Alliance for Learning Innovation: From Vision to Action: Introducing the State Education R&D Playbook

Sara Schapiro is a former Senior Fellow and Director of Social Innovation for the Federation of American Scientists.

Sara has emerged as a prominent voice in the transformation of American education through innovation and technology. Most recently, Sara served as the Vice President of Education at PBS where she led their efforts to deepen partnerships across the education sector and launched new initiatives that empower and support educators, students, parents and member stations. She expanded PBS’s educational impact through tools like PBS LearningMedia, a digital platform of free, classroom-ready resources from PBS stations and partners, and initiatives such as PBS’s at-home learning offering, which included free broadcast TV programs that support at-home learning for prekindergarten through 12th grade and digital resources that provided educators and families with learning options for new school routines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before PBS, Sara helped found Digital Promise, an independent, bipartisan nonprofit whose mission is to spur innovation and improve all Americans’ opportunity to learn. She launched and led Digital Promise’s flagship initiative, the League of Innovative Schools, a national coalition of public school districts that fosters collaboration among educators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and thought partners.

Before Digital Promise, Sara worked for the New York City Department of Education, Chicago Public Schools, the New Jersey Department of Education, and Pearson on pioneering teaching and learning projects, educational technology initiatives, and teacher and student engagement efforts. She holds a B.A. from Duke University and a Master’s of Public Policy from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Studies.

Leslie believes deeply that community-driven policy change is a critical lever for education transformation. At Transcend, she is a Partner leading our efforts to elevate the voices and insights from school communities directly to policy leaders so that policy can better support effective and enduring innovation in schools.

Leslie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from American University and a teaching credential from the University of California – Los Angeles. She serves on the boards of two Colorado-based non-profits, the Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy & Research Organization (CLLARO) and The Civic Canopy. Leslie lives in Denver with her partner, their daughters Maya and Lucia, and pup Pepper.

Sarah Bishop-Root is the Senior Partner of Policy at Education Reimagined. She was formerly the Policy Director of Next Generation Learning at ExcelinEd and led the Network of State Innovation Partners, a community of practice supporting state education agencies. Prior to ExcelinEd, Sarah worked at Blackboard, focusing on open education and educators’ adoption of online best practices. Sarah earned an MSEd in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University Bloomington.