Ally O'Rourke-Barrett

Ally O'Rourke-Barrett is thrilled to join Center School's team as a Middle School Social Studies and Science teacher. This role allows her to merge her passion for project-based curriculum design with interdisciplinary instruction and student-centered learning.

 

Ally, also known as Ms. O, was a founding member of The Grayson School, Pennsylvania's pioneering independent school for gifted learners, where she served as the Director of Project-Based Learning. During her tenure, she developed a comprehensive project-based scope and sequence that spans a student's academic journey from pre-K to 12th grade. Additionally, she led the school-wide adoption of innovative and forward-thinking teaching methods to enhance the student learning experience. Ally also played a pivotal role in designing Grayson's portfolio and competency-based assessment system, a collaborative initiative developed with the Mastery Transcript Consortium.

 

Before joining Center School, Ally worked through her educational consulting practice, Canterbury Educational Consulting, where she found great joy in empowering educators to create and implement distinctive, engaging, and multifaceted student experiences. Her work emphasizes nurturing students' innate curiosity and providing support as they address real-world challenges.

 

Ally holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Smith College and completed a Fellowship at the Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Iowa.