Kate Sullivan Frades

Kate Sullivan Frades supports state and district leaders to ensure that low-income students and students of color have access to outstanding educators. Kate’s portfolio, with clients including the U.S. Department of Education Equitable Access Support Network and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, focuses on evaluation systems that increase teacher development through high-quality feedback and support systems, and retention of teachers who achieve positive outcomes for their students. Kate’s belief that every child in the U.S. deserves an equal opportunity to succeed in college, careers and life was deepened through her experiences as an English teacher at a Title I high school in Oakland, California. This inspired her to understand why so few students from low-income backgrounds graduate high school, and why even fewer matriculate to and graduate from college. This led to Kate working for both the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and TNTP. In these roles, Kate worked with school, district and state leaders to improve high school attendance and dropout rates, and trained and developed outstanding new teachers working in DC-area public schools. Kate has an MA in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a BA in English and American Studies from the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!), in addition to holding a teaching credential in Washington, D.C. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.