Her Story
About Brooke
Brooke Goodwine, PhD, is an experienced educational leader serving as Principal at Kettering City Schools in the Dayton Metropolitan Area. With nearly 15 years in education and over a decade in instructional and administrative leadership, she has dedicated her career to advancing student achievement and supporting high-quality teaching and learning environments. Her professional path began in Dayton Public Schools as a classroom teacher, followed by roles in district administration and building leadership, reflecting a steady commitment to growth and impact within public education.
Her journey in education is deeply personal, shaped by a family legacy of educators, including her mother and grandfather, which fostered an early connection to schools as both a learning and working environment. Now entering her third year at Kettering City Schools and approximately her eighth year as a building leader, she currently serves as principal for a school of roughly 300 students. In this role, she leads with a strong focus on culture building, staff development, and culturally responsive practices, working to ensure alignment around shared goals that support both students and staff in a cohesive and intentional learning community.
Brooke’s most notable professional contributions center on school culture development and culturally responsive leadership, which also served as the focus of her doctoral research. She actively consults and provides professional development in culturally responsive practices and instructional strategies, helping educators better support diverse learners. In addition, she facilitates training grounded in the research of Marzano and Hattie, translating evidence-based practices into practical strategies for classroom and school improvement. While she describes the work as demanding and fast-paced, she finds it deeply rewarding and values the daily opportunity to serve a diverse school community and make a lasting impact.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Brooke
01What do you attribute your success to?
My support system is what makes me successful. I can be as smart as I want to be, I can research and find all the information, I could come up with a million and one plans, but having the space at the school district that I am now to try those things, and then also having the familial support - if I need to stay a little bit longer, I can get that work done. Support in so many aspects, not just at home, but in work. That's key. You have to have a team, and you have to have the support. And so I have that.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received is that support is key. No matter how skilled or driven I am, long-term success depends on building strong relationships, seeking guidance when needed, and being willing to support others in return. Collaboration, mentorship, and trust create opportunities that individual effort alone cannot, and I’ve learned that investing in a reliable support system consistently strengthens both my professional growth and personal development.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be intentional about your work. While women represent a large part of the educational field, you still want to make sure that you set yourself apart. What are you good at? Identify your strengths, know your strengths when you walk into a room, and really leverage those strengths to be a part of a team, something bigger than yourself. I think it's always important to know that the work that we do is not our work alone, it's bigger than us. So every decision that you make should be done with intent.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The student that we have coming through the door looks a lot different than it did years ago, and it's ever-evolving. One of the biggest challenges and hurdles that we have as educators is to stay current with the changes that are happening, understanding who's in the classroom, understanding how to support that. Our classroom demographics look a lot different than our staffing demographics. So making sure that you are, one, staying current, but then two, making sure you provide ways for your staff to stay current.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity is most important to me. As far as the work that I do at the school, I make sure that I'm keeping students at my center. I have a rule of thumb: students first, adults always. So I'm always considering the adults, but the students are my primary focus, and how does this decision that I'm making, whether it's big or small, impact them? I make sure that I'm practicing everything with integrity. Everything that I do, I do it knowing that this is the right way and the appropriate thing for children.
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