Ava Javid

Ava Javid has been working in STEM Education and Teacher Development for over 16 years across the United States in a teaching and professional development capacity.

In that time, she worked to increase equity in access and equity in outcomes among students in her rigorous science teaching practice. She saw the impact a great teacher has on student learning, and became passionate about teacher development and retention with a special focus on retention of teachers of color like herself who do not always benefit from the dominant cultures of school both as a student and as a teacher.

Ava currently supervises student teachers completing their teacher certification, and most recently served as the Director of Admissions and Recruitment at Math for America, a NYC based non-profit that builds community among accomplished STEM teachers through participation in a fellowship program offering collaboration and professional learning opportunities. Ava has studied and supported anti-bias teacher education at Teachers College, Columbia University while mentoring teaching residents and supervising student teachers. She previously taught Biology and Environmental science in Brooklyn, NY and Redwood City, CA, where she spent two years as an MƒA Berkeley Master Teacher in Science.

Ava earned her B.S in Psychobiology from UCLA and her M.A and Ed.D. in Science Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her expertise and thesis work is in STEM teacher induction, retention, and identity.

Ava is inspired by the anti-bias work Roots ConnectED is doing for families and teachers, and sees it as a lever for creating lasting change in school systems.