
Gestson spent over 20 years in K-12 education and served as Superintendent of Arizona’s largest high school district, Phoenix Union, from 2015-2023. He was named Arizona’s 73rd Man of the Year in 2022. Prior serving as Superintendent, he was Director of Leadership and principal at Camelback High School. Before joining Phoenix Union in 2009, Gestson served as an elementary school assistant principal and as a middle school principal. A product of Teach For America, he began his teaching career in 2001. Prior to his public education career, he was a commercial construction superintendent in Seattle, WA. He and his wife, Megan, reside in Phoenix, Arizona.
President, Indiana Charter Innovation Center; Founder, Purdue Polytechnic High Schools
Scott Bess
Scott Bess is an education entrepreneur and the President of the Indiana Charter Innovation Center. He founded Purdue Polytechnic High Schools, which quadrupled the annual number of URM students from Indianapolis who attend Purdue University. Prior, Scott was President of Goodwill Education and developed the Excel Center to create opportunities for adults to attain a high school diploma. That network now serves over 9,000 students across the US. Scott serves on the Indiana State Board of Education, the boards of the Indiana Youth Institute, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, The National Association for Public Charter Schools and the Washington, DC Excel Center.
Scott is an alumni of the Pahara Institute. He lives in Indiana with his wife and enjoys time with his four adult children and five grandchildren.
Carnegie Staff
Timothy Knowles
Ana Skwierinski
Jennifer Santos
Emily Supple
Tinkhani White
Edit Khachatryan
Lauren Miller
President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Timothy Knowles
Timothy Knowles is the 10th president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Prior to joining Carnegie, he served as founder and managing partner of the Academy Group, an enterprise designed to prepare extraordinary young people from under-resourced communities to own and operate successful companies nationwide; reduce economic disparities and; serve as a human capital engine, built on a sustainable business model, to unlock human potential at scale.
Previously, Knowles founded and served as director and chairman of the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute. Knowles also founded and served as director of the University of Chicago Urban Labs, which works globally to design, test, and scale policies and programs that are effective, humane, and cost-efficient. Knowles also served as the John Dewey Clinical Professor of Education.
Prior to his work in Chicago, Knowles served as the deputy superintendent of the Boston Public Schools and co-directed the Boston Annenberg Challenge, a nationally regarded initiative to improve literacy. Knowles also served as director of a full-service K–8 school in New York City, founding director of Teach for America in New York, and a teacher of African history in Botswana.
Knowles has started multiple social sector organizations, holds appointments at the University of Chicago, and has written and spoken widely on education and entrepreneurship.
Senior Strategic Program Manager, Education Transformation
Ana Skwierinski
Ana Skwierinski joined the Carnegie Foundation in 2022. As senior strategic program manager, she is responsible for planning and executing programs and projects to achieve the Foundation’s mission.
Ana’s experience spans the Health Care, International Development, and Consumer Goods industries. Before joining the Carnegie Foundation, Ana worked for Kaiser Permanente, overseeing strategic projects to improve patient care, competitiveness, and operational efficiency. Previously, she served as Advisor for GIZ Mexico, where she partnered with government and private counterparts to deliver cooperation projects within GIZ’s Sustainable Energy Program. Before joining GIZ, Ana worked for P&G, focusing on consumer understanding and product design.
Ana holds a Project Management Professional certification from PMI. In addition, she received an M.S. degree granted jointly by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, IMT Atlantique, and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and a Chemical Engineering degree from Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela).
Program Coordinator, Future of Learning
Jennifer Santos
Jennifer Santos (she/her) serves as a program coordinator on the Program Management and Program Support team at the Carnegie Foundation, where she supports program activities and projects in the Future of Learning strategic portfolio. Prior to her role at the Foundation, Jennifer was a management fellow for the City of Mountain View, where she worked on policy areas such as housing, city-funded childcare, mental health and guaranteed basic income. She also served on the San Josè Mayor’s Office of Land Use and Economic Development team leading community initiatives, creating business associations, and building private-public stakeholder relationships.
Jennifer is a National City, California native. She is a first generation college graduate, holding a master’s in business administration from California State University, Monterey Bay and a bachelor’s in sociology and education from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
In her free time, Jennifer loves camping outdoors, cooking, exploring new food places, and traveling with her friends and family.
