Background:
Teresa Mooney is a senior analyst with Bellwether in the Policy and Evaluation practice area.
Prior to joining Bellwether, she served as the associate director of strategic initiatives at Beyond100K, where she led a variety of projects that shaped the organization’s approach to catalyzing systemic change in STEM education. Her work included leading the unCommission, a nationwide youth storytelling campaign that led to Beyond100K’s next decade-long moonshot goal and helped to inspire the U.S. Department of Education’s YOU Belong In STEM Initiative.
Previously, Teresa led educator workforce initiatives at the Council of Chief State School Officers, where she worked closely with state education agencies to develop and implement strategies to enhance access to high-quality instructional materials, strengthen professional learning and educator preparation opportunities, use data to pinpoint and tackle teacher shortage areas, and recognize and elevate excellent educators.
She began her career as a Teach For America corps member in San Antonio, Texas, where she taught grade 4. Later, she helped launch KIPP Heritage Academy as the founding grade 6 social studies teacher in San Jose, California.
Teresa received a master’s degree in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in Spanish linguistics and global studies from UCLA.
Why I do this work:
My mom and two aunts were teachers who loved their work and created joyful, vibrant, and learning-filled environments for their students. If we are to encourage and support more people to choose and love teaching like my family members did, we must look critically at and continuously improve the broader systems and structures that impact teaching and learning.
