Dr. Kelli Peterson is deeply invested in high-quality schools, having served as a teacher and school administrator across various cities including Brooklyn, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Nashville. Additionally, Dr. Peterson has served as both a local education agency leader and state education agency leader. As a local system leader, she had the responsibility of overseeing charter school accountability, building the capacity of charter boards, development of new school strategy and the execution of the charter authorization process.
As a state system leader, she revised the state charter application to include intentional questions shifting to a community centered authorization approach, allocated $2M towards the development of New School Choice Pandemic Response Funds, developed an organizational structure to meet the needs of schools statewide in order to provide technical assistance and support to special education educators, allocated $1.2M of competitive funds to school systems to help support the cost of providing compensatory services to students with disabilities, and allocated $1M of the Governors Emergency Education Relief Funding to provide access to free mental health virtual visits for all public K-12 educators.
Dr. Kelli Peterson was born and raised in Flint, Michigan earned her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from Spelman College, a Masters of Education in Educational Administration from University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, and a Doctorate of Education in Curriculum Planning from Tennessee State University. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and The Links Inc. She serves as a Board member for the National Association of Charter School Authorizers(NACSA) , and the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute (NORLI). Dr. Peterson now fully invests her time as the Founder and Principal Consultant of The Ed.ucateD Approach, a national education consulting firm that serves its clients through evidence-based solutions, best practice approaches, and innovative strategies that yield intentional impact and effectiveness within the educational landscape.
What does creating a culture of care look like in practice in the charter school sector? Listen to the below podcast to hear Lisa Diaz from Lumen Impact Group interview Dr. Kelli Peterson, assistant superintendent at the Louisiana Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, about how Dr. Peterson is leading her team during these uncertain times.
Dr. Kelli Peterson joins the Leadership Dialogues podcast with Ethan Ashley, Orleans Parish School Board President to discuss COVID and education in Orleans Parish.
Dr. Kelli Peterson, NACSA National Advisory Board Member and new Assistant Superintendent, Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity at the Louisiana Department of Education, addresses racism, inequity, and injustice in America and our schools. She calls for authorizers to be reflective in their work, and provides questions to ask about your work and yourself.