Susan Mundry

Overview

Susan Mundry provides strategic leadership for an $88M portfolio of educational research, development, and technical assistance services at WestEd. She has over 30 years of experience in the education field leading research and development work addressing professional learning, systems change, educational equity, and leadership development. She is the author of several best-selling books and a national expert and advisor on the design of professional learning for educators. 

Mundry currently leads a subcontract for the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands (REL-NEI) that is responsible for conducting a randomized control trial of a math intervention in Massachusetts as well as data-coaching work in Puerto Rico. Prior to this, for REL-NEI, she directed two IES-published projects on teacher quality: (1) a study of the equitable distribution of teachers and (2) certification requirements for teachers. She also established and co-led the Northeast Educator Effectiveness Research Alliance and the Teacher Preparation Research Alliance, a collaboration of states and districts promoting educator effectiveness, improved teacher preparation, and workforce diversity.

Previously, Mundry directed the National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership and conducted several state leadership academies for Texas, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington, Illinois, and Puerto Rico. Based on this work, she co-authored the award-winning book Leading Every Day: Actions for Effective Leadership, which was named a Learning Forward Book of the Year. Mundry also co-developed Leading Professional Learning: Building Capacity for Sustained Practice, a simulation game for building communities of practice to improve learning and co-authored the best-selling book Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics.

Education

• EdM in education leadership and training, Boston University 
• BA in communication studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 

Select Publications

Mandinach, E. B., & Mundry, S. E. (2020). Data-driven decision making and its alignment with educational psychology: Why data are more than student performance results. In S. L. Nichols & D. Varier (Eds.), Teaching on assessment. Information Age Publishing. 

Villani, S., Mundry, S., Cobb, V., Henry, S., Schlanger, P., Shaffer, S., Basterra, M.  (2020). A data inquiry guide for identifying and addressing Equity issues. Mid‐Atlantic Equity Consortium, Inc. 

WestEd, Learning Policy Institute, & Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University. (2019). Sound basic education for all: An action plan for North Carolina. WestEd. 

Kaser, J., Mundry, S., Stiles, K., & Loucks-Horsley, S. (2016). Leading every day: Actions for effective leadership (3rd ed.). Corwin Press  

Stiles, K., Mundry, S., & Bershad, C. (2016). Leading professional learning: Building capacity for sustained effective practice: A simulation game for educators. WestEd. 

Bocala, C., Henry, S. F., Mundry, S., & Morgan, C. (2014). Practitioner data use in schools: Workshop toolkit (REL 2015–043). U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory, Northeast & Islands. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs 

Honors and Awards

Learning Forward’s Susan Loucks-Horsley Award for instilling efficacy in others, collaborating across boundaries, and sustaining impact on the field of professional development.  

WestEd’s Paul D. Hood Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field for conducting trailblazing work in effective leadership, data use, and professional learning. 

Corwin Press Million Dollar Author Award for exemplifying Corwin’s motto “Helping educators do their work better.” 

National Science Teachers Association recognized for service on NSTA’s professional learning committee.