Lisa Arrastia

Lisa Arrastía has been teaching and leading creative educational programs in independent, public, and charter schools for almost 20 years. She is the middle school principal at United Nations International School, and the founder and former director of City as Classroom School in Chicago. Currently a candidate for the Ph.D. in American studies at University of Minnesota, her research interests are the contemporary education economy, the iconographies of difference in education, and the geography of education. Lisa has won several teaching and research awards, among them an American Association of University Women and a New Leaders for New Schools fellowship. Her work in the classroom is the focus of an Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, Making the Grade. Originally from New York City, Lisa lives in New York City with her husband Mark Nowak and their 10-year-old daughter.