Katie Poulos

2016 NACSA Leader

Director of Options for Parents, New Mexico Public Education Department

Katie Poulos joined the New Mexico Public Education Department in April 2015 as the Director of Options for Parents. Previously, she was the Director of Accountability at the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools (ASBCS). She began her charter school authorizing work at ASBCS through the NACSA Fellows program.

Prior to entering the charter school authorizing world, Katie taught 8th grade math in the Mississippi Delta with Teach For America. Before that, Katie was a corporate litigator with Irell and Manella LLP in Los Angeles.

Katie received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. from Vanderbilt University.

Most Recent Posts

How to Get Ahead: Invest in Performance Evaluations and Define Paths to Advancement

SEVENTH IN A SERIES Employees who are clear about how they’re doing, what they need to improve, what opportunities lie ahead, and how to get there, are more likely to...

‘Gap Busters’: Lessons from Charter Authorizers in Helping All Kids Achieve More

Accountability is fundamental to quality authorizing. Without it, we run the risk of not seeing the full educational picture in front of us and threaten our ability as educators and...

It’s All About the Bias: How to Uncover and Address Bias in Hiring

SIXTH IN A SERIES In our last blog post in this series, we shared how, when it comes to hiring, our existing networks are probably holding us back. We explored...