Shirley Schwartz
Director of Special Projects
Council of the Great City Schools

Shirley Schwartz is the Director of Special Projects at the Council of the Great City Schools.  At the Council, she is responsible for overseeing a variety of programs and initiatives which focus on improving teaching and learning in urban schools, including several projects to facilitate the redesign of urban high schools and to recruit, prepare, and retain a diverse and highly qualified teacher workforce.  Dr. Schwartz also serves as the liaison to the Council's affliate, the Council of the Great City Colleges of Education and is a member of several editorial and national advisory boards that focus on urban teacher preparation and quality.

Before joining the Council of the Great City Schools, Dr. Schwartz was Associate Dean of the School of Professional Studies at Trinity College in Washington, DC and a Research Associate in the Institute for the Study of Exceptional Children and Youth at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.  Dr. Schwartz has authored  numerous articles in the areas of metacognition and strategy instruction for at-risk learners, teacher supply and demand in urban schools, alternative urban teacher preparation and the development and assessment of content and performance standards for urban schools.