Meet Season 5's award-winning team of Mentor Teachers.

Alicia Lynch

Alicia began her career with Teach for America in Connecticut, where she taught first grade at Elm City College Preparatory Elementary school and served as an Achievement First lead math planner during the adoption of the Common Core standards. Alicia then taught kindergarten at Achievement First Bushwick Elementary School in Brooklyn; she went on to become the school’s kindergarten through second-grade academic dean. In 2014, Alicia joined the Achievement First Teaching and Learning Team where she now serves as the senior director of kindergarten through eighth-grade mathematics. In her role as an achievement director, Alicia has led the network adoption and implementation of research based equitable practices in all math classrooms, including the adoption of cognitively guided instruction. Alicia earned her B.A. in marketing at the University of Florida and a M.A. from Relay Graduate School of Education.

Ben Esser 

Now in his fifth year as a Mentor Teacher, Ben started his teaching career in Mississippi with Teach for America. For eleven years, he taught sixth grade ELA at Achievement First East New York Middle School. He was named a stage 5 teacher in 2015, the network’s highest distinction. Each year, his students read, on average, more than a million words each, published The East New York Times and performed Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. From 2014-2019, they created a reverse achievement gap, outperforming the average for wealthier students in New York. Most recently, Ben was head of teacher development at Colegio Villa Maria in Santiago, Chile where he presented on applying the science of reading at researchED Chile. He earned a B.A. from Western Washington University in English literature and a M.Ed. from Relay Graduate School of Education.

Brian Johnson

Brian’s career began teaching high school math with Teach for America at Thurgood Marshall Academy in New York City. He then was a founding eighth-grade math teacher at KIPP Infinity Middle School, where he received several teaching awards. Brian was a semi-finalist for the U.S. Department of Education Classroom Teaching Ambassador Fellowship for moving students beyond two years of growth in math and ELA for over a decade. A recipient of the Sontag Prize in Urban Education, he studied pedagogy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and taught at-risk students in Boston. In 2023, Brian presented a TED-Ed Talk on student engagement and culture. Brian holds a B.A. in marketing from University of Kentucky, a M.S.T. in adolescent education from Pace University and an advanced certification in special education from St. Rose College.

Brittany Leaverton

Brittany, who formerly served as NSSI's director of ELA, started her teaching career at Success Academy in New York City, where she taught for two years with Teach for America. Brittany taught kindergarten and first grade as an integrated co-teacher and grade team lead before being tapped to move into leadership. As principal, she led her school to achieve top 5% rankings within New York State in math and ELA for two consecutive years. Brittany later served as an instructional training specialist for Success, designing and implementing leader training for assistant principals and new hire teaching staff. As NSSI's director of ELA, Brittany designed and managed the implementation of NSSI's literacy curriculum and pedagogy, serving 50,000 students and more than 50 partner organizations. Brittany earned a B.A. from the University of Washington in international studies and an M.A. from Relay Graduate School of Education.

Caroline Roth

Now in her third year as a Mentor Teacher, Caroline began with Teach for America in Los Angeles, teaching high school English as a second language. After teaching middle school history and English, she returned to her hometown of New York City, where she taught seventh-grade English with Achievement First Endeavor Middle School and was named a Distinguished Teacher. As the school's ELA and history academic dean and principal-in-residence, Caroline led her team through the transition to Common Core standards and a 25 percentage point increase in student proficiency on the state’s ELA assessment. She then served as the school’s principal for five years; the school posted double-digit proficiency gains in both ELA and math. Today, Caroline is an educational consultant, specializing in school leader and teacher coaching and professional development. She earned her B.A in English from Dartmouth College and her M.A from Loyola Marymount University.

Carrie Roby

Now in her third year as a Mentor Teacher, Carrie began her career teaching second- and third- grades for Teach for America in the South Bronx. Her students averaged 1.7 grades of growth in reading and 84 percent were proficient in math each year. Carrie was a founding second-grade teacher and leadership resident at Success Academy's flagship school, before becoming founding principal of Success Academy Upper West. Her school received the Blackboard Award for Rising Star Grade Schools and was ranked first in math and eighth in ELA, based on student performance on the state assessments. Carrie was a cognitively guided instruction math consultant for schools across the country and currently coaches the implementation of research-based strategies to enhance student learning. Carrie earned a B.A. from Harvard University in psychology and a M.S. from Pace University.

