DC Charter School Alliance Announces New School Support Pilot Project, Names Vanessa Carlo-Miranda as Executive Director
Washington, DC – Today, DC Charter School Alliance announced the formation of the Partnership for DC School Excellence, which will offer non-evaluative school reviews and centralized resources to improve school outcomes, with an emphasis on improving academic outcomes, retaining top talent, and strengthening governance.
This innovative pilot will be led by Vanessa Carlo-Miranda as Executive Director, who will bring decades of experience working in education, public charter schools, government, and nonprofit sectors. Starting in the spring, Carlo-Miranda will build a multi-year strategy and engage select schools in the pilot to help develop and implement plans for improving their performance, support them with accessing vendors and best practices, and bring them together with peers for learning.
“The DC Charter School Alliance is privileged to incubate this new organization, which we expect will enhance academic outcomes for students, providing the coaching and support that school leaders have expressed as a need,” said Ariel Johnson, Executive Director of the DC Charter School Alliance. “We are confident in Vanessa’s ability to bring her experience and expertise to spearhead this organization and strengthen charter sector quality in DC.”
Carlo-Miranda will work in partnership with an advisory board, which includes Dr. Antoinette Mitchell, Interim State Superintendent of Education at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education; Dr. Michelle Walker-Davis, Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board; Ariel Johnson, Executive Director of the DC Charter School Alliance; Rashida Young, Partner leading the Schools, Talent, & Racial Equity Team at Ed Forward DC; Patricia Brantley, CEO of Friendship Public Charter School; Amy Helms, Head of School at DC Scholars Public Charter School; Raymond Weeden, Executive Director of Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School; and Dominique Coote, Director of School Quality at Capital City Public Charter School. This pilot phase is funded by Ed Forward DC.
Carlo-Miranda brings more than 17 years of experience in school, district, and state-level education systems to her new role. As a consultant for the U.S. Department of Education, she supported the decentralization efforts of the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE). Prior to working as a consultant, Carlo-Miranda served as the Chief Operating Officer of StriveTogether, a national nonprofit working in nearly 70 communities across the United States to enable more than 14 million young people to succeed in school and life. Before StriveTogether, Carlo-Miranda served as the Chief Operations Officer at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. for nearly a decade. She began her career working for the National Council of La Raza (now UnidosUS) while attending law school. Later she combined her passion for education and legal training at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), where she led programs to improve public charter school facilities, federal grants management compliance, and legal support as Attorney Advisor in the General Counsel’s office.
