Josette Neal-De-Stanton, Assessment Design Partner

🏡 Josette M. Neal-De-Stanton was born in Frankfurt, Germany, but has resided in Oakland, CA for most of her life. She currently is a resident in Costa Mesa, CA.

🎓 Josette received her B.A. and M.A. from San Francisco State University in Family & Consumer Sciences. She also has a single subject science credential from the State of California, completing her teaching program at REACH Institute-for School Leadership.

💬 Currently an Assessment Design Partner at ELP, Josette has 15 years of experience in education. She has started teaching life science at Elmhurst Community Prep in Oakland, and then spent 6 years teaching, coaching, and leading at ARISE High School in Oakland as well. A highlight, as well as a shift in her career gears came while working at ARISE, as Josette became a Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathway Coordinator and then Coach. With these positions, Josette led the charge to create ARISE’s first Linked Learning Pathway in Public and Community Health. After leaving ARISE, she continued her work in CTE with the West Contra Costa Unified School District, as their District Work Based Learning Liaison. COVID saw Josette transitioning out of the traditional school setting, and needing to feel her work impact a larger audience, which essentially led her to ELP. As a former client of ELP, Josette saw the importance of the work being done, and really wanted to bring her science/CTE background to the organization. Josette is also a part time adjunct professor at Mills College, where she works in the Department of Education, in the teacher credential program as the Math & Science Curriculum and Instruction professor.

💭 What sparked Josette’s love and passion for education was her experience at the former Teach Tomorrow in Oakland, which showed her the importance of giving back to her community by way of teaching. She has taught in Oakland, CA for most of her career, which grounded her in her philosophy of the importance of justice and equity in education, focusing mainly on STEM education. She considers herself to be a warrior for diversity, equity, inclusion and access in education, with a necessity of accountability on a systemic level.

Learn more about Josette in her I am ELP blog post. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.