Christina Gellos

Now in her third year as a Mentor Teacher, Christina began her career teaching seventh-grade math as a Teach for America corps member at Achievement First East New York Middle School in Brooklyn. Over three years, she increased student proficiency on the New York Common Core mathematics exam by 43 percentage points. She then joined the school’s leadership team as academic dean for math, coaching and developing teachers and managing the math department. The following year her school achieved 92 percent proficiency across all grades on the New York Common Core math exam. Currently, Christina works as an education consultant specializing in teacher coaching and development. Christina earned a B.A. in public policy with a minor in education and political science from Duke University and an M.A. from Relay Graduate School of Education. She is pursuing a M.Ed. in education leadership from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

Danielle Perkins

A veteran Mentor Teacher, Danielle began her career as a Teach for America corps member teaching middle school in the Kansas City Public Schools. She then joined Achievement First in New York, where she taught eighth-grade literature and writing for seven years. Danielle was named a Stage 5 Master Teacher by the network, their highest level of recognition. She then moved to the Brooklyn Friends School, where she taught seventh and eighth grade, and was the ELA department head for their middle and high schools. Danielle has spent the last six years developing a rigorous curriculum that centers diverse texts and emphasizes project-based learning. She earned her B.A. in politics, philosophy, and economics from the King’s College and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Missouri St. Louis and Relay School of Education.

Donavan Tracey

Donavan began his career as a classroom teacher with Achievement First Elm City College Preparatory School in New Haven where he taught social studies, ELA, math, and science. Donavan then served there as academic dean and later as principal-in-residence. As principal at Achievement First Providence Academy Middle School, Donavan led a turnaround that significantly improved teacher retention rates, staff organizational health, and student performance metrics. Donavan participated in fellowships including the RELAY National Principals Academy Fellowship and the Achievement First Leadership Fellows program. He holds a B.A. in architectural engineering from the University of Hartford, a M.S.Ed. from Southern Connecticut State University and will receive an Ed.D. at Johnson & Wales University in May 2024.

Elena Knappen

Elena began her career teaching English as a second language with Teach for America in New York City. She went on to work as a teacher, academic dean, special services coordinator and then founding principal with Achievement First in Brooklyn. As a principal, Elena grew her school from two grades to five, leading breakthrough student achievement in both ELA and Math. After her time teaching, Elena joined the Charter Network Accelerator where she supported smaller charter school networks across the country as they grew in scale and impact through coaching and cohort-based professional development. For the past two years, Elena has been working independently as an executive coach and consultant for charter school networks and school districts. She earned her B.A. in history from the University of Virginia and a M.S.T. from Pace University.

Em Slezak

Em's career began at Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn as a fifth-grade learning specialist and co-teacher in ELA and history. During their eight years at Achievement First Endeavor Middle School, Em served as grade-chair, dean of special services, dean of student experience and principal-in-residence. Em then moved to Los Angeles and joined the regional office of Citizens of the World Charter Network as the senior manager of special education, inclusion and instruction. Currently, Em is the director of the empower program service at Achievement First Bushwick Middle School. In the Fall of 2024, Em will be pursuing a M.Div. at Union Theological Seminary. Em earned a B.A. in cinema-television: critical studies from the University of Southern California and a M.A. from Relay Graduate School of Education.

Emma Colonna

Emma began her career with Teach For America teaching kindergarten at Nashville Classical Charter School in Tennessee. She continued on as founding grade level chair for second grade before returning home to New York City to teach third grade at Uncommon Schools. Emma later returned to Nashville Classical to serve as the director of kindergarten through eighth-grade literacy and humanities. Under her tenure, network-wide kindergarten through second-grade reading proficiency on benchmark assessments reached levels above 85 percent and third- through eighth-grade reading proficiency on the state assessment grew 23 points in one year following the pandemic. Now an education consultant in New York City, Emma supports schools and organizations to maximize their academic impact. Emma earned her B.S. in human and organizational development from Vanderbilt University, her M.Ed. from Lipscomb University, and her M.A. from New York University.

Indigo Montgomery

Indigo began her career as a teacher in residence at Achievement First Bushwick Middle School in Brooklyn, where, six years later, she still teaches today. Indigo currently serves as a lead fifth-grade teacher, instructional coach, and associate dean. For two consecutive years, Indigo’s fifth-grade students were first in the network. In the 2022-2023 school year, Indigo’s fifth-grade students achieved exemplary growth on the NYSE with 76 percent proficiency. Indigo has been a mentor teacher for Achievement First’s teachers in residence program since 2021 to help teachers deliver instruction that is highly effective and engaging. During the last school year, Indigo participated in the Achievement First Leadership fellows program. She earned a B.A in communications from Delaware State University.

Injy Sullivan

Injy began her teaching career as a fifth-grade math teacher in New York City as a Teach for America corps member.  She then joined Achievement First East New York Elementary School where she taught third grade before becoming a dean and then principal. During her five-year tenure as principal, the school saw student proficiency rates rise by 30 to 45 percentage points in all grades and subjects on state exams. Injy later became a regional superintendent for the Achievement First network, where she managed principals and the elementary curriculum team.  Today, Injy is the founder of Pearl Potential, an educational coaching and consulting company.  She holds a B.A. with a double major in history and Chinese language from Vassar College and a M.S. from Pace University.

