Biographical Information:
Dr. Vanessa Karwan is the Chief Academic Officer for the Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve in Northeast Ohio directly supporting over 55,000 students in districts and schools across Lake and Geauga counties. In just one and a half years, Dr. Karwan has created a Curriculum Department and expanded online learning, Student and Family Resource Centers (tutoring and case management support) across 10 partner districts by way of securing 9 grants totaling over 4 million dollars and employing 27 staff. Dr. Karwan has dedicated 25 years to public education school systems as a Turnaround and Transformative leader implementing evidence-based practices, and successfully turning around two of the lowest performing schools in the state of California. Vanessa is committed to social justice advocacy and creating equity and access for all students.
Dr. Vanessa Karwan has Principal and District Director experience at all grade levels Pre-K, Elementary, Middle, High School, Alternative, Vocational Education and Higher Education settings. Dr. Karwan has served as a Principal Coach, national education consultant, the Professional Development Director for TIDES, a San Diego Nonprofit organization, supporting San Diego County Schools to grow Professional Learning Communities, District Leadership Teams, as well as Project and Problem Based Learning. Vanessa is an OTES 2.0 Lead State Trainer for Teacher Evaluation and presents in local and state conferences and webinars on inquiry and project and problem based learning, co-teaching models for general and special education teams, best practices for English Language Learners, implementation of HQIM high quality instructional materials’ curriculum adoptions, instructional rounds and collaborative practices across Educational Service Centers, to name a few. In addition, Dr. Karwan is bilingual in Spanish and English and is an expert in teaching English to speakers of other languages and bilingual and multicultural education practices.