We're Hiring a Program Specialist: Behavior (School & Systems)
Meet the DLC Team
Brooke Allen
Executive Director
Laura Bantle
LEARNING COMMUNITIES MANAGER
As a project manager, Laura works with DLC partners nationwide to support system-level special education program development, implementation, and evaluation. She strives to dismantle the structural and belief-based silos often built around diverse learners and educators. Prior to her work at DLC, Laura was a founding team member of a charter high school in Nashville, TN, also serving on the school’s leadership team as an assistant principal and supporting a team of special educators, EL teachers, interventionists, and counselors. She earned her M.Ed. in high-incidence special education from Vanderbilt University while supporting school-based math intervention research and supervising pre-service teachers.
Reba Clarke-Wedderburn
Program Specialist
As Program Specialist, Reba supports educator development and inclusive learning by leading the Job-Embedded Special Education Licensure Pathway in partnership with Nashville Teacher Residency. In this role, she facilitates coursework, coaches a founding cohort of teacher candidates, and contributes to program design. Reba also mentors educators through the Teacher Leader Fellowship. Reba brings over 20 years of experience as a special educator, instructional coach, and professional development leader. She has served in roles spanning classroom teacher, instructional coach, faculty mentor, and senior academic manager across public schools, higher education, and national education organizations, and holds a Doctorate in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change. Her work is grounded in a commitment to cognitive equity, capacity-building, and practical tools that support real-world impact in schools.
Mary Matthews Coffey
PARTNERSHIPS Director
Lily Doyle
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Madison DeVincenzo
PROGRAM SPECIALIST
Justine Katzenbach
DIRECTOR, ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY
Ashleigh Perkins
PROGRAM SPECIALIST
As a Program Specialist, Ashleigh collaborates with the Diverse Learners Cooperative’s partners to support teachers and leaders in implementing best practices for inclusive education. She brings over 13 years of experience in the education field, including more than 6 years coaching educators and developing organizational systems to support diverse learners within a school setting. Ashleigh holds a Master’s degree in English Language Learning, an Educational Specialist degree in Reading Speciality, and certifications in Special Education and Instructional Leadership, all from Lipscomb University. Throughout her career, she has held numerous positions, including RTI Coordinator, ML Specialist, Special Education Teacher, and Assistant Principal. Ashleigh has founded two schools, and specializes in the creation of organized and sustainable UDL-aligned systems that benefit all learners. At the DLC, she is eager to partner with teachers and leaders to create environments where all students experience success through targeted professional development, strong instruction, consistent data collection and analysis, and student-centered practices.
Mary Rakes
FELLOWSHIP MANAGER
Serena Sayles
Project MANAGER
Serena Sayles is a Project Manager with the Diverse Learners Cooperative, where she manages our grant-funded efforts to strengthen systems that support teachers of students with diverse learning needs. She brings several years of leadership experience in the charter school sector, where she worked to design and implement initiatives that improve instructional quality, educator support, and student outcomes.
Serena’s work centers on systems thinking, facilitation, and program leadership. She enjoys helping teams make sense of complex challenges, translating research and best practices into practical strategies, and guiding collaborative problem-solving with educators and school leaders. Known for her thoughtful facilitation style, Serena is passionate about creating spaces where educators can reflect, learn together, and build sustainable practices that support both teachers and students. A legacy Nashvillian, Serena is excited to work alongside schools and partner organizations who are deeply committed to strengthening teacher retention and expanding opportunities for all learners.
Erica Stenstrom
PROGRAM SPECIALIST
Chloe Walters, Ed.D.
PROGRAM SPECIALIST, MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS
Our Founding Story
A note from DLC's Founder, Brooke Allen
I found this creative work rewarding, but also challenging. I was the only or one of a few special educators in my school. Opportunities for professional development often included sitting in the back of a core content session because there wasn’t an option specific to diverse learner needs. Coaching meetings felt disconnected from my daily practice, and evaluation rubrics were difficult to use. Time for collaboration with my peers was hard to come by, and school systems designed to build community were sometimes less than inclusive of my students.
Out of these findings came an idea for an organization that filled this gap – an organization that would connect special and EL educators with relevant resources, high quality professional learning opportunities, and networks of their peers. If teachers felt equipped and empowered, would they stay longer and inspire better outcomes for students with all abilities and language backgrounds? The Diverse Learners Cooperative launched in 2018 to find out.
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