Jacquelyn Delgado

A returning Mentor Teacher, Jacquelyn began her career with Teach For America in Phoenix, where she taught fifth-grade math for three years. During that time she was given the highest rating, highly effective, on the Charlotte Danielson Framework and awarded the Sontag Prize in Urban Education in 2018. Jacquelyn was a Corps Member Advisor for Teach For America’s teacher preparation program in Houston, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona for two years coaching middle school and high school math teachers. Jaquelyn then joined her current school, the South Street School in Newark, New Jersey, her home state. There, she has taught middle school math and Algebra 1 and served as math team leader. Jacquelyn earned a B.A. in both mathematics and elementary education from Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey and her M. Ed. from Penn State University.

Jasmine Fyffe

Jasmine began her career as a sixth-grade math teacher at Achievement First (AF) Bushwick Middle school in Brooklyn. While there, she served as a fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade math teacher. Jasmine was awarded the networks’ highest distinction ‘Distinguished Teacher’ based on her seventh-grade students’ achievement and her instructional quality. She then went on to become AF Bushwick Lower School’s dean of students. Jasmine later became dean of mathematics at AF Crown Heights Middle school, where she supported and strengthened both the school’s academic and social cultures. She earned her B.A. in mathematics from University at Albany, her M.Ed from Queens College, and her M.A. from Relay School of Education.

Jerry Silva

Jerry began his educational career with Teach for America at his high school alma mater in Miami. He then continued his career in Brooklyn, first at Achievement First Brownsville Middle School. There, Jerry’s students attained over 90 percent proficiency in math on the New York state assessment. Later, he was the senior director at Achievement First’s Accelerate Navigator Middle School math program where he scaled from two to 34 partners and maintained a net promoter score above 90 percent. Jerry co-founded and is CEO of Leap Educational Consulting, where he supports schools outside the network in implementing AF’s kindergarten through eighth-grade Accelerate math curriculum. Jerry earned his B.S. in accounting and criminology from the University of South Florida and a M.S. from the University of Miami.

Jill Cruoglio

Jill's teaching career began with Teach for America in New Orleans, where she taught science at Stella Worley Middle School. There, she piloted a cell-scope program with the University of California, Berkeley, bringing state-of-the-art microscopes into the classroom. Jill then moved to New Jersey where she joined KIPP Rise Academy in Newark. For five consecutive years, her students outperformed the city average on the state assessment by ten to 20 percent. Jill then became an instructional coach working with fifth- through eighth-grade humanities teachers. From 2017 to 2020, these classrooms outperformed the city average by up to 20 percent. Jill remains with KIPP Rise Academy where she is currently the assistant principal of special education. She has a B.A. in history and gender studies from The College of New Jersey and a M.A.from Montclair State.

John Kaczorek

A veteran Mentor Teacher, John began his career with Teach for America as an eighth-grade math teacher in a district school in the Bronx. Later, at KIPP’s Rise Academy in New Jersey, 86 percent of his fifth-grade math students were found proficient on the state exam. After moving to Minnesota, John joined Hiawatha College Prep, where he was a founding teacher, and for six years, principal. Under his leadership, Hiawatha Prep was recognized by Teach for America as a “School to Learn From" and was designated a Reward School by the Minnesota Department of Education. Following his tenure as principal, John served as seventh-grade teacher for three years and is currently Hiawatha’s director of curriculum and assessment. John earned his B.A. from St. John’s University in economics and a M.S. from Pace University.

Jonathan Laven

Now in his third year as a Mentor Teacher, Jon taught math at Western High School in Las Vegas, before enrolling at the Yale Divinity School, where he served as program manager of the school’s leadership development program. Jon was then the founding math teacher and department chair at Hiawatha Collegiate High School in Minneapolis. Pursuing his interest in educational leadership, he led Teach for America summer institutes for high school math teachers and wrote curriculum in math and culturally responsive pedagogy. Jon is now the dean of instruction for the Hiawatha Academies. He graduated with a B.A. in math and philosophy from St. Olaf College and earned an M.Ed. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and an M.A. from the Yale Divinity School.

Jordan McNiven

Now in his third year as a Mentor Teacher, Jordan began his career leading youth development and after-school programs in his hometown of Minneapolis. As a program coordinator and instructor at the YMCA, he oversaw experiential learning and led trips to New York City, Sweden, Russia, and Peru. Jordan taught fifth-grade social studies and coached soccer at the Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn. Returning to Minneapolis, he joined Hiawatha Academies, where for six years he has taught ELA at the elementary and middle schools. In 2020, he was awarded the National University Teacher Award for the state of Minnesota. Jordan earned his B.A. from the University of Minnesota in psychology and comparative literature and a M.A. from the Relay Graduate School of Education.

