OUR PEOPLE

Nate Smalley is a nationally recognized educator, scholar, and leader. He founded The Conscious Schools Project in 2017 to bring skillful and mindful teaching and leaderships practices to schools. He has taught and coached thousands of teachers and leaders, and has served as a teacher, school principal, and district leader. Before launching the Conscious Schools, he served as the Chief of Leadership Development at KIPP, designing and leading the national instructional leadership efforts and consultancy supports for KIPP's 1000+ sitting school and district leaders across 200+ schools. Nate founded KIPP New Jersey’s first high school in Newark, where its students graduate at five times the national average for students in low income communities. As a teacher, Nate has taught English Language Arts to students from elementary through high school. In 2005, he was named the New Jersey Charter School Teacher of the Year.  He holds a PhD in School Improvement from Texas State University.

He can often be found wandering Austin with his wife Jessica, their son Parker, and one of their three dogs.

Specialties: Instructional leadership, pedagogy, and school improvement.

Research Interests: Instructional leadership, mindful pedagogies, & systems leadership.