Claire Schu

Claire grew up in West Michigan, and developed an interest in education policy and systems when she began to recognize inequitable access to resources and funding among schools. As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, she studied social movements around the world and joined local labor organizing efforts, ultimately choosing public education as the field she believed offered the clearest lever for advancing equity and social justice. She began her career in the classroom, teaching 7th and 8th grade humanities in Texas and later in Massachusetts, before earning a master’s degree in social work from the University of Chicago.

Claire went on to serve as a manager in the Office of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) within Chicago Public Schools, then expanded her focus to national and international settings as senior manager of SEL implementation at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). In that role, she shaped professional learning experiences, facilitated collaborative networks of educators, and built a comprehensive library of tools and examples to help schools and districts lead systemic approaches to social and emotional learning and school climate improvement.

Through her work in the field of SEL, Claire came to recognize the central role that workplace climate, relationships, and professional support play in school improvement — and that delivering on the promise of public education requires a teaching profession that is fulfilling, respected, fairly compensated, and protected from burnout. This conviction led her to E4E, where she works from the belief that teachers hold the experience and insight needed to design and implement education policy that is effective, sustainable, and replicable.