Joanne J. McEachen

Joanne J. McEachen is a global education expert, celebrated author, speaker, and change leader whose work focuses on deep learning, educational assessment, and student well-being. Of Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe, and Ngāi Tahu descent from Aotearoa New Zealand, she has more than three decades of experience as a teacher, principal, and national Ministry of Education leader, and later as a system-change leader working with schools and districts around the world. In 2012 she founded The Learner First, a global education consultancy initially based in Seattle, Washington, through which she has supported school systems in assessment, measurement, and whole-system change, particularly by viewing systems through the eyes of their least-served learners.

McEachen is a co‑founder of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) and has served as its Global New Measures Director, helping develop and measure deep learning competencies such as the “6Cs.” With NPDL cofounders Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn, she co‑authored Deep Learning: Engage the World Change the World, which shares and celebrates deep learning practices emerging from schools worldwide. She has also established the **Kia Kotahi Ako Charitable Trust