Rodel announces expansion of leadership team
Rodel, a longtime leader in convening cross-sector partners and connecting good ideas to resources for public education, has expanded its team.
Rodel recently announced the promotion of Kia Johnson to vice president, where she will lead efforts to support and diversify the current and future teacher workforce. Also, the organization welcomes Luke Rhine as vice president to lead the group’s work on career pathways and postsecondary success.
Johnson joined Rodel in August 2023 with broad expertise in curriculum, instructional leadership and culturally responsive education. As program director, she drove efforts to diversify the educator workforce and expand career pathways. In January, she was promoted to lead Rodel’s programmatic strategy.
Rhine previously held leadership roles in the U.S. Department of Education and the Delaware Department of Education, focusing on economic mobility by bridging education, workforce and economic systems.
In the Biden-Harris administration, he served as acting assistant secretary for the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education in the U.S. Department of Education, overseeing policy, grants and strategy for career and technical education, adult education, correctional education, and community and technical colleges. In Delaware, he served as the associate secretary for workforce support and director for career and technical education and STEM education at the Delaware Department of Education, leading initiatives like Delaware Pathways.
Rodel’s vision is “an excellent and equitable public education system that supports all Delawareans to achieve success and life.” To that end, it focuses on four key issue areas: early childhood education, funding and equity, postsecondary success, and educator support and development.
Rodel’s contributions have led to positive outcomes in the two areas where Johnson and Rhine will focus. In postsecondary success, Delaware today has 30,000+ students (comprising 65 percent of the states’ high schoolers) enrolled in Delaware Pathways, an initiative Rodel co-founded in 2015. The program has recently grown to include middle grades students, where 5,500 students are now benefiting from career exploration pilots launched in 10 middle schools.
Rodel has supported educators by strengthening the state’s teacher residency program, an immersive training approach that empowers soon-to-be educators. Likewise, the organization has seeded affinity spaces statewide, creating supporting environments for more than 200 teachers of color.
