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BIO
DrCathyO is a speaker, author, professor, instructional coach, education policy analyst, and a National Board Certified Teacher. She has expertise in organizational leadership, culturally responsive teaching, teacher education and licensure, school transformation, and closing the achievement gap. Having more than 20 years of service, she has worked with state-level education officials in 46 of 50 states. She has traveled the U.S. and Canada training teachers, school leaders, boards of education, and college faculty. She has presented at many national conferences and written for leading education journals including Accomplished Teacher Magazine, the Journal of Staff Development, and the Hope Foundation’s What Works in Schools newsletter. Her work also appears in the college textbook: Black Star: An Introduction to African-American Studies.
She earned her Ed.D. in Education, Leadership, Management, and Policy at Seton Hall University, her M.S. at NC A&T State University, and her B.A. at the University of NC – Greensboro (where she was a NC Teaching Fellow). She has held senior roles at state and national education agencies, including: the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Learning Forward, the NC Department of Public Instruction, and others). She has served as adjunct faculty for several colleges. She completed leadership and coaching training with the NC Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Dale Carnegie Corporation, Institute for Management Studies, Jack McDowell School for Leadership Development, and the Parker Palmer Center for Courage and Renewal.
She completed extensive ministerial leadership development under the tutelage of Dr. Otis Lockett, Sr. and has served as a director of ministerial training in NC, MI, and PA. She is also the Dean of Education for the COGIC International Sunday School Department and President of the GirlsGotLIFE Foundation. Affectionately known as Dr. O, she has led several businesses, education agencies, and faith-based groups in implementing organizational change. She and her husband Sidney travel often and enjoy golf, music, ministry, theatre, seafood, and mentoring millennials.
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PUBLICATIONS
Educators Who Know What To Do: Experts in Education, A DrCathyO, Inc. Collaboration, 2021.
Why Schools Fumble: Applying the End Zone Mindset the School Improvement. Educational Effectiveness Group, 2021.
Teacher Leaders, Open Your Door. Educational Effectiveness Group, 2021.
The Relationship Between Praxis I and Praxis II Performance in NJ and Its Impact on the Minority Candidate Teaching Pool. Seton Hall University, 2014.
Contributing Author, Black Star: An Introduction to African-American Studies, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2013.
Columnist, Closing the Implementation Gap, What’s Working in Schools Newsletter, The Hope Foundation for Professional Educators, 2008-10.
Writer, Leading Without Leaving, JSD, Journal of the National Staff Development Council, Summer 2008, Vol. 29, No. 3.
Co-Editor, A Foundation for Candidate Support Training Manual and Take One!: An Evidence-Centered Approach to Accomplished Teaching Manual, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards with Educational Testing Service, 2005.
Contributing Writer, Foreword, Powerful Classroom Stories from Accomplished Teachers by Adrienne Mack-Kirschner, 2004.
Editor-in-Chief, Accomplished Teacher Magazine, NBPTS, 2003-04.
Co-Producer, The Teacher as Leader: A Workshop with Roland Barth and Leading the Way to Better Teaching, Better Learning, Better Schools, Videos, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 2002.
Writer, Accomplished Teacher Magazine, “Shake, Rattle, and Roll: How to Eliminate the Extraneous in the Classroom,” Spring 2002 and “Promoting the Value of Accomplished Teaching,” Winter 2001.
DrCathyO was relational, relevant, and resourceful when she spoke to my faculty and students. Carla Greene, School Leader
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