Mallory Morris

Now in her third year as a Mentor Teacher, Mallory Morris began her career as a seventh-grade English Language Arts teacher in Champaign, Illinois, where she was named Outstanding Beginning Educator in 2007. In 2014, Mallory transitioned to the role of assistant principal, where she continued to support students by supporting teacher growth. In her most recent role as a district coordinator of data, design, and inquiry, Mallory co-led the strategic planning process, led three schools through whole-school redesign, and supported curriculum development. Currently, Mallory serves as the associate director of learning design for Digital Promise. Mallory attended the University of Illinois, where she earned a B.S. in elementary education, a M.Ed in curriculum and instruction, and a M.Ed in educational organization and leadership. Mallory is currently a doctoral candidate at Drexel University.

Megan Milliken

Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn. There, she taught guided reading in the fifth through eighth grades as well as fifth-grade literature, then eighth-grade English Language Arts. Achievement First named Megan a Stage 4 Distinguished Teacher based on her students’ outstanding academic successes. Later she earned the network’s highest distinction, Stage 5 Master Teacher, and began coaching teachers-in-residence, writing teachers, and learning specialists. She then became the ELA department head and seventh-grade ELA teacher at Prospect Charter Clinton Hill Middle School. Currently, she is their associate director of literacy and special education. Megan earned a B.A from the University of Georgia in journalism, a M.A from the University of Georgia, and a M.Ed. from Fordham University.

Melanie Green

Now in her third year as a Mentor Teacher, Melanie began her career with Teach for America teaching eighth-grade math in Newark. She then joined Achievement First Voyager Middle School in Brooklyn as a founding fifth-grade math teacher. She went on to teach sixth-grade math, and was named grade-level chair and math dean. Melanie's fifth- and sixth-grade students increased their proficiency on the New York State Common Core math assessment by 28 and 26 percentage points, respectively. As dean, she led her math faculty to make the highest student growth of Achievement First’s ten schools for each of the past four years. Achievement First named Melanie a Distinguished Stage 4 Teacher and a principal fellow. Melanie earned a B.S. in economics and public policy from Duke University and a M.A. from Relay Graduate School of Education.

Morgan Carter

Morgan began her career with Teach For America as a kindergarten teacher at Achievement First (AF) Amistad Academy Elementary School in New Haven, Connecticut. She then became a principal-in-residence at AF Bridgeport Academy Elementary School and was the founding principal at AF Providence Mayoral Academy Elementary School. During Morgan’s tenure as principal of AF Providence, the school achieved "Commended School" status for its students' academic achievement. A mathematics instructional leadership coach in schools across the country for the past six years, she has helped schools achieve up to 55 point year-over-year gains on student proficiency on their state math assessments. Morgan earned her B.S. in history with an elementary education teaching endorsement from the University of Washington and her M.S. from Walden University.

Sarah Brickley

Now in her third year as a Mentor Teacher, Sarah began her career teaching third-grade bilingual special education inclusion with Teach for America in the Bronx. As a fourth-grade classroom teacher at Success Academy, 100 percent of her students passed the New York State exams. She went on to lead the Success network’s elementary math program, whose results consistently ranked in the top one percent of New York State schools. Sarah then became director of the Achievement First middle school math program, where she spearheaded a shift to culturally relevant curricula. Sarah has also taught at an American school in Morocco, trained NYC teaching fellows, and consulted with a number of charter networks. Currently, Sarah is a math coach at Lowell Community School in Massachusetts. She holds a B.A. with a double major in journalism and Spanish from New York University and a M.Ed. from Lehman College.

Stu Warshawer

Stu began his career as a New York City Teaching Fellow in the Bronx. He then served as a  teacher, grade level chair and as dean of students with Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn. Stu then moved to Philadelphia and became a principal for Mastery Charter Schools. During his tenure as a middle school principal at Mastery Charter Harrity, the school was recognized for advancing two tiers on Philadelphia’s School Progress Report. Stu was then a Fisher Fellow and founding principal at KIPP New Jersey in Camden. He currently is an assistant principal at Harriton High School in the Lower Merion School District. Stu earned a B.A. in religion and philosophy from Williams College and his M.Ed from Mercy College.

Taylor Delhagen

Taylor began his teaching journey with Teach For America in New York City as a high school history teacher. After completing his two-year commitment, he joined the founding team at Achievement First Brooklyn High School. Taylor was then awarded a Fulbright research fellowship in India. Upon returning to Brooklyn, he helped steer the opening of the Ascend charter school network’s first high school. Today he is a professor at the Relay Graduate School of Education where for years he has won top marks from his students. Taylor earned his B.S. in political science from the College of Wooster and his Ed. D. from Boston College, where he recently defended his doctoral thesis focused on leadership, equity, and the internationalization of higher education.