Our Story

Ann McKay Bryson is the co-author of the Devereux Student Strength Assessment Strategy Guide and serves as a CASEL district consultant working with the Oakland Unified School District in California and the Washoe County School District in Nevada. As an SEL Professional Learning Specialist, her particular areas of focus include building and supporting Trauma-Informed educational communities, expanding SEL development, and leveraging formative and summative assessments for developing student capacity.

In her 32 years with the Anchorage School District, Ann followed two decades as a classroom and Special Education teacher at both the elementary and secondary levels with twelve years of providing professional development for teachers, administrators and school staffs. She collaboratively led ASD’s SEL standards-based assessment project and developed the professional learning support network that underpins the delivery of their evidence-based SEL program.
Ann designed and oversaw ASD’s multi-year research project on Second Order Change, partnering with CITC (Cook Inlet Tribal Council), the Devereux Center for Resilient Children, NCBI (National Coalition Building Institute), and AIR (American Institutes for Research), highlighting student academic and school community benefits resulting from a focus on SEL development.

Ann serves as an Adjunct at University of Alaska, Anchorage, providing a wide array of courses including SEL Professional Inquiry, SEL-Based Principal Leadership, Mentoring and Induction, and Trauma-Aware Effective Teaching Practices. She served two terms as National Writing Project Board Chair for the Alaska State Writing Consortium. Ann co-facilitates SEL professional development nationally and has presented national conferences, including AERA (American Educational Research Association) in 2008, 2010 and 2014.