Champaign Unit 4 School District

At the October 9th Board of Education meeting, the Board appointed Ms. Cynthia Watson as the Director of School Improvement.

Ms. Watson began her career in education in August 2011 when she joined Teach for America as a Second Grade Teacher and later as a High School Social Studies Teacher at Fall Creek Academy in Indianapolis, IN. After two years, she joined Distinctive Schools in Chicago, IL when she accepted a position as a Social Studies and Language Arts Teacher. In August 2014, Ms. Watson accepted a position as a Language Arts Teacher at Amandla Charter School in Chicago, IL. In January 2018, she joined Butler College Prep in Chicago, IL as a Gifted Coordinator and Teacher. Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, Ms. Watson joined Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and has served there for the past four years. During this time, she has served as an Assistant Principal and Resident Principal, and most recently as an MTSS Instructional Support Lead. She will leave this position to join Unit 4 Schools.

Ms. Watson has other related experience as Director/Founder at It Takes a Village Community Initiatives (August 2014-January 2018), Mentor at Golden Apple Foundation (February 2020-present), and Manager of Mentoring at Golden Apple Foundation (May 2022-November 2022).

In her current role, Ms. Watson coaches Principals and their leadership teams at 25 schools in CPS. She has other prior experience providing mentorship and coaching for adults in a variety of settings. She also brings extensive knowledge of multi-tiered systems of support for students and a passion for ensuring that each student has what they need to thrive.

Ms. Watson holds a Bachelor of Science in History, with a minor in Secondary Education, from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2011) and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Marian University (2013). She is currently enrolled at the University of Illinois, Chicago doctoral program in Educational Leadership and anticipates completion of her doctorate in May 2024.

We are excited to welcome her to the Unit 4 family!