Teacher Ambassadors are dedicated teacher leaders representing a diverse range of teacher-powered schools who bring their counsel, voices, resources, and influence to Teacher-Powered Schools.
Teacher Ambassadors and a core group of staff lead the movement’s work.
Teacher-Powered Schools Staff
Teacher-Powered Schools is a project of Education Evolving, supported by all members of the EE team.
Jeff Austin

Teacher-Powered Coaching & Support Lead
Jeff Austin is a social studies teacher who now serves as the principal and was on the design team at the Social Justice Humanitas Academy in Los Angeles. He is a National Board Certified Teacher and was a 2013 Los Angeles County and Los Angeles Unified School District Teacher of the Year.
Zaynab Baalbaki

Teacher-Powered Schools Coach
Zaynab Baalbaki is extremely passionate about social justice, especially in education. She was an advisor at Escuela Verde in Milwaukee, a teacher-powered school that focuses on social justice, sustainability, and peace. She is the founder of ZB Consulting as the lead justice and love cultivator.
Carrie Bakken

MN Teacher-Powered Schools Lead
Carrie Bakken is the Executive Director of the teacher-powered Avalon School in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She supports our Teacher-Powered Schools work, supporting educators and growing the movement in her home state.
Sarah Giddings

Teacher-Powered Social Media Coordinator
Sarah Giddings is a National Board Certified Teacher who is a teacher leader and curriculum coordinator for the WAVE Program—a reimagined alternative high school she helped develop. She is also a Teacher Ambassador for the Teacher-Powered Schools Initiative, where she supports professional learning opportunities and communications and engagement.
Amy Junge

Director of Teacher-Powered Schools
Amy Junge is a former California public elementary and middle school teacher and assistant principal. She started working with teacher-powered schools in 2009 and was a contributing author for Trusting Teachers with School Success: What Happens When Teachers Call the Shots. Today, Amy works with Education Evolving supporting teacher-powered schools through Teacher Powered Schools.
Marcus Penny

Communications Manager
Marcus runs communications for Education Evolving where he enjoys marrying creative skills with a passion for education systems change. Before EE, he led communications and digital engagement for a national nonprofit supporting students and educators engaged in service-learning.
Skyler Primm

Teacher-Powered Coach
Skylar teaches math, science, and a little bit of everything else as Lead Teacher at Koshkonong Trails School in the School District of Cambridge in Wisconsin. Prior to that, Skylar taught for 11 years at High Marq Environmental Charter School in Montello.
Wendy Salcedo-Fierro

Director of Teacher-Powered Coaching
Wendy is a social studies and dual language teacher. As a lead teacher at a teacher-powered school in Los Angeles, Wendy helped articulate her school’s K-12 bilingual program and develop innovative projects, assessments, and initiatives. She is passionate about creating democratic schools and supporting teachers and students to be agents of change.
Taryn Snyder

Teacher-Powered Coach
Taryn is a third grade teacher at the Boston Teachers Union Pilot School, a teacher-powered K-8 in Boston Public Schools. When not in the classroom, Taryn is out and about exploring Boston with her puppy, daughter, and husband. She enjoys eating ice cream, reading memoirs, cheering for the Celtics, and spending time with friends and family.