BCSL Team
Professor of Educational Leadership Lynda and Robert Copple Endowed Chair in Christian School Leadership Co-Executive Director of the Baylor Center for School Leadership
Professor of Educational Leadership Lynda and Robert Copple Endowed Chair in Christian School Leadership Co-Executive Director of the Baylor Center for School Leadership
Dr. Eckert came to Baylor in 2019 with more than two decades of experience in education. He provides academic leadership for the Center and is program director for Baylor’s MA in School Leadership. He began his career as a teacher and coach of intermediate and middle school students outside of Chicago and Nashville for 12 years. After completing his doctorate at Vanderbilt University in 2008, he was selected as a Teaching Ambassador Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education, where he worked in both the Bush and Obama administrations on teaching quality issues. For ten years, he prepared teachers at Wheaton College.
His research interests include collective leadership, teaching effectiveness, evaluation and strategic compensation to enhance that effectiveness, and science education. Over the past decade, he has written and worked on grants of more than $300 million with schools and districts across the U.S. Dr. Eckert has conducted research for the U.S. Department of Education, the Carnegie Foundation, the National Network of State Teachers of the Year, the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, and the Center for Teaching Quality.
He is the author of The Novice Advantage: Fearless Practice for Every Teacher (Corwin, 2016) and Leading Together: Teachers and Principals Improving Student Outcomes (Corwin, 2018), book chapters, numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Educational Administration Quarterly, Professional Development in Education, and Education Policy Analysis Archives, and practitioner publications such as Education Week and Phi Delta Kappan. He has written and presented white papers on Capitol Hill and the National Press Club and has been invited to present all over the U.S. and as far away as Muscat, Oman, at a G8-Broader Middle East Summit for education ministers.
Professor and Department Chair of Educational Leadership Co-Executive Director of the Baylor Center for School Leadership
Professor and Department Chair of Educational Leadership Co-Executive Director of the Baylor Center for School Leadership
Bill Sterrett, Ph.D., joined Baylor in 2022 as Department Chair and Professor of Educational Leadership. I am a former principal who served in Charlottesville, Virginia and then moved to North Carolina to serve as a professor of educational leadership at UNC-Wilmington. I have researched and written about innovation in school leadership, time management, green and sustainable schools, and have led several collaborative grant efforts focused on leadership. In my role as Co-Executive Director at the BCSL, I work with Jon Eckert, Ed.D., and the BCSL team in supporting school leaders through professional development and collaborative grant work focused on helping leaders make their learning communities better
Senior Director
Senior Director
Jill joined the Baylor Center for School Leadership (BCSL) team in June 2023. With a background in marketing, communications and development, Jill loves to see the impact that authentically engaging with an audience has on growing and strengthening relationships between an organization and its constituents. Jill sees herself as a storyteller with the great opportunity to share the incredible work that Baylor is doing to make a positive impact in the world for future generations.
Jill has served at Baylor University since 2017. She began her career at Baylor as the Director of Marketing and Communications in the School of Engineering and Computer Science. Before serving at the BCSL, Jill helped to build support for Baylor in the Southeast as a Regional Associate Director of Development. In these roles, Jill had the privilege of bringing visibility to Baylor’s incredible programs.
Prior to Baylor, Jill served in public relations and marketing roles for ACH Child and Family Services in Fort Worth, TX, the City of Robinson, and Methodist Children’s Home in Waco, TX. Jill earned her earned her Executive MBA from Baylor in 2020, the Accreditation in Public Relations certification in 2015, and her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baylor in 2006.
As Senior Director for the Center for School Leadership, Jill is excited to work alongside the team to enhance awareness of the BCSL’s research, professional learning events and improvement communities among educators worldwide.
Marrs McLean Science Building
Office 117
Director of Networks and Improvement
Director of Networks and Improvement
Mr. Ellefsen manages the BCSL’s Christian Leadership Transformation Project, a program designed to equip Christian educators across the country by gathering networks of school teams around problems of practice to catalyze school improvement and student flourishing.
Ellefsen has served in education for more than two decades as a teacher, coach, consultant, Dean of Academics at Boston Trinity Academy, Principal at Chicago Christian High School, and Grievance Chairman for the American Federation of Teachers. Most recently, he served at Valley Christian High School in San Jose, CA. He currently serves as Senior Fellow for both the Center for the Advancement of Christian Education and Cardus. He also hosts the Digical Education, a podcast providing engaging conversations with some of the most innovative education leaders, and a leading collaborator and author of the Mindshift project.
Ellefsen is a graduate of Wheaton College, with a BA in Social Science and Illinois teacher accreditation, an MEd in Administration and Leadership from Benedictine University with Illinois administrative credential, and attended Boston University to further his studies in Educational Policy and Organizational Leadership.
Program Coordinator
Program Coordinator
Sahira Kodra serves as the Program Coordinator for the School of Education’s Baylor Center for School Leadership (BCSL). Ms. Kodra works closely with the BCSL team to support the department’s mission. Through her role she engages in the thriving community of Christian leadership in schools and districts. She provides administrative coordination within the Center through related event planning, program support, meetings, and budgets.
She joined Baylor University in the summer of 2023 from a position in Leander Independent School District, where she previously worked as a classroom teacher.
Ms. Kodra received her BSEd in Elementary Education with a Gifted and Talented Concentration from Baylor University in the spring of 2020. As an undergrad she worked as a School of Education student worker and is blessed to be back at Baylor as a staff member.
Marrs McLean Science Building
Office 139