Nancy Akhavan is an educational leader and currently principal of Pinedale Elementary School in California's Central Valley. She is passionate about helping all children learn; she spends every spare minute in a classroom working with teachers to provide literacy instruction that works for all children. Her experience includes time as a principal, elementary school bilingual teacher, bilingual resource teacher, and professional developer for over seventee years. Nancy's goal is to provide and facilitate a high quality education for all children through authentic, purposeful instruction. She has provided staff development training to teachers grades K-12 on such topics as Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English, English Language Development, reading, writing and language workshops, and standards-based instruction. She has also provided training to teacher leaders and administrators in systems and culture change, school reform, and classroom based professional development.

Nancy was formerly principal of Lee Richmond Elementary School in Hanford, California. Her book How to Align Literacy Instruction, Assessment, & Standards, and Achieve Results You Never Dreamed Possible, is an account of instructional improvement at Lee Richmond School. The book provides practical direction on how to implement precise, authentic standards based instruction in reading, writing, and language workshops.

Grades: K - 6