Susan K. Sparks

Susan K. Sparks is an educational consultant and longtime education leader who has served as a teacher, staff developer, and executive director, with extensive experience supporting professional learning communities (PLCs), collaborative teaming, and standards-based education. She worked in four Colorado Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and retired as executive director of the Front Range BOCES for Teacher Leadership, serving 19 metro-area school districts and the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver. Her areas of expertise include consensus building, decision making, contract negotiations, conflict resolution, strategic planning, and professional learning communities, and she is known as a results-based facilitator who helps teams improve collaboration and student achievement.

Sparks is a coauthor of How Schools Thrive: Building a Coaching Culture for Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work®, as well as other PLC-related resources focused on coaching collaborative teams and strengthening professional learning communities. She provides professional development and facilitation for school districts, nonprofits, and community organizations, specializing in conflict management and collaborative teaming. Sparks earned a Bachelor of Arts and teaching certification from Western State College of Colorado and a Master of Arts and administrative license from the University of Northern Colorado.