Cathie Johnson, M.A.

Cathie Johnson has been an educator for over 35 years in both general and special education. She has worked at the district level and school site level, both elementary and secondary. Her roles have included teacher, school administrator, district administrator, parent liaison, college professor and consultant.

Cathie’s work in large urban school districts has framed her commitment and passion for ensuring all voices are heard and are part of the educational process. This includes engaging educational partners in authentic conversations around policies and practices that are equitable and inclusive, and lead to positive student outcomes.  She has an extensive background in developing and providing professional development which includes: Parent Engagement, PBIS, Trauma Informed Practices, Restorative Justice, Social Emotional Learning, English Language Learners, Standard English Learners, Collaborative and Inclusive Instructional Models, Student Support Teams, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), Student Voice, File Review, and the use of data to facilitate decision making.

Cathie has been a grant recipient for Wellness programs with Kaiser and Dignity Health and has supported schools and districts with the implementation of wellness goals that focus on culturally responsive classroom environments built around the social emotional learning domains.  She has participated in community programs that support students and families including the Village Nation program, which focuses on supporting access and success for African American and Latino students.

In 2010, Cathie became a Technical Assistance Facilitator. She has provided assistance to Significantly Disproportionate Districts in their efforts to implement a plan to address disproportionality and to gain a deeper working understanding of the root causes that are leading them to disproportionality. This includes assisting districts with the alignment of their plan to district initiatives and the Local Control and Accountability Plan by utilizing needs assessment protocol to identify root causes, data analysis, family engagement, and facilitating educational partner focus groups.

Areas of Particular Interest and Expertise:

Step 1: Gather and Inquire

• Leadership Meetings
• Educational Partners’ Meetings
• Gathering Quantitative Data
• Gathering Qualitative Data
• Programmatic Self-Assessment
• Infrastructure Analysis
• Policies, Practices, and Procedures Review
• Consolidation of Step 1

Step 2: Data and Root Cause Analysis

• Root Cause Analysis
• Prioritizing Factors Contributing to Significant Disproportionality
• Initiative Inventory
• Identification of Target Population
• Development of a Theory of Action 
• Consolidation of Step 2

Step 3: Plan for Improvement

• Development of a CIM for CCEIS Action Plan
• Budget Development
• CIM for CCEIS Action Plan Review

Step 4: Implementing and Monitoring

• Support data collection for evaluating effectiveness of interventions 
• Support implementation monitoring 
• Provide guidance around student tracking requirements 
• Assist with development of Progress Reports 
• Assist in identifying successful activities to continue once CCEIS funds have been expended