Winsome Waite
Senior Program Director
Winsome Waite, Ph.D., is a senior educational leader and program manager with a broad range of expertise and experiences in K12 education. She is a former teacher in early childhood, elementary, and secondary schools, a graduate school instructor, and program leader in school district and education nonprofits.
Winsome has led program development and research-to-practice initiatives in education leadership development, science of adolescent learning, deeper learning, school improvement, professional learning, and multitiered systems of support. Her work centers around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as culturally responsive practices. Winsome has served as a technical coach to education leaders at the state, district, and school levels, helping to build programs and the capacity to lead them. She is highly skilled at using research and evidence to plan and implement improvement and instructional programs.
Prior to the Opportunity Institute, Winsome worked as a Senior Education Fellow, a vice president of practice, and a principal education researcher and consultant. She has managed large-scale federal and state-funded projects; partnered with state superintendents and commissioners, district superintendents, local school boards, and principals to design strategic plans and approaches that align policy and research to practice ensuring widescale application of evidence and promising practices in schools.
Winsome holds bachelors’ degrees in elementary and early childhood education, a master’s degree in K-12 curriculum and instruction, and a doctorate degree in education leadership.