Shannon D. Holder

Shannon D. Holder is an educator and equity-focused school leader with nearly thirty years of experience in PreK–12 education, having served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, manager, and specialist in family engagement, as well as senior manager of equity and student conduct. Her leadership roles include founding principal positions at a secondary alternative school and an elementary public charter school, and she currently leads Onyx Equity Consulting as CEO, partnering with schools to build inclusive, culturally responsive environments. Holder is the author of The Encyclopedia of Educational Equity: A Resource for Dialogue and Impactful Change, a reference work offering more than 650 terms, concepts, and strategies to support productive equity-focused conversations in education.

Holder teaches as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and continues to work in the public-school system. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Virginia State University, a master’s degree in education leadership from George Mason University, and a doctorate in Educational Policy and Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Diversity and Equity from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. In addition, she has authored two children’s books and has presented at local, national, and international conferences on topics including equitable family engagement, equity in education, discipline disparities, and colorism in schools.