Dr. Susan S. Kessler
April M. Snodgrass is an assistant principal at Hunters Lane High School in Nashville. She has a masters degree in supervision and administration from Middle Tennessee State University. Her career has been focused in high school, working first as an English and theatre teacher before becoming an Academy Coach working to implement the small learning community model known as the Academies of Nashville and acting as the liaison between the school and academy business partners. She has been a speaker at a variety of conferences, including the Association of Supervision and Curriculum (ASCD), National Alternative Education Association, the National Conference on Alternatives to Expulsion, Suspension, & Dropping Out of School, the National Career Academy Conference, and the National Title I Association. She has also been published in Educational Leadership.
Real School Leaders began with speaking engagements at conferences throughout the country and then developed through articles and finally a book, "The Principal's Survival Guide: Where do I Start? How Do I Suceed? When do I Sleep?"
Often times the issues with educational consultants are that they have no experience in schools or have not been activetly involved in education in years. All of the consultants at Real School Leaders are activetly involved at an adminstrative level in schools. They have worked at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and have experience working with students at various socieconomical levels and home life experiences.
Dr. Susan Stone Kessler is an award-winning educator who has spent the past 23 years working in schools with Middle Tennessee teenagers. She received her undergraduate degree, master’s degree, and doctorate from Vanderbilt University and a Specialist’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University. She has been a teacher, assistant principal, and high school principal in two Tennessee school districts both at the middle and high school levels. She also serves as a consultant and conference speaker and has spoken nationally for a variety of organizations including Learning Forward (Formerly the National Staff Development Council), The National Conference for Teachers of Mathematics, Association of Supervision and Curriculum (ASCD), National Alternative Education Association, the National Conference on Alternatives to Expulsion, Suspension, & Dropping Out of School, the National Career Academy Conference, the National Title 1 Association, Rice University’s Education Entrepreneurship Program, and the State of Tennessee’s Beginning Principal’s Academy. Dr. Kessler’s articles have been published by Principal Leadership (NASSP) and Educational Leadership (ASCD). For the past 10 years, she has taught undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Phoenix-Nashville and online campuses. In 2011, Dr. Kessler was selected as one of three honorees for ASCD’s Outstanding Young Educator Award. This national award recognizes creative and committed teachers and administrators under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the lives of children. She has also been featured as an expert in several episodes of the Steve Harvey daytime talk show. Dr. Kessler is married and the mother of three children.
Our Biographies
Our Work
Book
Past Articles
"Helping Students and Teachers Reclaim a Struggling Urban High School"
part of
"Creating a Culture of High Expectations, Student Motivation and Instructional Support in Schools and Classrooms" in High Schools that Work
About
Dr. Andrew T. Davis is currently an elementary principal and has been a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal in both suburban and urban settings. He earned his master’s in teaching from Belmont University in 2003 and his doctorate of education in leadership and strategic change from Lipscomb University in 2013. He taught high school English for 5 years before leaving to become an assistant principal at ahigh school where he was the academy principal for the Health and Human Services and International Baccalaureate Academy and served as IB coordinator for one year. In the summer of 2013 he was named principal of an elementary IB World School in Nashville, a program for almost 600 students in kindergarten through fourth grade. He has spoken at a variety of conferences including the Association of Supervision and Curriculum (ASCD),National Alternative Education Association, and the National Conference on Alternatives to Expulsion, Suspension, & Dropping Out of School. He is married to Jennifer Davis and has three daughters, Marit, Wynne, and Ellie.
April M. Snodgrass
