Julie Burnett
CHICAGO,IL
Summary
Leading strategies and innovations to interrupt inequities and remove barriers to opportunity. Accomplished, dedicated, positive, and passionate leader. Over 20 years of diverse, progressive experience in the public and private sector. Respected combination of expertise as an equity-center leader with expertise in education policy and practice. Energized by creating and sustaining partnerships with diverse stakeholders. Proven ability to make lasting change with small and large teams and with budgets ranging from $1m to $100m. Consistent experience improving outcomes for young people at the system, network, and school levels, in both PK-12 and university settings. Hands-on team leader, collaborator, and influencer with excellent communication, organization, strategy development, and problem-solving skills.
Overview
29
29
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Director, Partnership and Innovation
The Chicago Public Education Fund
01.2022 - Current
- Recruited as Senior Leadership Team member to guide organization strategy and growth.
- The Fund, for over 20 years has invested in Chicago Public School leaders as the key lever for improving student outcomes.
- Establish vision and strategy for the partnership team tasked with finding the next edge of growth for investments.
- Steered the due diligence process and development of $3M investment in two new pilot programs.
- The pilots provide targeted supports to priority school leaders or schools furthest from opportunity and increasing the diversity of the school leadership pipeline.
- Guide the organizational redesign of team processes and strategy.
- Facilitate constituent and partner engagement to ensure goals are met.
Senior Director, BIRTH-16 Policy
Office of the Mayor
01.2019 - 01.2022
- Recruited as senior education advisor to lead Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s education policy team equitably serving more than 800,000 children and young people in Chicago throughout the COVID-19 crisis. This included partnering with the Department of Family and Support Services, Chicago City Colleges, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, Chicago Public Libraries, and the Chicago Park District.
- Set vision and strategy for a team of 6, effectively supporting sister agencies and department leads through COVID-19, leadership change, crisis management, and labor negotiations.
- Maintained a focus on serving Black and Latine youth in communities most burdened by historical inequity and COVID-19.
- Marshaled $50M in city, federal and philanthropic funds to provide direct relief to families with children, to expand internet access through Chicago Connected, and to support direct service efforts for an estimated 100,000 students over a 4 year period.
- Allocated $8.5M in ARP funding to provide direct financial relief to housing insecure families through the Chicago Families Forward Fund (CF3). CF3 provided $500 micro grants to 11,804 CPS students and families.
- Coordinated with the Chicago Department of Public Health to improve vaccination rates among children and young people. Then, the Citywide vaccination rate for those 5-11 is 43.5% and 12-17 is 70.5%. Overall, 56% of age eligible CPS students have received at least one dose and nearly half (49%) are fully vaccinated.
- Manage appointments and relationships with members of the Boards of CPS, Parks, and Libraries.
- Support the Mayor’s communication team in updating the public on issues related to youth.
- Launched and managed K-12 Working Group, bringing together public, private, and independent school leaders to share resources and information throughout the COVID-19 crisis resulted in multiple cross-sector efforts around logistics, vaccination, and remote learning.
- Launched and managed Out-of-School-Time Working Group, engaging community stakeholders to issue a series of recommendations.
- Advocated and expanded youth employment efforts and trauma-informed training for nonprofit program providers in the Summer of 2021 providing services for Chicago Public Schools.
Assistant Principal
George Washington High School
01.2016 - 01.2019
- Developed the organizational capacity to ensure that all students are prepared for meaningful, productive futures.
- Engaged students, teachers, staff, and community in creating and sustaining an equity base movement to support every student in reaching their potential on the road to post-secondary success.
- Achieved a CPS school rating of Level One and State Summative Designation of Commendable School.
- The school was previously designated as an Illinois Priority School, a rating given to the lowest performing 5% of schools in the state.
- Evaluated 35 faculty members from the diverse learner department, English department, and related service providers utilizing the district’s REACH framework.
- Led internal teams to improve the Freshman On-Track rate, with three consecutive years of over 90% of students On-Track.
- Supervised the Culture and Climate team and recognized as an Established Safe and Supportive School by the CPS Office of Social Emotional Learning.
