Christine Mason

Christine Mason

Christine Mason, PhD, is the founder and executive director of the Center for Educational Improvement, an assistant clinical professor of psychology at Yale University, and the co-principal investigator of the Compassionate School Leadership Academy. An educational psychologist, researcher, and entrepreneur, Dr. Mason is the lead author of six books on topics related to mindfulness, student well-being, and school leadership. Two of those books, coauthored with Michele Rivers Murphy and Yvette Jackson, are published by Solution Tree: Mindfulness Practices: Cultivating Heart Centered Communities Where Students Focus and Flourish (2018) and Mindful School Communities: The Five Cs of Nurturing Heart Centered Learning (2020). She is also cohost of the Cultivating Resilience: Whole Community Approach for Alleviating Trauma in Schools podcast.

Dr. Mason’s career has centered on school leadership, uplifting schools, and increasing compassion in schools. She has served as a professor in special education, and from 1987 to 2014 as director of research and professional development for several national organizations, as well as serving as the interim principal at a private boarding school in northern India in 2009. Since 2017, she has collaborated with colleagues at Yale University and its Region 1 Mental Health Technology Transfer Center in addressing the mental health and psychological safety of children and youth in schools.

Earlier in her career, Christine chaired early childhood conferences, taught early childhood special education courses, and supervised early childhood preservice teachers and graduate students. Her work in equity is also enhanced by experience as a resource room teacher at Glasgow Middle School in Alexandria, Virginia, which served students from 80 countries, as well as her doctoral research in Columbus; school improvement work in DC, Columbus, and Cleveland; leadership of professional learning for a DC-based Transition to Teaching project; and leadership of a US Department of Education early childhood research initiative that served over 80 percent of the charter schools in high-poverty areas of the capital.

Presentations by Christine Mason

• Trauma, Mindfulness, and Heart-Centered Learning
• Resilience, Grit, and Improving Cognition and Academic Achievement
• 21st Century Visioning, Planning, and Implementation for School Leaders and Their Teams
• Bullying Prevention through Heart-Centered Education
• Analyzing and Building Compassionate School Communities