Tara's Professional Experience

Summary

Tara is a passionate and experienced educator and program manager with a solid background in educational pedagogy and evaluation, and a strong record of successful program development and implementation.

Professional Experience

NEw Roads High School, SANTA MONICA,CA                                          

2014-PRESENT

K-12 Director of Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment: 2022 - Present

  • Developed K-12 professional development goals and plans from the school’s foundational documents, and lead professional development days for K-12 faculty

  • Help hire, onboard, train, develop, and evaluate new faculty

  • Lead Division Director work across the elementary, middle, and high school working to align all programs K-12, including academics, athletics, and wellness

  • Support all divisions in key programming and decision making

  • Serve as a member of the school’s leadership team and assist with strategic planning and strategic plan tracking

  • Helped develop new K-12 faculty reflective evaluation process

  • Lead the school in adopting new standardized testing, and serve as the site test administrator

Upper School Science Department Chair: 2022 - Present

  • Serve as the department spokesman with Upper School Administration

  • Work to ensure a coherent curriculum across the department and ensure all classes are congruent with the school’s Mission and Philosophy

  • Support and mentor department faculty, serve as an advocate for them with US Admin, and build community within the department

  • Facilitate department conversations regarding curriculum standards, locally and broadly,  supporting curricular innovation within and across disciplines, and working with administration to assess and review the effectiveness of the program.

Teacher Leader: 2019 - Present  

  • Helped K-12 teachers adapt to the virtual online and then remote learning formats of Covid-quarantine time

  • Trained teachers in new technology options, including Google Meet, Google Classroom, Google Sites, Google Jamboard, Kahoot, Padlet, Nearpod, EdPuzzle, Peardeck, and more

  • Lead trainings and small learning community groups around teacher-elected issues of technology integration, social-emotional wellbeing integration, inquiry-based classroom techniques, grading for equity, project-based learning, and reflective practice

Grade Level Lead Advisory: 2018 - 2022 

  • Developed high school advisory program with weekly or biweekly programming, depending upon the year

  • Created lessons and activities around holidays, major community events, supporting students social-emotional wellbeing, and executive functioning skills, as well as major grade-level events and academic advising

High School Science Teacher: 2014 - Present

  • Developed lesson plans, wrote lessons, activities, curricula, and taught high school chemistry, biology, marine biology, and botany & horticulture classes, and one section of chemistry summer school; as well as a service learning workshop, and advisory programs.

  • Served as a school-wide Teacher Leader, helping train and support teachers as they moved to virtual classroom environments during Coronavirus Quarantines.

  • Created Marine Biology class with corresponding curriculum, and shepherded it through the U.C. A-G approval process

  • Served as faculty sponsor for high school environmental club, and as a mentor for students' Independent Study Projects

  • Serves as a Teacher Leader, helping to teachers to transition to online learning through the Coronavirus quarantine of 2020 via the creation of training videos, developing and leading professional development on strategies and technologies to support online learning, leading technology and pedagogy reflection happy hours, and providing one-on-one support. In September 2020, became Co-Leader of the Teacher Leader Cohort.

  • Serves as grade-level Advisory Leader for the high school, coordinating the grade-level advisors and working in a team to develop the weekly or bi-weekly meeting plans.

SELF-EMPLOYED, Santa Monica,CA                                                    

2009-Present

Independent Education Consultant

  • Assisted organizations with project design and implementation, strategic planning, curriculum development, and professional development

  • Created and lead marine science workshops for at-risk and underrepresented students (2013-2020)

  • Planned and coordinated semi-monthly statewide Environmental Education Coalition phone calls for Seventh Generation Advisors (2014)

  • Facilitated LAUSD Task Force on Expanding Sustainable Schoolyards and authored the report summarizing the work and recommendations of the Task Force (ongoing: 2013-2014)

Heal the Bay, Santa Monica, CA                                                       

2005-2018

Interim Aquarium Director: Summer 2018

  • Served as Interim Director for Heal the Bay's Santa Monica Pier Aquarium while they performed a search for a new director. Managed personnel, budgets, grants, marketing and communications, and institutional visioning, as well as the physical facility itself.

Education Director:  2011 - 2013

  • Oversaw the development, design, budget, and construction of a $540k interactive exhibit

  • Wrote, secured, and managed $300k-$500k in grants annually, including several large (>$100k) interdepartmental grants

  • Managed five distinct educational programs within the Education Department and their corresponding personnel, reaching hundreds of teachers and approximately 25,000 students annually

  • Developed and managed a $400,000+ budget annually

  • Participated actively as a member of the Senior Management Team of Heal the Bay, a $5.5 million environmental non-profit

  • Conducted evaluation and strategic planning for the programs of Heal the Bay, both inside and outside of the Education Department

  • Developed and lead EEI (Education and the Environment Initiative) teacher professional development opportunities, independently to support teacher’s use of EEI with new technology in the classroom, and in partnership with National Geographic Education, Annenberg Learner, and Google Earth to support integrated, multidisciplinary lessons on the environment

  • Represented the organization within the local and national environmental education, marine education, science education communities, and the local and state formal education communities; often collaborating with other organizations on mutually beneficial projects

  • Represented the organization with the media and at major public community events

  • Oversaw the design and writing of the department’s E-newsletter and promotional materials

  • Helped plan and coordinate major fundraising events for the organization

  • Partnered with National Geographic Education and Annenberg Learner to provide in-depth professional development for local teachers

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium Education Manager: 2005 - 2011

  • Managed the education programs of the Aquarium, and their corresponding staff and volunteers

  • Managed the Aquarium education program’s $175k budget

  • Created hands-on, interactive CA Science Content Standards-based curriculum for Kindergarten – 8th grade students

  • Developed the internship program to include educator training and development

  • Taught thousands of classes to all ages in the field and in the classroom, as well teacher professional development workshops, public presentations and lectures, and presentations at industry conferences

National Geographic Society, Washington, DC                            

2010

Contract Writer and Reviewer

OKLAHOMA AQUARIUM, JENKS, OK

2002-2005

Education Department Coordinator: 2003 - 2005

  • Developed and managed the foundational education programs of the Aquarium, including the Water on Wheels (WOW) Outreach educational program, the onsite field trip programs, scouting and homeschool days, the Sleep with the Sharks sleepover program, the Aquatots program for early childhood students, and the summer, spring break, and winter break camps that served thousands of students – many of which are still in existence today

  • Partnered with the Tulsa World’s Newspapers In Education to develop and lead marine science training for approx. 200 teachers

  • Managed ten full time and two part-time staff education department staff, and the department’s building and vehicles

  • Coordinated major Aquarium events, including our Splash Break! Celebration, booths at the Tulsa State Fair, and the 12 Days of Fishmas

  • Received Oklahoma State School Board seal of approval for the field trip programs due to the way they addressed the state content standards

  • Trained and managed volunteers for both the department and the overall facility

  • Wrote, designed, created, and installed the graphic exhibits for the facility prior to opening

Riverfield Country Day School, Tulsa, OK                                          

2000-2001

Middle School Science & English Teacher

  • Taught integrated 6th-8th grade Science (4 per day) and English-Language Arts (3 per day) classes at an independent, private Country Day school

  • Led & taught 4th-8th grade summer camps

  • Developed lesson plans, wrote lessons, activities, and curricula for Science and English-Language Arts 6th-8th grade classes, and for 4th-8th grade Science, Environmental, Arts & Home Skills camps

Banner photo - Looking from USC Wrigley on Catalina back across the Channel to Los Angeles, taken during a sunset walk with students to discuss the changes that take place at sunrise and sunset