Dr. Simone Wilkinson
I've been in education since graduating college in 2008, nearly 20 years total. I'm currently an assistant principal at a high school, where I've served for 10 years, and before that, I was an assistant principal at an elementary school for 3 years. My day-to-day involves supporting teachers with instruction, supporting students with attendance, academics, or behavior, working with other support staff so students have what they need to succeed, and connecting with families. I manage our instructional leadership team and the instructional coaches to help teachers improve their craft. I also work as a leadership coach, freelance writer, and speaker because I really believe in lighting the path for others and sharing the information I have with others in different ways. When I was younger, I was really into theater and dance, living in New Jersey close to New York City and going to a lot of Broadway shows. I started attending and working at a theater camp in the summer and really grew in love with helping others and working with younger kids, which led me to think about becoming a theater teacher. What drove me to education was the drive for equity and having really good educators that supported me throughout my career as a student, so I wanted to give back and ensure that other students had opportunity. I completed my dissertation in March 2025, which was something I wanted to do for a long time and was really passionate about. I'm an aspiring school principal and hope to have my own building within the next 5 years. I'm also currently working on taking my dissertation to submit it to a peer review journal.
• Doctorate (completed dissertation March 2025)
• College degree (graduated 2008)
• Doctorate (completed March 2025)
• Completed dissertation March 2025
• Teaching dance once a week
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Education is a profession about heart because people go into education because they want to work with youth and do good for the youth. I think it's important to create a system and a community within your school or outside of school to support you with that, to ensure that you have what you need in order to be successful. I also really believe in balancing self-care, because we ask a lot of educators, more so, and we continue to put more pressure on them, so just finding ways to ensure that you have self-care and are able to take care of yourself, because if your cup is not full, you're not able to give to others.
Locations
District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)
Washington, DC