Elizabeth Kastiel currently serves as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Dallas Teacher Residency. Prior to her current work with DTR, Elizabeth was the Principal of Dallas ISD’s L.G. Pinkston High School, located in West Dallas.
Before becoming the Principal of LG Pinkston High School and Co-Founding Dallas Teacher Residency, Elizabeth served as the Campus Director for Uplift Education’s, Heights Preparatory – a K-12 Charter School located in West Dallas. At Heights, Elizabeth led the middle school, and also founded and opened the primary school.
Prior to joining Uplift Education, Elizabeth served as the founding Principal of LEARN South Chicago Campus, a K-8 Charter School part of the LEARN Charter School Network, located in Chicago, IL. Elizabeth was instrumental in the design and launch of this school, directly overseeing the recruitment and selection of teachers and school leadership, recruitment of students, and management of campus financials. Elizabeth has also worked with Chicago Public Schools and was the founding Assistant Principal of Tarkington School of Excellence, an AUSL turnaround school on the city’s southwest side.
Additionally, Elizabeth has worked for Urban Teacher Residency United (UTRU), an organization which partners with aspiring teacher residency programs nationally in order to assist them with their program development during the start-up process. In this context, Elizabeth worked closely with and helped launch teacher residency programs in Denver, Memphis, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia. Elizabeth has also worked as an instructional coach, reading specialist, and teacher – where she has taught kindergarten, third, and sixth grade.
In addition to her work with Dallas Teacher Residency, Elizabeth is an Adjunct Professor at The University of North Texas at Dallas, where she teaches courses in the Education Department at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Elizabeth received her BA from University of Wisconsin Madison and her Masters in Educational Leadership from University of San Diego. She received her Administrative training and school administration certification through LAUNCH, a program aimed at developing urban educational leaders, run through the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Elizabeth is also part of the South Dallas WINS Coalition task force and was selected as part of the inaugural Latino Center for Leadership Development class.
