Bethany Bernasconi, EdD
2Rev Coach
Bethany is the 2012 New Hampshire Teacher of the Year, a 2013 ASCD Emerging Leader, a 2014 Milken Fellow, a 2017 School ReTool Fellow and was the recipient of the NH Excellence in Education Outstanding Leadership award in 2019. Bethany earned a BA in Biology and a MAT in Secondary Science Education, both from Boston University, and an Ed.D in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment through Walden University. Her doctoral research focused on closing the gender achievement gap in STEM through building and implementing cognitive apprenticeships in secondary school communities of practice. Bethany began teaching High School in 2004 in Lincoln-Sudbury, MA. In 2009, she helped to open the doors of Windham High School, where she taught Biology and was the Director of Science and Engineering 6-12 for the Windham School District. Most recently she served as the Assistant Principal and then Principal of the Amherst Middle School in New Hampshire.
Her areas of expertise include: designing and implementing competency-based learning systems, performance assessment, personalized learning, student-centered instructional design, and STEM Education. Bethany believes that in supporting the growth of educators we can empower them to create personalized learning, engage as an integral part of a community of practice, and create joyful and equitable opportunities for all learners. She is an advocate of increased student agency and champions the uniqueness and value of students and educators alike.
The goal of the RIDE initiative is the transformation of systems, structures, practices, and polices to become more student-centered. However, transformation is a word heavy in meaning and implications that often feels too nebulous to actualize. It can either feel like trying to catch a waterfall, or like the onslaught of a myriad of top down prescriptive mandates that will sap the creativity of professional educators and ignore the values and voices of local communities. The approach to supporting transformation in Wyoming’s RIDE Pilot Districts is different and can serve as a model of sustainable change that is personalized and responsive to local communities.