Close-up of a woman with long curly hair, wearing glasses, earrings, and layered necklaces, smiling against a plain light gray background.

Dr. Jolene Galpin

Studied it, led it, and lived it.

I've trained in what gets taught, in how institutions are run, and in how to research both. I spent more than two decades finding out how much harder all of it is in practice than on paper — teaching in Dublin and Chicago, as a principal across three U.S. school systems, a chief executive of a multi-school charter organization in New Orleans, and now leading academic strategy and accreditation for an online school spread across time zones.

I've also been the parent on the other side of the table, trying to get a straight answer from an institution that didn't want to give one. That view changes what you listen for.

What that looked like

A Chicago turnaround that moved the school three levels on a five-level scale, with reading growth from the 1st percentile to the 90th. A New Orleans school that posted the city's highest gains at Mastery and Advanced while cutting suspensions 25% overall, and 35% for Black male students. A successful IB and NEASC accreditation cycle in Washington DC, alongside the highest growth in the school's history.

At each school I led, it also meant writing the policies to match — inclusive practice built into how the place actually ran, not appended as a statement.

I include numbers because you should be able to check whether someone's approach actually moves anything.

How I work

The problem a leadership team brings me is usually a symptom. The first question is whether it's personal or structural, and the action plan is entirely different depending on the answer, and most organizations guess wrong.

I don't hand over a report and leave: most of my work is helping people who already sense something is wrong build the case, the language, and the plan to improve it.

My doctoral concentration was in diversity and equity, and that shapes what I notice, particularly when a policy written in the abstract collides with a child's life and needs.

Credentials

  • EdD, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership (Concentration in Diversity & Equity) — University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  • MA, School Leadership — Concordia University

  • MEd, Curriculum & Instruction — National-Louis University

  • BA, Psychology — Manhattan College