Project Description
Thomas Rochowicz
Principal, Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School
Manhattan, New York
Fellow
Thomas Rochowicz is the Principal of Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School, a district school serving Grades Pre-K-12 in New York City. Serving as school leader for almost 1,000 students across 14 grades, Tom deeply believes in building the capacity of the many teacher leaders and teams that work collectively to know students well and improve their academic and social-emotional outcomes. In his time as Principal, WHEELS added Grades 1-5, achieved a 90% graduation rate for the Classes of 2019 and 2020, and improved their college readiness index from 41% to 76%, 19% above the city average.
Tom loves learning about continuous improvement and organizational change, and his most urgent learning edge is how to be an anti-racist educator and school leader. Previously, he taught at an elementary school in California as a 2004 Teach For America Corps Member and at a middle school in Brooklyn. He taught High School Social Studies for five years at WHEELS and served in several teacher-leader positions. He achieved National Board Certification in 2012 and received the 2014 Teach For America Alumni Award for Excellence.
He earned his BA in History and Philosophy from Boston College and his MA from Fordham University, where he studied social movements in an interdisciplinary program.
He lives with his wife, Courtney, and two sons, Everett, 3, and Quinn, 6 months, in New York City.
Grace Dircz
Assistant Principal, Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School
Manhattan, New York
ALLY
Grace Dircz is a teacher leader at Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School (WHEELS) in New York City. She grew up in Minnesota where activism and the arts were an integral part of her daily life. With the desire to work towards a more equitable society, Grace launched her career in 2013 and joined Teach for America.
Grace holds an M.S. in Early Childhood General and Special Education with a Bilingual Extension from Hunter and Queens Colleges. Grace’s philosophy of education is built on three pillars: explicit anti-bias curriculum, Dual Language programming, and Project-Based Learning. Grace promotes bilingual education as a powerful force for social justice in protest of a history of assimilationist practices in the U.S. Grace believes that educators must empower students to engage in authentic and meaningful civic action.
As a member of the Instructional Leadership Team at WHEELS, Grace facilitates weekly Professional Development and coaching for the lower grades to build teacher capacity and expertise. She is particularly proud of the reflective and collaborative culture that she has helped to foster amongst her colleagues. Her routine use of peer feedback protocols has supported teachers across grades to adopt a mindset of continuous improvement and accountability. This has resulted in measurable growth of teacher effectiveness and particularly supported their ability to meet students’ academic and social-emotional needs.
Grace hopes to increase her impact in the field of education by pursuing her degree in School Building Leadership in the near future.