Our
Story

ContextEDU was founded during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, a period that demanded highly customized approaches to working with school systems. Each system had unique needs, and it was crucial that the voices of our families and students were heard. In our partner districts, we established School Community Voice teams, which included students, their families, and community members. Through the facilitation of these team meetings, we identified implementation priorities that varied from project to project. Our unwavering focus, however, remained on those most affected by system decisions—students and their families.

Four years on, we continue to prioritize our students and their stories for our partners, ensuring that projects and programming align with what students, their families, and their communities view as priorities. Through human-centric data collection and analysis, we strive to ensure that resources are allocated to initiatives valued by the school community. This ongoing, qualitative data is utilized to facilitate short-cycle continuous improvement, leading to authentic and sustainable change.

What We Believe

Vision

At ContextEDU, we are dedicated to centering the experiences and stories of students and their families as a lever for lasting and sustainable change.

Through the use of equitable, qualitative data collection methods, we elevate the insights and truths voiced by students, their families, and their communities.

Mission

ContextEDU envisions an educational system where the voices and experiences of students, families, and their communities—are the cornerstone of all educational decisions. We commit to shifting from traditional data stories about students and replacing them with inclusive, grounded methodologies through school community voice campaigns.

Values

Students are first.

With truth comes responsibility.

Relationships are everything.

Context matters.

How We Get There

Listen

We actively engage with our school and system partners to understand their unique contexts and needs.

Discover

We conduct comprehensive school community voice campaigns to gather meaningful insights directly from those impacted by our educational practices.

Engage

We share our findings and initiate constructivist design sprints, collaborating closely with school community partners to interpret and bring context-rich meaning to the data.

Collaborate

We partner with you to establish clear goals and measure progress, ensuring projects and initiatives approaches lead to student-centered, sustainable outcomes.

Founder

Kara O’Connell is a seasoned educational leader with over three decades of experience in transforming K-12 education. As the Chief Education Officer and founder of ContextEDU, she spearheads initiatives aimed at reimagining educational systems, particularly focusing on the integration of student voices in school improvement. Kara established ContextEDU during the challenging times of the pandemic in June 2020, initially addressing the needs of hybrid and distance learning before pivoting towards comprehensive educational reform.

Before founding ContextEDU, Kara served as the Director of Implementation and Partnerships at the Highlander Institute, where she designed and executed innovative instructional models and professional development programs centered on culturally responsive practices. Kara’s career began in special education, where she was the Director at the Justice Resource Institute in Swansea, MA, dedicated to developing educational programs for students with complex challenges. She holds a Master of Education from Bridgewater State College and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Educational Neuroscience from Central Queensland University.

Dedicated to building consensus and fostering educational excellence, Kara thrives on collaboration and is committed to ensuring that every educational initiative is responsive to the needs of students, families, and communities, paving the way for sustainable change.

Our Story