Dr. Emily Freeland has over 29 years of experience that includes administrative positions at the state, district, and school levels, as well as teaching science.  She has supported school districts with the implementation of standards aligned learning and rigorous instructional experiences.  Much of her work has been concentrated in schools that were identified as underperforming and targeted the implementation of school turnaround principles, the effective use of data, closing achievement gaps, and increasing graduation rates.  Emily has also served as a curriculum specialist and professional development director.  In these roles, she worked with curriculum and assessment development, new teacher mentoring, at-risk programs, credit recovery, and instructional design. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in both science and education. Her work has included experiences in both traditional and online schools with developing effective instructional practices for all students.  Emily is currently serving districts and schools across the nation as an Instruction and Leadership Coach.  

Emily holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science education. She also holds an educational specialist degree, doctorate in educational leadership, and is a certified National Dropout Prevention Specialist.  Emily was awarded an Outstanding Curriculum Leader Award by the Alabama Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.  She was also a recipient of a Samford University Orlean Beeson School of Education Learning for Life Award.

Emily’s upcoming book, From Ghost to Graduates: An Educators Guide to Identifying and Reconnecting Disengaged Students, focuses on strategies that address the causes of the disengagement, including the context of pandemic learning and its impact on students who were previously not at risk of dropping out.