Susan Villani has been coaching and teaching administrators to become more effective leaders and instructors for over 30 years.
Villani specializes in consulting and professional development in teacher evaluation, coaching educators to improve instruction, mentoring and induction of new teachers and principals, building collaborative school communities, and formative assessment.
Villani has led statewide initiatives in New York, New Hampshire, and Maine, and has worked in many school districts to build capacity of teachers and administrators.
She leads administrators, teacher leaders, and staff developers in sessions adapted from Leverage Leadership. These sessions introduce participants ways to increase student achievement through frequent observations and intensive coaching. She has coaches building leaders through Coach for Success. She is a member of the WestEd team that partners with the Danielson Group to teach and coach educators about the Framework for Teaching.
Villani coauthored, with WestEd’s Kathy Dunne, Mentoring New Teachers Through Collaborative Coaching: Linking Teacher and Student Learning and the accompanying facilitation and training guide.
She also authored Are You Sure You’re the Principal? Guiding New and Aspiring Leaders, Comprehensive Mentoring Programs for New Teachers: Models of Induction and Support, and Mentoring and Induction Programs That Support New Principals.
She frequently presents at national and regional conferences.
Prior to joining WestEd in 2000, Villani was a school principal for 21 years and served as an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University for more than 10 years.
She received an EdD in educational administration from Northeastern University, an MEd in elementary education from Tufts University, and a BA in business administration from Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, S.U.N.Y. at Binghamton.