John Watkins has over thirty years experience in consulting, coaching, designing, facilitating, researching, and evaluating in school and school district improvement efforts. Currently, he is Co-Director with Jal Mehta, Professor at Harvard, of the Deeper Learning Dozen, creating a community of practice for superintendents who are committed to the transformation of their districts to support equitable access to deeper learning. Recently, he was the Pathway Coach Coordinator in the Linked Learning Office of Oakland Unified School District, supporting a community of practice for site-embedded Pathway Coaches, and before that a Pathway Coach with ConnectEd. John’s first career was as an Outward Bound instructor. He later became a high school art teacher before attending and earning his Doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy. His BA is from Amherst College in Art History. Along with his wife, Jessica, who is an English teacher in the Public Health Academy at Oakland High School, he loves to backpack, practice meditation and yoga, and garden.
