From the age of ten when she asked for a chalkboard for her birthday, Elisa knew she wanted to be a teacher. That calling manifested into a career spanning three decades of teaching, leading and consulting.
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Elisa currently consults with school districts and organizations helping to transform teacher, school and district-level teams to advance learning opportunities and outcomes for all students and educators. She also works with corporate clients, whose mission is one of service and positive impact, who are looking to improve as a learning organization.
Elisa was a guest on Peter DeWitt and Mike Nelson's podcast Leaders Coaching Leaders. is the author of many published articles and blogs and best-selling books, Intentional Moves: How Skillful Team Leaders Impact Learning and The Skillful Team Leader: A Resource for Overcoming Hurdles to Professional Learning for Student Achievement. She has presented at numerous conferences including Learning Forward, ASCD/ISTE and Corwin author's conference. As a teacher and school administrator, Elisa was the recipient of the English Speaking Union Treadwell Scholarship and numerous grants.
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Past work experience:
Elisa served as National Director of Teacher Leader Development at Teach Plus, where she developed and led the Turnaround Teacher Teams initiative program in schools across six cities in her role as . This work involved creating a robust system of training and support to teacher and school leaders in what were designated as chronically underperforming schools. She mobilized leaders to skillfully and intentionally facilitate teacher and instructional leadership teams and spearhead change initiatives that achieved swift learning gains for historically marginalized students. Prior to this role, Elisa was an assistant principal of instruction, literacy coach, lead mentor and middle and high school teacher in the Boston Public Schools. While working in schools, she served as adjunct professor for teacher action research at Boston College and a part-time consultant for Teachers 21.
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Personal side:
Elisa is the mom to amazing adolescent twins, both of whom are exceptional with language-based learning differences. Their school experiences have shaped her lifetime commitment to diversity and the neurodivergent learner, equity, inclusion and social justice.
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When Elisa isn’t championing students, teacher leaders and Skillful Intentional team leadership, she is on stage acting, driving her twins to basketball and clay class, or experimenting in the kitchen pretending she’s on the Food Network. Contact Elisa if you want to learn more about Skillful Intentional Team Leadership, or if you just want a delicious fudge recipe.​
Assistant Superintendent
Elisa is a terrifically talented and knowledgeable leader of professional development for teachers, teacher leaders, and school administrators. She is detail-oriented and highly skilled in structuring adult learning to engage educators and help them reflect upon and change their practice. Elisa is the most skilled professional developer that I have worked with in my 20+ educational career.
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Toby R.
Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Ed & Special Programs
Newton Public Schools, MA
Teacher Leader
Your training has transformed how I think about problem solving in schools, whether it's math, team meetings or social and emotional learning. I am less intimidated when dealing with challenging issues and have a whole new perspective about how to operate in schools.
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Georgia M.
Math teacher leader
F.A. Day Middle School, MA
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Corporate Client
Elisa summarized "The Five dysfunctions of a Team" into meaningful and digestible content that allowed our team to understand the complexities of leadership within an organization. She also presented alternate viewpoints on leadership and challenged our team to think about how our own team functions. Elisa took the time to outline exercises and resources for our continued growth as a team. This was a truly valuable exercise to start our journey to being a better functioning leadership team.
Carrie M.
Manager Clinical Research Operations
Ambry Genetics, CA