Hello and Welcome!
My name is Julie Kallio (she/her/hers), and I am the Lead Researcher in the Peter Clark Center at The Breck School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I specialize in facilitating systems design, such as leading a curriculum documentation process or supporting informed decisions about math acceleration. I was recently lead author on a collaborative self-study about research in independent schools as a strategy for equity, published in Teachers College Record.
I completed my PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. (Need a short bio? Click here.)
In my previous role at Breck as an innovation specialist, I co-created and implemented an innovation coaching program to support educators in thinking about how they might teach in a new way, given the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and pressing issues of social justice and equity. I have also worked with my colleagues to generate a wide range of resources to support teachers from preschool through 12th grade.
In June 2020, I defended my dissertation, Solving Problems Together: Findings from the early stages of a Networked Improvement Community. In short, my dissertation examined the design of research-practice partnerships and how they can facilitate the kinds of collective problem solving that are needed for large-scale change. My background as a teacher inspired me to think deeply about how educators are legitimately positioned as experts and how participation in design can build relational trust. I published an article on the problem identification process and Deeper Professional Learning. My dissertation was awarded an Honorable Mention by Division A of AERA and a K-12 Dissertation of the Year from my UW ELPA department.
You can read more about my research, teaching, K-12 leadership in K-12, and service. What those formal pages won’t tell you, though, is how I found my way into teaching. I’m originally from Northern Wisconsin, but I moved to Paris, France, when I was 7 years old. I spent my school years at the American School of Paris and my summers selling fireworks and riding horses by Shawano Lake. My career has taken me to Montana, Southern California, Massachusetts, Oregon, back to Wisconsin, and now Minnesota.
Julie Kallio, PhD 
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