Nilka Avilés

Nilka Avilés, Ed.D., served as an IDRA senior education associate through 2022 and is now an IDRA consultant focusing on teacher professional development in college readiness and science, particularly, in serving emergent bilingual (English learner) students. She also focuses on principal leadership to improve the preparation and effectiveness of principals and other school leaders to support high-poverty, low-performing schools to improve the achievement of high-need students.

Dr. Avilés directs the IDRA Reenergizing Leadership to Achieve Greater Student Success (RLSS) project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. This project prepares university graduate master teachers to become instructional transformational school leaders. Dr. Avilés coaches current principals and school leadership teams to foster and leverage instruction schoolwide using promising asset-based practices to strengthen student learning and build school-community collaboration.