PROFILE

Becki Cohn-Vargas, Ed.D., is the co-author, with Dorothy Steele, of Identity Safe Classrooms Grades K-5: Places to Belong and Learn. In August 2020, Identity Safe Classrooms Grades 6-12 will be released by Corwin Press. She designs curriculum, coaches schools, and produces films for Teaching Tolerance, Edutopia, Not In Our Town, and other educational organizations. She presents internationally at conferences and provides professional development in schools and districts. Dr. Cohn-Vargas began her 35-year career in early childhood education in Sonoma County, California. She lived abroad for five years where she did earthquake relief at a hospital in the Guatemalan Highlands and produced educational films for the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education. She returned to California and worked as a teacher and principal in Oakland, curriculum director in Palo Alto, and as superintendent of a small district in San Jose. In each setting, she focused on educational equity and effective strategies for diverse populations. Dr. Cohn-Vargas and her husband live in El Sobrante, California, and have three adult children and one newborn grandchild.