Dr. Kristan Rodriguez is the owner of Commonwealth Consulting Agency, LLC and has been a professional development provider for over 20 years. Dr. Rodriguez specializes in the application of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in the field of educational leadership and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). Other consulting areas include strategy development, administrator mentoring and coaching; data-based decision making; tiered literacy, acceleration, IB, and educator evaluation.Prior to becoming a full time consultant, as a result of her leadership on UDL and co-teaching in her district, students made unprecedented growth. Her work was highlighted in a Massachusetts state case study. Much of this work was outlined in the book she co-wrote with Dr. Novak, Universally Designed Leadership (CAST, 2016), which was ranked in the top 50 for books in her category on Amazon. Kristan spent the majority of her career serving students and staff in public education. She has been a classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator, assistant principal, principal, curriculum director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent of schools. Kristan spent her childhood living and learning all over the world. From Europe to Africa to Asia, she attended many prestigious American and international schools across the globe. This experience gave her great insight into the value of global perspectives and the importance of collaboration and community. This work translated into a project that earned her the Ansin Intercultural Research Award from Boston University. Kristan moved to Boston, Massachusetts while attending university and lived in the Commonwealth with her husband for over 20 years. There she received three college degrees, raised her three sons, and had a successful career in public education. Recently, Dr. Rodriguez and her husband moved to the Eastern coast of Puerto Rico to support the island and be close to family.
Dr. Rodriguez spends much of her time developing practical tools and guidance. For example, she authored an Educator Preparation Partnership Roadmap (2017) to help diversify our workforce, the UDL Progression Rubric (2018) to support evidence-based educator practice, the Multi Tiered Systems of Support Blueprint (2019) to support systemic change, and the MTSS Toolkit (2020) to support school and district implementation. Recently, she co-authored the Leadership Implementation Guide for Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning (2021).