- Cultivated and maintained strong working relationship with classroom teachers to provide differentiated supports, implement effective research-based instructional practices, and data-informed instructional planning.
- Cultivated and maintained strong working relationship with the two case managers and district representative to improve the experience of diverse learner students and families including the development of Individual Education Plans and 504 plans, as well as implementation and progress monitoring.
Director Of the Department of Literacy
Chicago Public Schools
01.2014 - 01.2016
- Recruited from the field to direct district-wide PK-12 initiatives for language arts, reading and writing for CPS.
- Managed a $1 million department, including fiscal, project, and operational management.
- First district in the state to fully implement the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards.
- Provided literacy instructional guidance for more than 300,000 students in grades PK-2, 3-5, and 6-8, as well as materials for school-based literacy blocks and the high school English Language Arts and Humanities.
- Designed and led professional development for more than 2000 educators, including Teacher Leaders, Network Instructional Support Leaders, 500 principals. Survey data indicated high levels of satisfaction and learning.
- Led a team of 70 K-12 teachers and 15 cross-functional team members from the Networks, as well as internal partners, to evaluate Request for Proposal materials and resources. These were approved by the Chicago Board of Education
- Cultivated relationships and collaborated with external partners from the Chicago Community Trust University of Chicago, DePaul University, QTEL, and the Chicago Area Writing Project.
Leadership Coach
University of Chicago Network for College Success
01.2012 - 01.2014
- Network for College Success (NCS) at the University of Chicago partners with CPS with the goal of transforming high school communities through collaboration, shared learning, and the use of data.
- Provided high quality, data-informed coaching, consultation, and professional development to school principals, instructional leadership teams, and whole school staff as evidenced by participants evaluations and survey data.
- Developed relational trust with school leaders and teacher leaders at four high schools, to effectively improve school-based practice and manage the change process.
- Led a partner school’s implementation of the Federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) to support whole-school change and school wide student academic improvement.
Director of Curriculum, Innovation, and Reform
Area 15, Chicago Public Schools
01.2010 - 01.2012
- Facilitated curriculum and instructional development, change management, and continuous improvement initiatives across 25 schools utilizing a standards-based, core curriculum framework, and instructional learning walks.
- Managed portfolio of schools including 10 schools in the Woodlawn Children’s Promise Community (WCPC)
- Collaborated with the WCPC board and education steering committee to ensure strategic implementation of the project goals.
- Provided coaching supports to principals and assistant principals on professional development planning, student outcome progress monitoring, and student intervention planning.
- Developed relationships and collaborated with the CPS Teaching and Learning department and DePaul University.
- Supervised three instructional coaches.
New Leaders, Resident Principal
Morgan Park High School
01.2009 - 01.2010
- Selected as a member of New Leaders for New Schools (NLNS), Cohort 9, a competitive and rigorous principal preparation program. New Leaders for New Schools is a national program that trains and develops social justice leaders to work in urban schools and/or underserved communities
- Led the school-wide data team focused on using interim assessment data to drive instructional practice.
- Coached teachers to improve instructional practice through on-going classroom observations.
- Managed student teachers assigned to the school.
Literacy Coordinator & Teacher
DuSable Leadership academy, Betty Shabazz International Charter Schools
01.2008 - 01.2009
- Designed and implemented a grades 9-12 literacy course for students.
- Led professional development and cross-content collaboration with colleagues to improve student achievement and progress.
- Developed a strategic reading course and literacy intervention program.
- Achieved 95% of students in the strategic reading course had twp years or more growth and 11th grade students made a 10.3-point gain in state exam.
- Administered a school-wide literacy assessment of all students.
- Implemented the use of Measures of Academic Progress to monitor and assess student progress.
Director Of High School Partnerships
The USI Network, University of Chicago
01.2005 - 01.2008
- Established and co-led The Urban School Improvement (USI) Network, a professional learning community for 13 new public schools opening in Chicago under the Renaissance 2010 initiative. USI was housed at the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute
- Provided administrative leadership and supervision, network recruitment, delivery of high-quality, data-informed leadership coaching and professional development, and management of a team of coaches
- Co-designed a conceptual framework and guiding principles for network membership and high-level leadership supports for school incubation and instructional improvement.
