We are pleased to have Dr. Darlene von Behren join our firm as a consultant for school improvement and a new category of service, Cultural Competence training.
Darlene von Behren, Ed. D., has broad and diverse public education administration leadership capacities in both Canada and the United States. She is a trained and experienced teacher, mediator, counselor and facilitator, and most recently, an assistant superintendent for human resources for the third largest school district in Illinois. Her coaching style is based on building trusting, authentic and honest relationships. This is achieved through deep, reflective listening, empathy, and honoring the individual’s experiences.
She has served as an Assistant Superintendent in two of the three largest school districts in Illinois, both in K-12 and preK-8. In Canada she served as a Chief Financial Officer for the seventh largest school district in British Columbia, Canada. She has taught at all education levels; elementary- multi-age, middle and high school curriculum for at risk youth and adult education. She created the program template for Teen Mother’s Programs for Canada and was the founder of Adult Education in Surrey, British Columbia.
Dr. von Behren’s focus in education is primarily facilitating and coaching education leadership, teachers, indigenous and minority populations and developing instructional design. Her recent dissertation demonstrated the profound impact of intercultural training on new teachers in developing their intercultural competence. Her study on the impact of intercultural training on new teachers is the first experimental design study using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) in public education. She is also a qualified (IDI) administrator. In addition, she facilitated Personal LeadershipÒ to whole schools, senior administration, principals, teachers and support staff. Most recently, presenting to a ‘focus’ school as part of their beginning of the school year. As a senior facilitator for Personal Leadership SeminarsÒ she coaches individuals locally and internationally in intercultural communications and the Personal Leadership framework through technology.
Her passion is building relationships in a collaborative process; to guide individuals, public and private organizations, to make sense of the internal and external conflicts they face. This includes developing personal leadership skills (vision statements) in a diverse workplace as the world becomes a more global entity.
