Hello! I’m Mike Gwaltney.
I’m an educator, consultant, speaker, writer, and former school leader.
I help schools strengthen teaching and learning, and the leadership practices that make that work sustainable. Today, my work centers on school-wide strategic and academic leadership. I help boards, heads, division leaders, and teacher-leaders build clarity and coherence across the entire school, from curriculum, assessment, and instruction, to governance, advancement, and school culture. I also work closely with boards and leadership teams navigating one of the most consequential shifts in independent education today: how schools govern and adopt artificial intelligence responsibly.
What I do
I partner with schools and leadership teams to:
- Design and implement school-wide strategic plans: mission-aligned planning, stakeholder engagement, and clear, executable roadmaps that translate vision into priorities, timelines, and accountability.
- Lead academic strategy and change: vision-to-implementation planning, academic priorities, and practical roadmaps.
- Improve curriculum, assessment, and instruction: alignment, quality, authentic assessment, inquiry/project-based learning.
- Guide AI governance and readiness: helping boards and leadership teams think through AI adoption through the lens of fiduciary duty, mission alignment, and prudent, informed decision-making.
- Develop leaders and teams: coaching, facilitation, management systems, culture and expectations.
- Design professional learning that is mission-aligned, actionable, and respectful of educators’ time.
I’m known for helping schools translate big ideas into clear choices, usable tools, and repeatable practices without losing sight of humanity, relationships, and the daily realities of school life.
A little background
I have worked in and with independent schools since 1990. In August 2026, I returned to Independent School Management (ISM) full-time as a Senior Consultant and the Chief Officer of Advisory & Learning. I’ve been on the ISM team in one form or another since 2013, working on strategic and academic planning, faculty growth and evaluation, curriculum and instruction, and leadership coaching, and leading workshops and institutes including “Chairing Your Department.”
I co-developed ISM’s Transformative Teacher Growth & Evaluation Framework and co-authored the accompanying book, and I’m currently developing ISM’s thinking on AI governance for independent school boards, grounded in fiduciary duty and designed to help trustees ask the right questions at the right time.
I spent many years in the classroom leading student-centered learning experiences. Over time, that work expanded into broader school-wide design questions:
- How do we know what students truly understand?
- How do we assess meaningfully?
- How do we build learning experiences that students love and that align with a school’s mission and values?
Speaking, writing, and service
I’ve worked with schools and organizations in the U.S. and internationally, and I’ve presented at national and regional conferences on academic leadership, faculty culture, assessment, school improvement, and—increasingly—AI governance and readiness in independent schools.
I’ve also served on nonprofit and education boards, volunteered for civic causes (including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), and I occasionally write about citizenship and public purpose in education.
Want to connect?
If you’d like to talk about a school project, a workshop, or leadership coaching, contact me via email by clicking here.
Mike Gwaltney 