I help school and district leaders design professional learning that educators trust, use, and sustain, so the change you're paying for actually shows up in schools and classrooms.
Professional learning that actually changes what happens in schools and classrooms on Monday.
You allocated the budget. You scheduled the days. You brought in someone everyone said was great. And six months later:
The strategy is gathering dust next to last year's initiative. Teachers are quietly skeptical of the next rollout. Coaches are burning out trying to hold it together. Achievement data hasn't moved. Central office is asking hard questions. The board wants to see the return. And you're wondering whether the money would've been better spent somewhere else.
This isn't a failure of effort. It's a failure of design.
Most professional learning fails for two reasons. First, the educators in the room don't trust the person at the front, so they don't try the practice. Second, even when they do try it, the learning wasn't designed for how adults actually learn and change, so it doesn't stick. That's the problem I've spent nearly three decades solving.
A free 30-minute conversation. No pitch, no obligation. Just a real look at what you're facing, and whether I can help.
No more sit-and-get sessions that score well on the exit survey and get forgotten by Wednesday. The learning is designed so participants leave with practices they can put to work immediately, whether they're heading back to a classroom, a coaching conversation, or a leadership meeting.
Every engagement is built with the follow-through structures (coaching cycles, train-the-trainer models, protocols, and systems) that turn a one-day session into a year of practice change. You're not paying for an event. You're paying for a shift.
Districts I've worked with have moved ELA rankings by dozens of spots, tripled AP enrollment, cut discipline incidents by more than a third, and grown reading levels by full grades in a single year. Real, measurable, defensible.
More than 30 districts across Connecticut, Michigan, and beyond. Urban, suburban, and charter. From 500 students to 25,000. Each engagement designed for the specific context in front of us.
102nd → 59th
ELA district ranking, in one Connecticut district
3× AP enrollment 77% pass rate
in one urban high school
35%
reduction in discipline incidents, in one K-8 school
Real numbers, in real schools, with the kind of change that shows up on a dashboard and in a hallway.
Custom professional learning designed around your team, your goals, and your context. From single sessions to year-long engagements. In-person, virtual, or hybrid.
Cognitive Coaching-informed conversations for teachers, instructional coaches, and district and school administrators.
Curriculum revision, MTSS work, PLC and data team structures, and the systems that make strong instruction possible at scale.
Keynotes for leadership retreats, district PD days, and education conferences. Built to leave your audience with something they can use, not just something they enjoyed.
After 30 years in K-12, most recently as an assistant principal, I resigned my position to do this work full time.
For 12 of those years, professional learning was my full-time role at an educational agency, where I designed and delivered PD across more than 30 districts. Now it has my full attention.
I'm a Cognitive Coaching agency trainer, a Science of Reading Trainer and Coach, an IIRP Certified Trainer in Restorative Practices, a Coach Builder certified consultant, and the current president of the Connecticut Council of Teachers of English.
I ground every engagement in brain science, because how the brain actually learns and changes behavior isn't a bonus feature of professional learning. It's the whole point.
A working conversation about your goals, your context, and what's already been tried. Free, no pitch, no obligation.
I build the professional learning around your specific priorities, teachers, and constraints. You'll see the plan before we go.
I facilitate the work and stay with you through the follow-through, so the change lasts past the calendar.
Most first calls run 30 minutes. You'll leave with something useful whether or not we work together.
The Reviews
Dina is in an absolute league of her own. Extremely organized, with incredible knowledge of curriculum and education. Our district has been using her services for years and can thoroughly recommend her to anyone.
– Z.N., Director of Instruction
Dina has an incredible ability to see the larger picture and tune her work to give us feasible and meaningful steps in professional learning and strategic planning to achieve our goals. She is a true partner in professional learning.
– M. S., Assistant Principal
Dina was a fantastic and engaging presenter. She kept us engaged and also allowed us time to practice what we were learning. It was a perfect balance of time well spent.
– K.G., Middle School Teacher
Free resource
Not ready to talk yet? Start here.
A structured self-audit for school and district leaders. Fifteen items across Structures, Data, and Culture. Shows you exactly where your MTSS is working, where it's leaking, and what to prioritize. Fifteen minutes.
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Tell me what you're working on.
The first conversation is on me.
No pitch, no obligation, just a real look at what you're facing and whether I can help.