October 21, 2026 (Washington, D.C.) — The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) is thrilled to announce that Michele Brooks, long-time IEL partner and renowned Family Engagement leader, has been appointed as Senior Fellow. In this role, Michele will help continue to elevate and bolster IEL’s work to support effective Family and Community Engagement. Michele also serves as the CEO and Principal Consultant of Transformative Solutions in Education, LLC, where she works with school districts and organizations to strengthen leadership and build more systemic, sustainable approaches to family, school, and community engagement .
As a former Assistant Superintendent of Engagement for Boston Public Schools, founding director of the Boston Parent Organizing Network, and former Boston School Committee member, Michele brings decades of experience working across systems to strengthen partnerships among educators, families, communities, and district leaders. IEL is excited to expand our partnership with Michele and utilize her expertise to inform our District Leaders and Superintendent Networks as they help build better systems for the children, youth, and families in their communities.
“Leadership creates the conditions for meaningful engagement, but collective ownership sustains it. The true test of leadership is whether the work continues and grows long after the leader steps away,” shared Michele. “That is why I’m excited to be connected to the team at IEL – their work with partners to support them in their transformational leadership journeys is steeped in those values.”
IEL Interim President Kwesi Rollins added, “Michele has long been part of the IEL family helping us initiate and grow our family engagement work as a founder of the District Leaders Network on FCE. We are honored to work with her in this new capacity. Having contributed to the essential Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships, her work is essential to the field. Michele has also recently created a fantastic new tool, Systemic & Sustainable by Design™ (SSBD™), a practice-forward ecosystem that supports engagement practitioners and district leaders to elevate family and community engagement from isolated activities to intentional, sustainable systems – we are eagerly anticipating the launch of this incredible resource, and look forward to sharing it with our networks.”
For more information about the Institute for Educational Leadership, please visit our website at www.iel.org