Teaching Lab

Sarah Johnson was a trained scientist who decided to forgo a career in science after working as a teaching assistant and falling in love with teaching and learning. As a passionate public high school science teacher in DC and Oakland, she witnessed schools and school systems that failed to adequately serve students or teachers. For a time, she believed that the only way to truly transform teaching and learning was to dismantle a system that deprofessionalized teaching and, in turn, failed to provide all students with equitable access to educational opportunities.

Sarah was one of 25 leaders accepted to Harvard’s Educational Leadership Doctoral program where she studied systems-level leadership and developed a more nuanced understanding of how to engage in systems-change. She also worked directly with the Deputy Chancellor of Teaching and Learning in the New York City school system, helping to manage a division of 600 educators and rolling out continuous improvement initiatives to hundreds of educators and schools.

As a funder, Sarah was compelled by the vision of Teaching Lab’s co-founders, Max Wagner and Silas Kulkarni, helped provide early funding to them and then started to lead the organization in the fall of 2018. Through these experiences, she developed a vision for professionalizing teaching focused on ensuring teachers, like scientists, are given opportunities to understand and use the science behind learning and instruction while also engaging in ongoing growth through cycles of learning. She knows that none of this will happen unless we treat teachers like humans who deserve opportunities for growth and leadership starting on day one and extending throughout their careers. If we fail to see the “whole teacher,” we will not see or serve the “whole student.”