Chief Schools Officer
LaRita leads academic services and instructional vision for TenSquare. She served as the Academic Director at Thurgood Marshall Academy where she helped maintain the school’s position as the highest-performing charter high school in the District of Columbia. An expert in outcome-driven professional development, she has facilitated learning seminars for The New Teacher Project, served as School Improvement Leader for TenSquare partner schools, led mathematics and student support teams for multiple school districts in California and the District, and developed math teachers as an Instructor at Trinity University. She has over 20 years experience building equity and justice programs, including facilitation of innovative and immersive diversity and inclusion experiences for school districts in California through the National Conference for Community and Justice and Camp LEAD. She continued this work through the creation of comprehensive Cultural Humility professional development for the San Mateo County Office of Education (a system of 23 school districts) to address opportunity gaps. She began her educational career as a secondary math teacher where her students gained tremendous outcomes demonstrating the highest growth in mathematics on state tests citywide and attaining the highest math proficiency at the high school level. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from San Diego State University and a Master of Education from the American University.