Kimberly is a global researcher and practitioner in inquiry-based instruction. In addition to founding Inquiry Partners, she is the author of Experience Inquiry and advisor to Curiosities AI. She is also an enthusiastic supporter of philosophy in the classroom (P4C) and Ethics Bowl.
In her over 30 years in education, she’s held a variety of leadership roles. She was a full-time lecturer at the University of Washington's College of Education, a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Director of Partner Engagement for Teach For All in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Kimberly was also Vice Principal at Chief Sealth, an International Baccalaureate high school in Seattle, WA and Elementary Principal at American Community School in Athens, Greece, where she led the successful launch of the International Baccalaureate (IB) PYP program in 1998. Kimberly started her career with Teach for America (TFA) in 1991 as a corps member in Compton, CA. After TFA, she continued teaching in Compton before teaching and interning with school leaders at Colegio Americano in Quito, Ecuador and Hollenbeck Middle School in East Los Angeles.
Kimberly is the past Chair of the International Baccalaureate Americas Regional Council and an Honorary Chair of the Ambassadors Board at the University of Washington College of Education. She holds a BA from Skidmore College in Philosophy and Intellectual History and an MA from Stanford University in Administration and Policy Analysis.
From the beginning, this work has been deeply collaborative.
My first partner, award-winning teacher and Teachers United executive, Erin Gustafson, helped to develop our early workshop models, film inquiry in action, and connect with school districts. Tech-savvy entrepreneur, Amy Satin Spinelli, later joined to help build new technologies that allow teachers to collect data and refine their question-asking practice.
Kimberly with one of her Comparative International Education classes at the University of Washington
I was lucky to partner with Maggie Chumbley who introduced me to Liberating Structures. International School of Portland teacher, Paola Gagliardo, led the translation and publication of my book Experience Inquiry into Spanish (La Experiencia de la Indagación) and co-facilitated workshops in South America. Namu Kulkarni brought early learning expertise into our work and expanded opportunities to work in Southeast Asia. Kath Murdoch and Trevor MacKenzie are longtime close partners and collaborators.