FOR RELEASE                                                         CONTACT: Tonya Harris

             January 17, 2023                                                                           tharris@cgcs.org

Council of the Great City Schools Welcomes Farah Assiraj

As Chief of Teaching and Learning

WASHINGTON, January 17 – Farah Assiraj, a national leader in race/equity and immigrant education, has been named the Council’s new Chief of Teaching and Learning. In this position, she will work to advance rigorous standards in the nation’s large urban schools by supporting Council member districts in implementing high-quality professional learning, curriculum, and instruction that ensures all students are able to attain their greatest potential and thrive.

Assiraj joins the Council after serving most recently as Deputy Chief Academic Officer for Boston Public Schools where she led the district’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to redefine equitable tiered academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports; student-services; Student Success Teams; data; and professional learning.

In addition to serving in a variety of roles in the Boston school system, including Interim Superintendent of the Office of Multilingual and Multicultural Education, Assiraj founded cairEDucation consulting where she developed a Schooling Justice Framework focused on anti-racist, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically affirming practices.

As a Moroccan immigrant who arrived in the United States at the age of 10 and graduated high school as an undocumented student, Assiraj shares the Council’s desire to address academic inequities among student groups and help all students succeed, especially students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and historically underserved students.

“With her 20+ years of experience in urban education, we are pleased to welcome Farah Assiraj as the Council’s new Chief of Teaching and Learning,” said Council Executive Director Ray Hart. “She is a proven leader, with a keen understanding of assessing and identifying systemic inequities and structural barriers in education who will help us tremendously in our efforts to improve the educational experiences for urban students across the country.”

Assiraj is a recipient of the Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology, a Master of Arts in Teaching in linguistics, and is completing her Ph.D. in Research and Evaluation in Education.

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About The Council of the Great City Schools

The Council of the Great City Schools is the only national organization exclusively representing the needs of urban public schools.  Composed of 78 large city school districts, its mission is to promote the cause of urban schools and to advocate for inner-city students through legislation, research and media relations.  The organization also provides a network for school districts sharing common problems to exchange information, and to collectively address new challenges as they emerge to deliver the best possible education for urban youth. www.cgcs.org