Tavga Bustani has championed equity and excellence throughout her 25-year career as a teacher, transformational principal, and central office executive in the San Diego Unified School District.

As a former principal, Ms. Bustani worked with instructional leadership teams to create rigorous academic learning experiences for all students and improve instruction to help children meet high expectations successfully. Under her leadership, Edison Elementary’s academic performance improved dramatically, meeting the National Center for Urban School Transformation’s criteria for the America’s Best Urban Schools Award.

As the Chief of Leadership and Learning, Ms. Bustani oversees all of the district’s academic programs and all professional development opportunities. In this role, Ms. Bustani leads with a clear vision, expectations, and an insistence that schools and instructional programs be designed with students at the center. She set the vision for various initiatives and leads her team in the design of systems and structures that build the capacity of school leaders to significantly improve teaching, foster learning, and promote a transformative school culture.

Many of the initiatives she has led have been recognized by Linda Darling Hammond in a study in partnership with UCLA titled  Positive Outlier District: Districts Beating the Odds. Ms. Bustani is a highly qualified instructional leader who leads with urgency, strategic thinking, and a clear vision for continuous improvement.  More importantly, she has an uncompromising love for all children and a relentless commitment to serving the most vulnerable learners.

Karen Janney, Ed.D. is a former superintendent, assistant superintendent, area superintendent, California Principal of the Year, assistant principal, and teacher. Dr. Janney has participated in and led many study visits to high-performing schools. As well, she has led several successful A-PLUS Networks. Additionally, Dr. Janney has provided important support to the development of NCUST’s Leadership Certificate Program and Educational Equity and Excellence Audits. Dr. Janney is able to combine her experience as a California Principal of the Year, along with her deep knowledge of the high-performing schools NCUST has awarded in ways that are helping support school and district leaders as they advance equity and excellence.

Granger Ward began his educational career as a middle school and high school science teacher and eventually served as a high school principal for seven years in Syracuse, NY. He was formerly superintendent of the Manhattan High Schools in the City of New York and the Grossmont Union High School District in San Diego. Over the past decade, Mr. Ward has served as the California State Director and then Executive Vice President for the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Center, a national and international educational nonprofit supporting the implementation and growth of the AVID College Readiness System impacting students at almost 5,000 schools in their quest to be college and career ready. He attended public schools in New York City and received his B.S. from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in Syracuse. His M.S. degree is from Syracuse University and his Administrative Credential from SUNY at Oswego.

Angela L. Bass, Ed.D. has served as the Executive Director for Program Implementation for the Western Region of New Leaders, a non-profit committed to advancing educational equity and excellence. Previously, she served as a vice president of another non-profit educational entity, a school district superintendent, assistant superintendent, area superintendent, principal, vice-principal, and teacher. With a deep commitment to equity, she has helped prepare and support leaders through her work with universities and county offices of education. As an Executive Coach, Dr. Bass brings to NCUST a strong history of supporting district and school leaders in ways that advance equity.

Cara Riggs is an Omaha Public Schools transplant to San Diego California, after spending her whole personal and professional life there. A 30-year career in the Omaha Public Schools allowed Cara a great range of experience as a committed public school educator.  She has experience as a high school English teacher and then enjoyed 8 years as their AP and Athletic Director. Following a 9 year role as principal of Beveridge Magnet Middle School, Cara’s last 6 years in OPS were spent as the principal of Omaha South High Magnet School where she and her team transformed it into a school of hope, great academic and graduation rate improvement, huge enrollment increases and a college-going institution with the highest freshman enrollment at the U-NE- Omaha. She is the author of HOPE in the Urban Schools: Love Stories.

Today, Cara proudly works as an Executive Coach for the National Center of Urban School Transformation.  Her work with NCUST allows her to team with schools and leaders around the country as they focus on transforming their own schools into places where ALL kids are receiving equitable and excellent outcomes.

In 2013, principal Alexa Sorden reopened Concourse Village Elementary School in the Bronx in New York City after it was shut down for poor performance and disrepair by her predecessor. Concourse Village has a combination of high expectations for students and a flat reporting structure that places a premium on teacher empowerment and an innovative literacy-first approach in all subjects. In 2018 on the state assessments, eighty-eight percent of students passed English and math state tests, more than 40 points higher than the citywide average. That same year the school was awarded a Blue Ribbon for Excellence from the U.S. Department of Education.  

Dr. Thiel is one of the executive coaches for NCUST working with school districts and their leaders to improve the educational outcomes for all students. Having served as a classroom teacher, elementary school principal, and district peer coach for several years, he eventually became the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the largest elementary school district in the state of California. Dr. Thiel was instrumental in ensuring “A” players were hired to teach the students. To promote success for all students, Dr. Thiel knows the importance of students having access to the greatest resource of all – a highly qualified classroom teacher. Learn what Dr. Thiel has done to make great schools great on this episode of the NCUST Review.

Dr. Codrington has a track record for advancing and improving educational outcomes for all students. Most notably she opened the newest school in the Chula Vista Elementary School District and in its inaugural year realized tremendous academic achievement results with 81% of the students meeting or exceeding standards for English Language Arts and 72% meeting or exceeding standards for mathematics. Listen to this episode to learn more about how Dr. Codrington leads schools to achieve greatness on this episode of the NCUST Review: What Great Schools Do.

Dr. Matthews has served as superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, the San Jose Unified School District, the Inglewood Unified School District, and most recently the San Francisco Unified School District. Prior to serving in Inglewood, Dr. Matthews was credited with raising academic achievement in the San Jose Unified School District, narrowing the achievement gap between Latino and white students, and passing landmark agreements with the San Jose teacher’s union. Listen to this episode of the NCUST Review to learn more about what Dr. Matthews believes it takes to make urban schools and districts great.

Principal Pantelidis is a two-time NCUST America’s Best Schools Award winner. Even though 87% of the students were Latino or Black, met low-income criteria, and none were admitted through selective processes, Patrick Henry School, in New York City’s East Harlem, continues to be one of the highest-performing schools in the state of New York. Find out in this episode of the NCUST Review what makes the difference and what great schools do.