Carlos Espinosa

I hold a History and Latin-American Studies degree from California State University, Los Angeles, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Alabama, I hold a valid and current California K-12 BCLAD Teaching Credential and educational leadership courses at PTC’s certification center in Miami. I have been in the field for more than twenty-five years, in which I have taught from first to twelfth grade both in Ecuador and in Los Angeles. I have over 7 years of administrative management experience here in Quito.

As part of my administrative experience, I have led teams managing all instructional needs, the development of curriculum and decisions on purchases of curricular material or series and testing programs that best suit the children’s needs. All these decisions must always be data and research-based, according to the latest educational research available. I have also managed to have a strong culture of professionalism, understanding the fine line between friendship and professional etiquette. Furthermore, I have been involved in the decision making to provide the best available training and resources, as our results can only be as good as the quality of teachers we have and train. A portion of this experience I owe to the time I was the MATH/SCIENCE coordinator for the preschool, primary and part of the middle school sections at one of the most prestigious schools in Quito.

In regards to traditional administrative tasks, I have experience managing budgets, textbook and materials orders. I have overseen the management of academic records, which need to be regularly reported to the ministry of education as well as meeting and complying with many of the other Ministry of Education requirements, including the processing of serious discipline cases.  

As far as international certifications, I was the Primary Principal at a very reputable school and managed the PYP together with the academic coordinator. Furthermore, at another school as the General Director, I oversaw the successful and rigorous re-certification of the International Baccalaureate ́s PYP and MYP programs, leading an outstanding team of professionals, this process was based on a yearlong plan which included a professional development plan, community surveys, investments in infrastructure/technology and teaching materials, and curricular work, among many other requirements. 

Furthermore, I have led my current institution through a Ministerio of Education intervention and audit, passing with a "green" grade, the highest in the scale. Furthermore, I also lead the effort to have our bilingual program certified by the Ministerio, raising the English teaching load to 40% of the weekly curricular load. Besides this, I also implemented extracurricular activities, changing the base texts, started the digitization of our library, changed the student/parent information software, among other innovations.