Congratulations, Chicago Principals Fellow, Karin Breo!

We are so honored and excited to celebrate CICS Irving Park Director, Karin Breo! Karin has been awarded a Chicago Principals Fellowship, through The Chicago Public Education Fund (The Fund). This opportunity is for rigorous professional development for top Chicago principals. You can read more about Karin below, and on The Fund’swebsite. To find out more about The Fund, or this incredible opportunity for Karin, and the entire CICS Irving Park Community, read the complete press release here.

Karin is currently the School Director at CICS Irving Park, managed by Distinctive Schools. Karin began serving as Director of CICS Irving Park in the 2012-2013 school year and has implemented various innovative teaching approaches at the campus with the support of the Breakthrough Schools: Chicago NGLC planning grant. Karin has led CICS Irving Park through transformative change in implementing a personalized learning pilot model throughout the 2015-2016 school year. She works collaboratively with her staff to ensure her school is a positive place to teach and learn every day, and she is committed to high-quality instruction, innovation, collaboration and personalization for both teachers and students. Karin and her team were awarded a $280,000 NGLC Breakthrough Schools: Chicago grant to implement an innovative personalized learning model at her campus.

Prior to leading CICS Irving Park, Karin was the former Director of Afterschool Programs and Community Partnerships for Distinctive Schools. In this role, she developed and maintained the strategic relationships that Distinctive Schools continues to rely on today to support their model. Prior to working at Distinctive Schools, Karin held both teaching and leadership roles at CICS Bucktown. After eight years teaching second grade, she went on to be an Instructional Coach, where she supported elementary teachers and the enrichment program. Her experiences with instruction, community partnerships, development and coaching lend to her ability to oversee a variety of important components within the Distinctive Schools model. Karin obtained her undergraduate degree from Illinois State University and her Masters of Education in Supervision & Administration from Concordia University.
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Karin is always looking for ways to improve so that she can model growth mindset for her students and staff. Through the Chicago Principals Fellowship, she hopes to learn strategies that will support her goals in transforming the role that all students, teachers, staff and families have in creating dynamic classrooms and a school culture that catalyzes and supports powerful learning experiences for her students. By explicitly teaching and modeling high expectations and maintaining accountability, Karin is committed to collaboration among all stakeholders to achieve the best for each and every student as well as to foster relationships and growth among the school community. (http://thefundchicago.org/teammembers/karin-breo/)