Rachael George serves as the Executive Director of Student Services and Elementary Programs as well as the Prek Principal in the Oregon Trail School District. She is the past principal of Sandy Grade School in Sandy, Oregon. She spent seven years living the dream as an elementary school principal and prior to that was a middle school principal in Southern Oregon for three years where they were an “outstanding” and two-time “Level 5: Model School,” as recognized by the Oregon Department of Education.

During her time at Sandy Grade, they have experienced a complete turn around in academic achievement and growth. Over the course of her leadership, they went from outperforming ten percent of all Oregon elementary schools to now outperforming approximately seventy five percent of Oregon elementary schools. They have some of the highest growth rates in the area and are always striving to improve as they focus on growing all kids through academics, attitude, and attendance. This has taken a lot of hard work and collective efficacy by staff, students, and families as we work to move the needle and close the achievement gap.

George specializes in curriculum development, instructional improvement, working with at-risk students, and closing the achievement gap. She holds a Bachelors in Environmental Studies from Southern Oregon University, a Masters of Arts in Teaching from George Fox University, a Masters of Science in Mathematics Education from Oregon State University, as well as Doctorate in Educational Leadership from George Fox University. She has taught at the high school, middle school, and elementary level.

Outside of her building and district, George has been extremely active at the state and national level. She has previously served as the Oregon Elementary School Principals Association (OESPA) President and is currently Oregon’s State Representative to the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the President to the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators (COSA). George has been a consistent advocate for education on both a state and national level. Each year she spends time on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC meeting with state and federal leaders to talk about the importance of Title IIa, ESSA, working to fully fund IDEA, and other important educational topics.

Outside of work, you can find her teaching future principals through COSA’s administrative licensure program with Concordia of Chicago, writing and blogging about education and spending time outside as she loves to ski and run.

Rachael is active on social media and you can connect with her on Twitter @DrRachaelGeorge or on her website drrachaelgeorge.com

Social justice has always been central to Kourtney’s passion for education as she began as a teacher’s assistant at San Quentin State Prison in 1997. This experience evoked a lifelong dedication to strong educational experiences for all students, especially those who experience the obstacles of inequity. “The relentless belief in every child’s unlimited capacity to learn” are words that guide the work she does in McMinnville School District where she served as principal at Wascher Elementary School for six years and now serves as Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment at the district office. Wascher Elementary was recognized as a Model School for rapidly improving student outcomes in 2018 by the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE). In 2019 Kourtney was awarded Oregon Elementary Principal of the Year and was honored as a National Distinguished Principal. Before entering into administration, Kourtney was a kindergarten and third grade teacher as well as an instructional coach. She lives in Oregon’s wine country with her husband and two children. Kourtney is on Twitter @kourtneyferrua. Learn more about Kourtney by visiting https://www.principaled.org/.

When someone asks Kate Barker how many children she has, she replies, “Five hundred thirty-seven, plus two.” As well as having two children of her own, Kate is currently a principal in Portland, Oregon. She has been an educator for the past thirty years all in an incredibly diverse urban area. Kate has spent her career dedicated to supporting and learning from her community. She has been a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher and a district office language arts and federal grants leader. In the past seventeen years, she has lovingly served as a principal at three different buildings. In her current building, she works with a vibrant community of preschool through fifth-grade students. Seventy-five percent of the families experience poverty, and twenty-eight different languages are spoken. Many of her students, whose basic needs are not met, are steeped in trauma. And yet, the students in her school consistently outperform state averages. She holds a master’s in special education and is a champion for building a culture that includes all students and families. She believes that everything starts with a genuine relationship, and connections and high expectations are at the core of her community’s success.

Kate speaks on many topics which include multi-tiered systems of academic and behavior support, systems and structures for successful schools, navigating personalities and having hard conversations, inclusion of all children without tears, setting up a preschool within your school, capitalizing on community partners to support schools and much more! She also is active in her state's educational leadership organization, COSA, and has held multiple offices to support principals around her state. She is an adjunct professor for aspiring administrations and has enjoyed mentoring principals and teacher leaders. Another one of Kate's passions is rescuing food that would otherwise end up in landfills and redistributing that food to hungry families through an organization called, Urban Gleaners, where she serves as a board member. You can reach her at Katiesusanbarker@gmail.com or @Kate_S_Barker on Twitter.