After receiving her Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s of Arts degrees in English and secondary education from the University of Connecticut, Rebecca has taught at both the middle and high school levels. She was her district’s nominee for the state’s beginning teacher of the year award, and was also recognized for excellence in team teaching by the Connecticut Association of Middle School Principals. Her professional experiences have included teaching English and language arts in both suburban and urban settings. As an educator, she has been cited for her creative and non-traditional approach to meeting the social, emotional, and academic needs of all children. Rebecca’s teaching career has included educating the most talented as well as the most challenged students. Beyond her classroom experiences, Rebecca developed and implemented an innovative alternative educational program specifically designed to meet the needs of students who have met with repeated failure or incarceration. As the architect of this inventive program, she was successfully able to reach those students who had otherwise been abandoned by society. Her expertise in developing and implementing systems of intervention and prevention at the classroom level translates into great academic and behavioral success for her students. Rebecca has written and edited documents for a variety of national organizations, including revising the curriculum for the Amer-I-Can program, which was founded and run by football Hall-of-Famer, Jim Brown. She has also contributed to the expansion of the Amer-I-Can program to schools in England, and has worked to redesign the curriculum to meet the needs of those students.
Rebecca has written various articles on student engagement and leadership, and has co-authored a book on strategies for effective principal leadership. Most recently, she developed a multi-stage student leadership development program called iLead 21, which is currently being used in schools in America, England, Austria, and Africa.
Rebecca’s unwavering dedication to children and education continues in her work with The Abbas Project, a nonprofit she and her husband, Dr. Steve Edwards, co-founded in 2011, which supports schools in the slums of Kenya. For more information on Rebecca’s work and career, please contact her at: rebecca@edwardsedservices.com.