Susan W. Golder has devoted her career to creating active and engaging classrooms that meet the individual learning needs of students. She has spent over 30 years serving the Pennsylvania Public School System, most recently as a Director of Elementary Education and formerly as a K-12 Director of Professional Development and a Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. Over the course of her career, she has coached, trained, and supervised hundreds of new and veteran teachers. She also coordinates change processes for school districts by facilitating administrative retreats, coaching sessions and project planning, implementation and support.  

Susan’s 22 years as a classroom teacher serve her well in her present role as an educational consultant. She knows first-hand how challenging educational change can be when an infrastructure or a school culture may not support it. She devotes her professional time to helping principals, central office leaders, and teachers prepare, implement, and sustain new and improved schedules to support their educational goals for students. Over the years, she has facilitated hundreds of workshops locally and nationally on topics, such as differentiated instruction and assessment, effective supervision, standards-based grading and reporting, and professional learning communities.     

Susan earned her master’s degree from Penn State University and her doctorate from Nova Southeastern University where her dissertation focused on Learning Communities Engaged in Data-Driven Supervision.    Her research evolved into effective practice when she and her colleagues earned the Pennsylvania ASCD’s Award for Exemplary Practices in Supervision. Susan’s publications have appeared in ASCD’s Educational Leadership and NCTE’s English Leadership Quarterly. She is a contributing author in Robert Canady and Michael Rettig’s 2008 book, Elementary School Scheduling: Enhancing Instruction for Student Achievement. She and her husband, Charlie have three children and share their time between Pennsylvania and Maine.    

Work focus:  Consultations and workshops related to scheduling reform steps and successful transitions through the “before,” “during,” and “after” tasks; Trainings on Effective Use of Intervention/Enrichment Time.