Ashley Sheppard

(she, her, hers)

Principal Consultant for Family Engagement & School-Community Partnership

Ashley is most passionate about supporting school leaders to create the conditions for authentic and effective partnerships between educators and families. Students are most likely to achieve academic success when their families can match high expectations with high levels of support in close partnership with their child’s teachers. Ashley hopes to create opportunities to center student and family voice in shaping our education system―it’s created for them and should reflect their wants and needs.

Ashley has spent the last 10 years supporting students, families, and educators in D.C. Public Schools through her work with Communities in Schools of the Nation’s Capital and the Flamboyan Foundation. As a connected schools manager, she supported students with academics, behavior, attendance, and basic needs; managed partners who provided social and emotional learning groups, mental health services, and enrichment; and led several school-wide teams. This role allowed Ashley to live out her core belief that it takes a village to raise a child. Through providing direct support, partnering with families, and bringing in additional resources, students at Charles Hart Middle School were able to receive wrap-around services that led to improved academic and emotional outcomes all around. Ashley has spent the last year and a half coaching middle and high schools on effective family engagement practices. She was able to take her experience in direct service and elevate best practices with the schools she coached and to bring those practices to professional development sessions, professional learning communities, and presentations at conferences like the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement’s annual convening.

Education

• B.A., Sociology, Davidson College
• M.S.W., University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social Work

A book I've read more than once is...

The Alchemist

In my next life I will come back as a...

Eagle

My favorite villain in a book, movie, or TV show is...

Ursula

The most beautiful place I've seen is...

Greece