Brand Strategist, Communications & Engagement
Emily Supple
Emily Supple serves as brand strategist on the Communications & Engagement team at the Carnegie Foundation, developing content to promote and uplift the Foundation’s key messages and stories to external audiences and stakeholders. Prior to this role within the Foundation, Emily served as communications and content strategist, where she managed Carnegie’s social media channels, planned and designed communications and networking activities for major events, and worked on improvement project teams with external partners. Emily joined the Foundation in 2019 as a post-baccalaureate fellow, supporting a variety of core program initiatives through email marketing, social media posting, and experience design. Before her time at Carnegie, Emily held a variety of internships at educational non-profit organizations such as Girls on the Run NYC and Behind the Book, and she served as a health and education intern at the Office of the Mayor in Berkeley, CA.
Emily is a passionate storyteller and strategic thinker who believes deeply in the power of narrative to catalyze change. In 2021, Emily received an award from the Carnegie Foundation for Outstanding Service in recognition of her contribution to advance the Foundation’s programmatic work. She is a member of the National Political Science Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation, as well as a recipient of the Barnard College Judith Lewittes ’55 Scholarship. She received a bachelor’s from Barnard College of Columbia University (cum laude) in political science.
In her free time, Emily enjoys playing tennis, running, seeing live music, and spending time with friends and family.
Director, Systems Transformation, Education Transformation
Tinkhani White
Dr. Tinkhani Ushe White is the director of systems transformation at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She leads work that seeks to learn how systems transform to make education more engaging and relevant for the lives our young people wish to live and serve society. She joined the Carnegie Foundation in 2021 as a Networked Improvement Science associate, overseeing the Learning Leadership Network (LLN) and facilitating several courses. She also served as a member of the Summit Program team and worked on several partner-facing projects. Previously, she supported the enhanced school performance in Chesterfield County Public Schools in Virginia as the Director of School Improvement, leveraging her expertise in improvement science and state accountability. Her career includes roles as a building administrator, principal, and mathematics teacher in various New York and Virginia schools, where she significantly improved student outcomes.
Passionate about access and economic mobility, Tinkhani works to empower others to solve problems through skill development. She holds an Ed.D. in educational leadership and policy from Virginia Tech, a master’s in educational leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a bachelor’s in mathematics from the State University of New York at Geneseo. Additionally, she mentors future educational leaders as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia and participates in dissertation committees at Virginia Tech.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Tinkhani enjoys family time, volunteering with her church and sorority, and crocheting.
Senior Associate, Networked Improvement Science
Edit Khachatryan
Edit Khachatryan serves as senior associate on the Networked Improvement Science team at the Carnegie Foundation. In this role, Edit supports system transformation work through the use of improvement science.
Before joining the Foundation, Edit served as a teacher and leader developer, a teacher educator, and a teaching ambassador fellow at the U.S. Department of Education where she supported States transforming their teacher observation and evaluation systems. She started her career as a high school history, government, and economics teacher in Los Angeles.
Edit is an improvement facilitator, researcher, and educator with a mission to create lasting educational improvements by facilitating, strengthening, and studying collaborative learning and problem solving among educators. Her scholarly work has focused on teacher feedback from classroom observations, teacher and leader professional development, and improvement coaching. Edit’s work has been published in a variety of academic and practitioner forums as she believes investment in access and integration of scholarly and educator expertise is essential to truly address educational disparities. Her most recent publications include an article on how to organize the social dimensions of school improvement in Kappan magazine, a book chapter on improvement coaching in Continuous Improvement: A Leadership Process for School Improvement, and another book chapter on teacher leadership development through networked improvement community participation in Catalytic Improvement Communities: Cultivating Flourishing Schools, all in collaboration with other improvement leaders.
Edit holds a bachelor’s in sociology, two master’s degrees and teaching and administrative credentials from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a doctorate (Ph.D.) in curriculum and teacher education from Stanford University.
Senior Project Manager, Innovation and Impact
Lauren Miller
Lauren Miller serves as senior project manager at the Carnegie Foundation. With a wealth of experience and expertise, Lauren excels in overseeing multifaceted projects, deftly managing project planning, budgets, and events to ensure seamless execution.
Throughout her professional journey, Lauren has honed her skills in various capacities, demonstrating her commitment to fostering global connections and inclusive educational excellence. She has provided dedicated support to international students and scholars, advised on undergraduate education abroad programs, and successfully steered executive education initiatives to fruition.
Lauren’s academic foundation is rooted in her home state of Ohio, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Toledo. Eager to deepen her understanding of international training and education, she furthered her education at American University, earning a master’s degree.
Lauren’s free time is often devoted to outdoor pursuits, reflecting her appreciation for nature. Additionally, she finds joy in the culinary arts, exploring the world through cooking, and satisfying her curiosity through travel.
LLN is supported by:
