Rebecca Kockler is the Executive Director of Reading Reimagined within AERDF and CEO and Founder of Illuminate Literacy, research and design projects focused on unlocking the great reader in every child. Rebecca formed an unshakeable belief in the reading potential of students of color and those who experience poverty–and found the inspiration to act on this belief—after decades working closely with students, families, and teachers at the school, district, and state level. Previously, Rebecca was the Assistant Superintendent of Academics at the Louisiana Department of Education, where she created a comprehensive, nationally recognized academic support model that gave teachers, principals, and districts the tools and supports necessary to align assessments, curriculum, and teacher evaluation for greater impact.
She led a complete redesign of Louisiana’s teaching and learning system, building nationally validated English language arts curricula and assessments, implementing a widely recognized curricular and assessment review process, founding an advanced principal fellowship program, and training a cohort of over 5,000 teacher leaders each year. As a result of these efforts, students in Louisiana were the fastest-improving nationally in Advanced Placement and achieved record-high rates in high school graduation, college enrollment, state scholarship eligibility, postsecondary credentialing, and ACT scores.