History
My name is Chris DeWitt, and I began my career in education in 2008, as a 1st grade teacher in Washington, DC. I started CSD Education Services in the summer of 2017 because after nearly a decade of working in schools and District offices, I wanted to get back to my roots of working with families and students to improve education outcomes for all kids.
In May 2017, an email newsletter from the Donnell-Kay Foundation came across my inbox. The main story in the newsletter was about a new group called that had just received a chunk of money from a few large philanthropic organizations. Interested, I dug a bit deeper and visited the group's website. The group wanted to start a new high school in 2019. I was about to leave my position at Denver Public Schools, where I oversaw all new school evaluation processes, so I was very interested in what this group wanted to do.
I reached out and in August 2017, I started CSD Education Services and had my first client-- the Hada-Nou Collective. In June 2018, the Hada-Nou Collective's first high school, Empower Community School, was approved by the Aurora Public Schools Board of Education and will open in 2019.
In one year of operation, CSD Education Services has had the privilege of using my experience as a new school authorizer, school designer, and classroom teacher to support a diverse set of clients, including the American Indian Academy of Denver, Denver Public Schools, the Florida Department of Education, the Tennessee State Board of Education, Blue Schools Partners.
CSD Education Services is dedicated to partnering with community groups to help them navigate often overly complex education systems so they can make those systems work form them. We do this through school design and strategy, research and analysis, and school evaluation.
Get in touch
Whether you're a communtiy group wishing to start a new school, a school operator looking to expand, an authorizer looking for an experienced school evaluator, or a nonprofit seeking a writer and researcher, don't hesitate to get in touch.
Contact▸
Biography
Founder
Chris DeWitt
Chris began his education career in 2008, teaching first grade at a title 1 K-8 school in northwest Washington, DC. In his five years as a self-contained classroom teacher, Chris learned the importance of seeing each student as an individual, leading with humility, and building authentic, trusting relationships with students and families.
In 2013, after earning a Masters in Special Education, Chris relocated to Denver, Colorado to apply his classroom experience in a district-level context. Most recently, Chris led Denver Public Schools’ Call for New Quality Schools, the new school application and evaluation process, which increased the number of high quality schools available to Denver students.
As an independent consultant, Chris is committed to bringing his unique skill set as an educator and District leader to people across the country who are interested in designing, evaluating, and improving the schools in their communities. Most notably, Chris has led the application writing process for two community-led charter schools-- Empower Community High School and the American Indian Academy of Denver-- both of which were approved in spring 2018. He is also the lead author of an A+ Colorado report, Unequal Choices: Model Diversity in Denver Public Schools.
Education
The Catholic University of America
MA in Special Education, 2013
American University
B.A., Communication Studies, 2008
Activities
- Presenter, National Association of Charter School Authorizers, 2016
- KIPP Leadership Design Fellowship, 2015
- Facilitative Leadership Training, 2014 and 2017
Certification
• Licensed in Colorado: Special Education, PK-20