Dr. Cheryl James-Ward is a life-long educator, having served in numerous educational positions including CEO, Director of Schools, Principal, Dean, Vice Principal, and math teacher for several public school districts as well as universities throughout California. As a tenured professor at San Diego State University, Dr. Ward founded and taught in the online Master of Arts Program in Educational Leadership, a program ranked 21st nationally by US News and World Reports in 2018 and 11th by BestColleges.com in 2018. Dr. Ward has published numerous articles in over a dozen highly esteemed educational journals. Her latest co-authored book is Using Data to Focus Instructional Improvement. Now a professor emeritus for SDSU, Dr. Ward also serves as the CEO/Chief Engagement & Innovation Officer of e3 Civic High, recognized as one of the most innovative schools in the nation. Prior to her work in education, Dr. Ward was a software engineer for the Magellan Project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.