Cynthia O’Brien is a Teach Plus Illinois Teaching Policy Fellow. She is a veteran 5th grade, self-contained teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Maywood, Illinois. Cynthia serves on the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) committee, as an Illinois Math and Science Academy Fusion teacher, and as the school’s technology facilitator. Cynthia holds leadership roles in her local union as the membership chair and serves on the Region 29 counsel as the ethnic minority representative. She is also the founder and lead consultant of Push Smarter Educational Solutions Inc., an organization dedicated to equipping teachers and administrators with the tools they need to positively engage all members of their school community in order to raise student achievement. She is a five-time IEA School and Community Outreach by Educators grant recipient, a published author, and a 2016 ASCD Emerging Leader. Cynthia holds a BS in Elementary Education from Loyola University of Chicago and a MA in Administration and Supervision from Saint Xavier’s University in Chicago.