- Coached five new schools through proposal development, incubation and opening including the University of Chicago Charter High School.
- Highlighted and disseminated the effective and promising practices of schools through facilitated convenings and targeted communications.
Lead Literacy and Learning Disability Teacher
Best Practice High School
01.2002 - 01.2005
- Founded in 1995, Best Practice was the city’s first new public high school in thirty years. Best Practice Founders envisioned the school as an innovative educational space to implement the best strategies for student success and a model for high school reform
- Taught English and reading courses in co-teaching, instructional and resources classes; served as an Area 21 Lead Literacy Teacher implementing district-wide priorities
- Scheduled and facilitated Individual Education Plan meetings as the service provider for 15 students and families.
- Facilitated a school-wide interdisciplinary literacy team; wrote a grant proposal to purchase high interest, leveled texts for the reading course classroom library.
Senior Education Project Coordinator & Professional Development Coordinator
Chicago Teachers’ Center, Northeastern Illinois University
01.1995 - 01.2002
- Facilitated instructional development, change management, and continuous process improvement initiatives for CPS High Schools and Elementary Schools on academic probation, remediation, and the State of Illinois watch list. Schools partnered with Northeastern Illinois University to improve academic achievement and close the achievement gaps
- Created and implemented a strategic plan to enhance academic improvement initiatives across a portfolio of schools and worked directly with school administrators and classroom teachers to measure success.
- Provided high quality, data-informed coaching, consultation, and professional development to school principals and whole school staff as evidenced by participant evaluations and survey data.
Education
Master of Education - Educational Leadership & Administration
National Louis University
Chicago, ILMaster of Arts - Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities
Northeastern Illinois University
Chicago, ILMaster of Education - Department of Education, Policy & Leadership
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, ILBachelor of Arts - Sociology
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, ILPrincipal Preparation Program -
New Leaders For New Schools - Chicago Cohort 9
Chicago, ILSkills
- Educational Policy & Leadership
- Curriculum & Instruction
- Team Leadership & Coaching
- Operations Management
- Relationship Building
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Strategic Planning
- Resource Management
- Partnership Development
- Change Management
- Staff Engagement & Empowerment
Certification
- Illinois Professional Educator, 2017525, General Administrative (K-12), Learning Behavioral Specialists I (PK-12), Secondary Education (6-12), English (9-12), Language Arts (1-8), Reading Specialist (K-12), Reading Teacher (6-12), Social Science (6-8)
- On the “Eligibility List” for the principalship in Chicago Public Schools
- Nominated by colleagues for a CPS DRIVE Teacher award
- Blended Coaching
- Reading Specialist
- Critical Friends Coach
- Coaching for Educational Equity Training
Timeline
Director, Partnership and Innovation
The Chicago Public Education Fund
01.2022 - Current
Senior Director, BIRTH-16 Policy
Office of the Mayor
01.2019 - 01.2022
Assistant Principal
George Washington High School
01.2016 - 01.2019
Director Of the Department of Literacy
Chicago Public Schools
01.2014 - 01.2016
Leadership Coach
University of Chicago Network for College Success
01.2012 - 01.2014
Director of Curriculum, Innovation, and Reform
Area 15, Chicago Public Schools
01.2010 - 01.2012
New Leaders, Resident Principal
Morgan Park High School
01.2009 - 01.2010
Literacy Coordinator & Teacher
DuSable Leadership academy, Betty Shabazz International Charter Schools
01.2008 - 01.2009
Director Of High School Partnerships
The USI Network, University of Chicago
01.2005 - 01.2008
Lead Literacy and Learning Disability Teacher
Best Practice High School
01.2002 - 01.2005
Senior Education Project Coordinator & Professional Development Coordinator
Chicago Teachers’ Center, Northeastern Illinois University
01.1995 - 01.2002
Master of Education - Educational Leadership & Administration
National Louis University
Master of Arts - Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities
Northeastern Illinois University
Master of Education - Department of Education, Policy & Leadership
University of Illinois
Bachelor of Arts - Sociology
University of Illinois
Principal Preparation Program -
New Leaders For New Schools - Chicago Cohort 9
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