Computer science and math teacher Ash Hansberry stepped into a new role at Latin this year: Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. The position aims to streamline curriculum and ease the workload on faculty, allowing them to focus on their primary passion—teaching.
Mx. Hansberry works behind the scenes at Latin. They communicate information about curriculum, develop new projects, and make students’ transitions between divisions—from the Lower School to the Middle School, and from the Middle School to the Upper School—seamless. Previously, these responsibilities were largely at the divisional level without much input from the other divisions.
Head of School Thomas Hagerman said he created the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment role to reduce the workload on faculty and staff. “Because we are working toward greater consistency and alignment in these areas across the school, it was clear that we needed a specific point person for this work moving forward,” he said.
Enter Mx. Hansberry. “There hasn’t been someone in a role looking holistically [from] JK to 12,” they said. “Before, there were roles such as Director of Studies [and] then Director of Studies and Educational Technology, but those were too broad and couldn’t achieve everything they wanted.”
Currently, Mx. Hansberry’s daily activities involve many meetings and a lot of research to get to know the Middle and Lower School. “Part of my role is to be able to help people learn from each other and share resources that they’ve found helpful, or practices that they’ve found helpful,” Mx. Hansberry said. “I’m kind of a go-between for faculty. Faculty to faculty, and then faculty to other staff and school leadership.”
Mx. Hansberry has taught at Latin for eight years, six of those as the Computer Science Department Chair, so they know the school well. Dr. Hagerman said, “Mx. Hansberry has an intimate knowledge of Latin and its educational programming, along with strong relationships with many administrators, faculty, and staff.”
These strong relationships are part of what makes them ideal for the Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment role. They facilitate collaboration among faculty, which helps to ensure there’s no overlap or gap between the academic ground covered year to year. “We wouldn’t want somebody to repeat something in ninth grade that they already learned in eighth grade,” Mx. Hansberry said. “But we also wouldn’t want there to be a huge gap where we assume people know something in ninth grade that they’ve never actually seen before.”
Their role involves consulting with departments and divisions on their curriculum and any changes they want to make, as well as working with new faculty members to get them up to speed. They enable this exchange of information between teachers. “There are things that Middle School teachers can learn from Lower School teachers, that Lower School teachers can learn from Middle or Upper, and vice versa,” they said.
Mx. Hansberry started their teaching career as a math teacher, then moved on to computer science. Teaching computer science sets them up perfectly to direct curriculum, instruction, and assessment, Mx. Hansberry said. “What I liked most about computer science was sort of the problem solving and the using computer science for other types of disciplines.”
As director, they help many different people with different ideas meet, problem solve, and fit their ideas together.
Despite all these new responsibilities, Mx. Hansberry still makes time for student-involved activities. They will teach a probability and game theory class in the spring semester, as well as continue to coach robotics, tech club, and advise the LGBTQ+ affinity group.
“I still try to do a little bit of Upper School student stuff when I can, because I would miss it too much if I did none of it at all,” Mx. Hansberry said.
As a computer science teacher, one of the classes they taught was Computer Science Principles 2: Applications. Sebastian Lee-Yee, a student of Mx. Hansberry’s last spring, said, “[Mx. Hansberry was] always willing to help. And I think coding is something that’s kind of weird to help with because everybody’s always doing something slightly different.”
This dedication highlights the effort they put into not only teaching but also being a part of Latin, which they will carry into their new role.
Dr. Hagerman said, “During their time here, not only have they provided outstanding and engaging learning experiences for students, they have also immersed themselves in the Latin community while serving in a number of important leadership roles.”
