Ms. Starzynski serves as counsel to a wide array of state education policy leaders, not-for-profit organizations and associations, private-sector education providers, foundations, education innovators, and others. From articulation of a broad-based vision to strategy development, gap analysis, policy drafting, process management, technical assistance, and execution, Ms. Starzynski combines process "know how" with a deep knowledge of the education sector at the federal, state, and local levels to help clients meet their education goals.
Ms. Starzynski's experience encompasses many dimensions of standards-based reform, including the development of robust and fair accountability systems, the promotion of effective high school reform strategies, the development of better models regarding state-to-district interventions, work to strengthen teacher and administrator quality, and strategies to expand options for students such as charter schools, supplemental educational services, and alternative school models.
As chief operating officer for the Georgia Department of Education, Ms. Starzynski led the state’s implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, working with members of Congress and educational officials to negotiate points of flexibility, ensure alignment with state law, and help use the new federal requirements to further state educational goals. She also oversaw the development and implementation of strategic plans for constituent relations, communications and crisis management.
Ms. Starzynski served as as a senior policy and communications advisor to Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia during his first two terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and, prior to that, in a number of state-level roles. She also served as vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a leading state-based think tank and a pioneer in expanding education accountability in Georgia. In addition, she has a unique mix of international law experience and experience, including work for KPMG Poland in Warsaw, where she advised clients entering the Eastern European market at a time of tremendous growth, and an international law fellowship at Silesian University in Katowice, Poland.
She earned her Juris Doctor from the Georgia State University College of Law, completing courses also at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Georgia.