Cheryl Fondren

Cheryl Fondren

Cheryl Fondren has more than 30 years of experience in education as a teacher, reading coach, and administrator. Specializing in the transformation of high-poverty schools, she has successfully led school improvement efforts.

Cheryl currently serves as the executive director of Success by 6 at the United Way of West Alabama, where she supports early school success. She has served as a teacher, reading coach, assistant middle school principal, and elementary principal. In addition, she served as the preK coordinator and school improvement specialist for the Tuscaloosa City Schools and director of federal programs for the Tuscaloosa County School System. In these roles, Cheryl has led professional development in reading, writing, and response to intervention strategies for preK–12 teachers. Emphasizing the importance of common goals, research-based instructional practices, and formative assessments, she has helped schools transform their culture while increasing student achievement.

Cheryl received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary and early childhood education from the University of Montevallo. She earned an educational specialist degree in early childhood and a PhD in curriculum and instruction at the University of Alabama, where she studied the literacy success of high-poverty students.

Presentations by Cheryl Fondren

• Celebrating Our Strengths: Recognizing Our Role in the Schoolwide Team
• Using Assessments to Guide Instruction
• Somewhere in the Middle: Teaching Content-Area Reading in Grades 5–8
• Understanding the Reading-Writing Connection
• Understanding and Using Informational Text
• Meeting the Needs of Struggling Readers
• Creating Supportive Early Literacy Environments
• The Power of Re-reading
• Using Visuals to Strengthen Comprehension
• Navigating the MTSS Process: Ensuring High Levels of Learning for All Students
• Diving Deep Into Our Data
• Best Practices for Tiered Intervention