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Sharon Brumbaugh

Sharon Brumbaugh is a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Education at the Pennsylvania Department of Education.  In that role, she provides leadership for the Pennsylvania Inspired Leadership Program, a statewide continuing professional education program for school and system leaders.   Prior to joining the Department in 2005, she was the Manager of Leadership Programs for the Education Policy and Leadership Center, where she coordinated the Pennsylvania Education Policy Fellowship Program and other leadership initiatives. 

Sharon has done evaluation and program design work for the national Policymakers' Program, which was a collaborative effort of the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Governors Association, the Education Commission of the States, and the Danforth Foundation. She previously worked as a consultant with school districts and community organizations as a trainer and facilitator for new board member orientation, board development, team building, conflict resolution, organizational change, and strategic planning.

Brumbaugh has a broad range of experience in the public and private sector. She has served as the project director for the Pennsylvania Head Start - State Collaboration Project, as Director of Inservice Education for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, and as Director of the Bureau of Communication in the Department of the Auditor General. She also has held various management positions in advertising and personnel at the Centre Daily Times, a Knight-Ridder newspaper located in State College, PA.

Her practical experience in education policy, governance and leadership was gained through her 14-year tenure as a local school board member. During that time, she served on the executive board of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and was president of PSBA in 1989. Sharon has served on a number of state boards and commissions including the Pennsylvania Professional Standards and Practices Commission, the Re:Learning Advisory Committee, and the Governor's Schools Cooperation Committee.

At the national level, Sharon was involved with some of the initial efforts to examine and transform school governance and to strengthen the role of policymakers in school reform. In 1990, she was selected by the Education Commission of the States and the National School Boards Association as one of six school board members in the nation who joined six state legislators on a Panel on Policy Options for Restructuring Education. In 1992, Sharon served as a member of the Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on School Governance. She also has been on the national faculty for the Coalition of Essential Schools.