The Norwalk Board of Education appointed Dr. Alexandra Estrella as the Superintendent of Norwalk Public Schools. Dr. Estrella joined the district July 1, 2020.

Dr. Estrella, a first-generation Latina-American, is a visionary, innovative, forward-thinking leader that does not accept the status quo regarding scholar development and learning opportunities. An educator with over 20 years of experience, Dr. Estrella has spent the last seven years in the role of superintendent for Community School District Four in East Harlem, New York. Part of the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), District Four comprises twenty-three schools serving approximately 13,500 students grades 3-K through 12. During the 2019-2020 academic school year, she received three proclamations from community legislative officials highlighting her relentless commitment to improving the lives of children and families in the East Harlem community.

Haga clic aquí para leer sobre nuestra Superintendente, la Dra. Estrella, en español.

Early Career 

She started her career as a science teacher in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, and during her tenure, she designed curricula that supported scholars to develop their observational, critical, and analytical skills. She founded the first STEM fair within the school and challenged middle school students to take advanced science courses that allowed them to earn high school and NYS Regents credit. In 2008, Dr. Estrella founded Esperanza Preparatory Academy, a dual-language middle school in East Harlem, NY. In 2011, she proposed and obtained approval to expand the school to grades 6-12. She acquired a number of bilingual and technology grants that supported the school in the development of its dual-language program. She also started one of the first 6-12 special education inclusion programs in the City of New York.

As a direct reflection of her support to schools and her strategic leadership at NYCDOE District Four, she increased the District’s New York State ELA scores by 22% and mathematics by 20%. In partnership with Hunter College, she acquired a multimillion-dollar grant from New York Trust that allowed the district to establish an intensive early childhood literacy intervention program that propelled State scores by 18%. Graduation rates have increased from 70% to 84%. Through the refinement of curricula leveraging Columbia University’s Teachers College Readers and Writers Project and Harvard University’s Advanced Literacies research, she narrowed the achievement gap for multilingual learners by increasing literacy proficiency by over 20% for the majority of students by the time they transitioned to become former multilingual learners.

Building Capacities 

Dr. Estrella is known as an instructional leader who focuses on building the capacity of leaders and teachers. She sets clear, measurable goals while utilizing an investigative lens to identify problems of practice that can be targeted to improve student achievement. Through supervisory coaching and the support of established professional learning communities, school leaders learned to develop theories of action that lead to systematic change and improvement of student outcome measures.

She has enhanced broadband accessibility for students through multi-million dollar grants and partnerships with Apple and Verizon. During her tenure, District Four schools have also enriched science curricula and exposed students to healthy eating habits through hydroponics and rooftop gardens, while others utilized the Hudson River to learn about oyster preservation and local ecosystems. She also partnered with Dr. Mark Brackett, Director of Yale University's Center for Emotional Intelligence, to develop teacher pedagogy, school leader capacity and efficacy around social-emotional learning using the Mood Meter and other RULER strategies.

Commitment to Educational Equity

As a superintendent, Dr. Estrella has also focused on supporting school leaders and staff to develop their capacity to support culturally and linguistically diverse learning communities, while building culturally responsive environments. For the past several years, she has engaged school leaders in implicit bias and culturally-responsive trainings, solving for disproportionality and achieving equity that resulted in suspension reduction and increased achievement for all students. She is a firm believer of inclusive-learning models. She opened several special education inclusion programs throughout the district and housed the only dual language NEST programs in the city, which she expanded during her tenure to serve additional grades.

Dr. Estrella is passionately committed to educational equity. She believes in the power of schools to change lives, and is resolute that no child should be kept from attaining his or her dream because of obstacles that can be overcome.

Education

Please click on the following link to view Dr. Estrella's Resume.

Dr. Estrella earned a doctorate of education with honors from Sage College of Albany, a master’s degree in Science Education from Pace University and a masters degree in educational leadership from Baruch College. She holds a bachelor of science from Fordham University Marymount, where she double majored in biology and chemistry. Dr. Estrella has been certified by the Connecticut State Department of Education as a superintendent of schools and for intermediate administration and supervision.   

Dr. Estrella and her husband have three children, teenage twin sons and an older daughter. Their twins currently attend high school at Norwalk Public Schools and their daughter is in college.