Marla M. Dean, Ed.D

Dr. Marla M. Dean is the Founder and Chief Learning and Innovation Officer at Dean’s List Consulting. She is a native Detroiter. She currently lives in the southeast quadrant of Washington, D.C. Dr. Marla M. Dean has over 30 years of teaching, coaching, leadership, nonprofit, and executive experience. She is a former English and government teacher, assistant principal, middle and high school principal, turnaround principal, chief of schools and a non-profit CEO in District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan, and Virginia.

Marla is a national leader and expert on the whole child and two generation approaches. She has a TedX Talk on the subject of 2Gen Policy and Approaches: a pathway out of poverty. Marla was recently recognized as a member of the Washington Business Journal’s inaugural class of Innovators in Health Care Awards recipient.

Other recent or current work for clients include:

• Developing Families Maternal Health Fund, fund advisor and strategic consultant for a multimillion-dollar fund that supports two-generation policies and practices for addressing infant and maternal health, mortality, and morbidities.
• Sharing DC, strategic consultant and facilitator for a fund that brings together donors to learn first-hand about the challenges facing the community and invests in visionary nonprofits working on the frontlines of the region’s most pressing needs.
• AsylumWorks, lead consultant providing compliance support for federal grants.
• Aspen Institute, Ascend Network, lead facilitator and project manager working in collaboration with the American Public Human Services Association and Ascend to promote two-generation policies and practices. Conceptualize, implement, and assess monthly convenings that include parents, practitioners, policymakers, funders, and representatives from the private sector.
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), lead consultant providing whole-child policy and practice services for K-12 school systems. Professional learning service areas include Whole Child, Understanding by Design (UbD), and Data Driven Leadership and Instruction in K12 school districts across the country, including Henrico County (VA), Cleveland (OH), Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC), Lawrence Public Schools (NY), Wilson Public Schools (PA), and Paul Public Charter Schools (D.C.). https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/hectic-schedule-threatens-teachers-quality-of-life
• Bellwether Education Partners, consultant providing technical assistance on the Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning program model design.
• Campagna Center, lead consultant serving as researcher and strategist to redesign programming for young adult English learners.
• Child Care for Every Family Network, lead consultant working to connect the Network and its work to national Black women’s organizations, ensuring that Black women’s voices and issues are centered in the policy and advocacy activities of the Network.
• District of Columbia Association for the Education of the Young Child (DCAEYC), lead consultant providing program accreditation services for early childhood centers.
• GOODProjects, Black Justice Institute, lead facilitator and curriculum designer for the Black Justice Fellowship.
• Kids’ First Years, lead consultant in building a collaborative ecosystem involving the city government, school district, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit stakeholders to strengthen Alexandria’s early childhood education system as well as develop the Common Agenda strategic framework.
• New Hope Housing, lead consultant providing board of director and staff trainings on change management and the development of their strategic plan.
• National Association for Education of the Young Child (NAEYC), lead facilitator of a national childcare provider consistency group in collaboration with the Child Care for Every Family Network.

Currently, Marla serves as the current chair for Ward 7 Education Council. She is the national board chair for birdSeed Foundation, an organization dedicated to ensuring Black and Brown homeownership in cities with rapid displacement and the board chair of Philanthropy DMV, formerly WRAG – Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers. She is also a board member on the District of Columbia Early Learning Collaborative (DCELC), R Street Institute and Community Educational Research Group. Marla has served on numerous non-profit boards and District government councils, commissions, taskforces and transition committees including the DC Commission on Poverty. Marla attended The University of Michigan for both her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and her Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning. She also holds an Education Specialist from Michigan State University in Educational Leadership. Finally, Marla completed her doctorate studies at University of Pennsylvania in Educational Leadership and Organizational Theory. Marla is a member of the 2020 Class of Leadership Greater Washington and a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Most importantly, she is the wife of Steve, who works in juvenile justice, and mother of Aaron, who lives in Atlanta, a graduate of Morehouse College, an award winning international filmmaker and who also works for an international marketing agency.