Abdullah Issaq

Growing up in San Jose, California, as the child of Afghan refugees, Abdullah was instilled with the values of charity and service. This first led him to pursue politics and law in college, but later, after spending six months in Zambia teaching 4th graders, Abdullah fell in love with education work. He returned to the U.S., where he received his master’s in education and began a nine-year career as a public school teacher.

As a high school Social Studies teacher in South San Jose, Abdullah strived to build meaningful connections with his students and nurture their passions and curiosity.

Along with his work as a classroom teacher, Abdullah has worked as an organizer over the years on various local, state, and federal campaigns and is currently completing an Executive MPA program at NYU.

Abdullah joined E4E because his experience as a teacher in working-class neighborhoods made him witness the impact of bad policies on vulnerable student populations and how they often put teachers in impossible situations. He believes that the best way to build an education system that works for all students and teachers is to give educators a voice in creating policy.