About

Dr. Michael J. De Sousa

Michael is the son of Azorean immigrants, Gisela Paz and Jose Antonio. He was the first in his family to attend and graduate college. Since then, Michael has remained committed to building equitable schools and communities. Michael has spent the past 22 years as a teacher, school leader, leadership coach, community organizer, executive leader, and researcher. Michael loves music, cooking, and hiking with his wife and three children in the Oakland hills.

Experience
and Expertise

  • 10 Years as Principal at Award Winning Schools

    Professional Development & Instructional Coaching

    Purposeful School Culture & Project Based Learning

    College & Career Access and Pathways

    Personalized Learning & Data Driven Instruction

    School Redesign and Innovation for Equity

    Systematic and Structured Literacy and Math

  • Leadership Support Program: UC Berkeley

    Leading for Equity & Liberatory Design: National Equity Project

    Art of Coaching: Elena Aguilar

    Design Thinking: Stanford d.school

    Leadership & Standards Institute: UnboundEd

    Principal Fellowship: New Leaders for New Schools

  • Community-Led Design Processes

    Chief of Staff for “Literacy for All” Campaign

    Chief Program Officer at The Oakland REACH

    Family Leadership Development and Fellowships

    Design and Lead: Community Literacy Center

    Focus Groups, Surveys, and Outreach

  • Multilingual First Generation College Graduate (BS and MS)

    EdD in Educational Leadership for Social Justice

    Critical Pedagogy & Dialogical Instruction

    History of Education & Leadership Studies

    White Racial Identity Development & Antiracism

    Critical Discourse Analysis & Critical Theory