Baltimore School for the Arts competitors

Susan Schaeffler is the founder and chief executive officer of KIPP DC. She oversees all school leadership and academic programming, and plays a direct role in supervising the performance of students, staff, and the KIPP Through College & Career program. As an inaugural Fisher Fellow, Susan founded KIPP DC KEY Academy in 2001 and has since guided KIPP DC’s growth into the highest performing PreK3-12 school system in Washington, D.C. with eighteen schools educating 6,800 students. Prior to founding KIPP DC, Susan spent nine years in the classroom, first as a Teach For America corps member in Baltimore, Maryland, where she earned Teacher of the Year honors. In addition, Susan spent a year in rural Ethiopia working with the International Foundation of Education and Self-Help to train 180 new teachers at the Teacher Training Institute. Susan earned her bachelor’s in human development and family studies from Colorado State University and master’s in instructional systems design from the University of Maryland. Under her leadership, KIPP DC was a Race to the Top District grant recipient, and have won national distinctions such as the Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon School Award and the National Title One Distinguished School Award.

Bill Kurtz is a Chief Executive Officer at DSST Public Schools and is based in Denver, Colorado. He has worked as Principal at Link Commmunity School, Assistant Principal at College of the Holy Cross, and Founding Head of School at DSST Public Schools. Bill attended Phillips Exeter Academy between 1984 and 1987, Columbia University between 1996 and 1998, and 美國普林斯頓大學 between 1988 and 1991.