Jill Harrison Berg is a leadership coach, school improvement consultant, researcher and writer, specializing in teacher leadership, turnaround schools and instructional equity. With Dr. Berg’s support as a coach, professional learning leader and/or strategic planning partner, education leaders are able to strengthen their capacities for creating powerful, coordinated systems that maximize the leadership potential of teachers and enable schools to accelerate the success of each and every student. 

Dr. Berg is principal consultant of Jill Harrison Berg Consulting, LLC. She has led or partnered on significant projects that advance the quality of teaching for local, state-wide and national institutions including the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, KnowledgeWorks, Nellie Mae Education Foundation, WestEd,  the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Consortium for Policy Research in Education, the National Research Council, Educational Development Corporation (EDC), Washington’s Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession, as well as several school districts throughout the country.  Recent projects include serving as a curriculum design consultant and inquiry coach for Zaretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Education by Design Professional Learning Community, and serving as an advisor to Ghana ASCD for the National Educational Leadership Institute, a leadership development initiative of the Ministry of Education in Ghana.

In her career, Dr. Berg has been an educator of leaders at all levels. She began her career in the classroom, with a passion for teaching elementary and middle grade students to be leaders who take ownership of their own learning and strive to be a positive influence on learning of others. After earning National Board Certification, she left the classroom to pursue a doctorate and continued to support the development of teacher leaders and other school leaders through various institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations, including the Boston Plan for Excellence, Teachers21, Simmons College, Brandeis University and University of Massachusetts in Boston. 

Throughout more than 30 years working in educational practice, research and policy, Dr. Berg has written many articles on the topics of teacher leadership, teaching quality, leadership development and school improvement.  Her monthly column, “Leading Together,” in ASCD’s Educational Leadership, aims to heighten leaders’ attention to the complementary roles that teacher leaders and administrators can play as they co-perform leadership to improve their schools.  Dr. Berg is currently the author of three books, including Improving the Quality of Teaching through National Board Certification (Christopher Gordon Press, 2003) and Leading in Sync: Teacher Leaders and Principals Working Together for Student Learning (ASCD, August 2018). Her most recent book, Uprooting Instructional Inequity: The Power of Inquiry-Based Professional Learning (ASCD, January 2022) is a guide for teacher leaders facilitating inquiry-based professional learning to advance equity in their schools.

Dr. Berg earned her doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education while working as a researcher with the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers. She also holds a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.Ed. from Lesley University, and was one of the first teachers in Massachusetts to become a National Board Certified Teacher (1998). She lives in Boston with her husband, who is also a National Board Certified Teacher and currently serves as Vice President of the Boston Teachers Union. Their two children are graduates of the Boston Public Schools.

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• Recent Publications 

• Selected Presentations