Jill Berardi received her Certificate of Advanced Study from the SUNY New Paltz School of Educational Administration. She began her career as a classroom special education teacher in an inner-city school district, and transitioned into administration. One of her earlier experiences as a new administrator was when she was given the opportunity to design and implement an innovative hybrid program that offered both distance learning and in-person learning. This resulted in increasing graduation rates among at-risk students. This success, along with her experiences as a building administrator of a traditional middle school, high school, and a special education principal at the Ulster BOCES agency, helped her to realize her passion. She is on a quest to learn about and design educational pathways for end users (nontraditional, underrepresented, and at-risk learners) to be successful. With service, social justice, and literacy as the center of her core values, Ms. Berardi is a fierce advocate for breaking the barriers and biases that hold special education platforms in a container of inequity and old-school design.

With a whole-child, wrap-around approach, my vision is to change the trajectory of current practices by designing innovative, intentionally sound programming for all nontraditional learners and the adults who have a daily impact on these students and their families. Culture and climate is one of the most important aspects of my approach toward learning.

Currently Ms. Berardi is the Director of Learning and Design for CITL, Special Education Programs while working on her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Russell Sage College. From the outset, her focus has been on developing a holistic approach through whole-child, wrap-around education and a focus on strong school relationships and a strong culture of community where teachers and students can continue to develop their unique selves, contribute to community, develop capacity, and engage in cycles of inquiry in alignment with the North Star Educational Commitments.