
Our Team
Alyson Schaffer
Senior Leadership Director
Alyson Schafer brings over 15 years of public education experience to her role as the Senior Director of Leadership Development. In this role, Alyson is deeply committed to working alongside educators to build capacity, reflect on practice, and implement strategies that foster growth—for both students and staff. Whether facilitating one-on-one coaching cycles, leading professional development, or supporting district-wide transformation, Alyson brings a strengths-based, relationship-centered approach to every collaboration.
After receiving a degree in Education from Penn State, Alyson joined Teach for America, bringing her to Houston, Texas. She started her career as an English Language Arts and Reading teacher, passionate about increasing students’ reading fluency and comprehension while cultivating a love of reading amongst her students. Alyson then served in various campus leadership roles at two successful turnaround campuses and gained experience supporting special education and emergent bilingual students and teachers.
Prior to joining TK Ed, Alyson spent five years collaborating with the Texas Education Agency while at Region 4 Education Service Center to pilot, develop, and launch Texas Instructional Leadership (TIL) programming statewide. She has experience coaching district-level leaders, as well as regional leaders, to support the systematic integration of instructional leadership practices related to data-driven instruction, observation and feedback, school-wide culture, and materials internalization and alignment. Additionally, Alyson co-authored and led the development of Region 4’s Essential Action Lever Support (EALS), a program to assist school leaders in establishing foundational instructional leadership practices aligned to the Effective Schools Framework.
Alyson also holds a Master of Education degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and Texas certifications in the following specialty areas: Special Education, English as a Second Language, Principal, and Superintendent.