Meet Our Chief Academic Officer, Shanda Gentry
I am excited to embark on this journey as the Chief Academic Officer for FirstLine Schools. My name is Shanda Gentry, and I am entering my sixth year here at FirstLine. Before becoming CAO, I served as the School Director of Arthur Ashe Charter School. I’ve also held various roles outside of FirstLine, including school principal, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, mentor teacher, seminar instructor for new teachers, and early childhood teacher. On a personal note, my most important role is being a wife and a proud mom of four children.
I was recently asked why I continue to do this work. My answer is simple; I chose the path of education because it transformed my life. Growing up in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, I quickly learned that if I wanted something different, I had to do something different. This realization ignited my passion for pursuing education because I knew the power a high-quality education can have on someone’s life. I had many teachers and professors who nurtured my passion and helped me along the way. It is because of this that I entered education—to pay it forward, as so many had done for me.
As a network, we’ve dedicated significant time and effort to building content knowledge among our instructional staff, including the implementation of protocols in both math and ELA. We’ve also pursued professional development opportunities to address teaching and learning gaps in literacy and math. As a result of this work, we’ve seen gains across all FirstLine schools in key assessments.
This year, our work evolves as we incorporate data-driven instruction into our teaching toolkit. This will ensure that our instructional practices lead students to proficiency on grade-level standards. Some of this work began in June with Leadership Development weeks, where we focused on ensuring leaders understood the components of a strong data meeting. Content leaders also worked on aligning core instruction with Common Core standards in a clear and actionable way. Additionally, we revisited our assessment calendar to prioritize assessments that would lead to effective data meetings.
My focus now is to continue building on this foundation, ensuring that our instructional strategies are data-driven and impactful. I look forward to working together with our staff and families to achieve great things this year!
