From the Executive Director
Welcome From our Executive Director Dr. Shawna Draxton
Thank you for joining the WISH family! Being able to put our shared values into action is an incredible gift and I am thrilled that we get the opportunity to build these amazing schools together.
Thank you for trusting us with your children, they are extraordinary young people. Each day our faculty and staff work to ensure that every child and adolescent that we serve receives meaningful and engaging instruction within an atmosphere of caring and belonging, grounded in excellence. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to provide a whole scholar approach, providing STEM, music, art, PE, and technology for all students along with rigorous core academic subjects and explicit instruction and support for social-emotional development. Our six tenets include strong family partnerships, differentiated instruction, positive behavior support, evidence-based best practices through university partnerships, co-teaching and collaboration, and a commitment to all serve all students.
Thank you for building schools for all young people that represent the values we share and want to instill in our children. One day they will become leaders of our communities and they will create community spaces and workplaces for the breadth of people in the world around us. What we do today significantly impacts the young people we are raising and it is clear that the experiences they have in the classrooms each day are having a positive impact on each of them. It is an honor and a pleasure to serve alongside the WISH faculty and staff, parents, Board of Directors, and community members.
Warmly,
Dr. Draxton
Background:
Shawna Draxton was a paraprofessional at the CHIME preschool and a founding teacher of the award-winning CHIME Charter School. Dr. Draxton served as the founding principal of WISH elementary school and helped develop WISH middle and WISH Academy high school. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the WISH TK-12 Community and Academy schools. Prior to opening WISH, she worked for LAUSD as a teacher and in the central office to support programs grounded in the science of reading, behavior support, inclusive practices, teaching techniques, co-teaching, collaboration, and equity. Her work at CHIME, WISH, and LAUSD, and through global partnerships, has made her well-versed in creating effective, student-centered, and teacher-supported macro systems within TK-12 educational settings. Dr. Draxton is dedicated to designing and maintaining innovative, meaningful, and engaging, data-informed instructional experiences grounded in social and emotional responsiveness that achieve excellence for all students. She regularly leads professional development sessions on best practices in education, including collaboration, co-teaching, universal design for learning, using technology in the classroom, inclusion, and school-wide positive behavior support systems. She is a multi-credentialed National Board Certified Teacher. Previously, she taught credential candidates at California State University, Northridge, and Occidental University.
This last decade she has worked closely with a group of passionate educators, families, professors, and engaged community members to build high-quality public schools for ALL students. WISH Community and Academy, TK-12 schools, serve as professional development schools for Loyola Marymount University's School of Education.
