Benjellica Leslie Jones
Applicant Chicago, IL, United StatesMy Target Schools
My Education
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Wake Forest University - BS/BA Bachelor
Elementary School Teaching / English Language and Literature
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9/2007 - 5/2011 |
My Experience
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Chicago Public Schools Learning Behavior Specialist |
Chicago, IL, United States 9/2019 - now |
During the 2019-2020 school year, I facilitated learning and development for 4 core subjects via collaboration with 6 team members while also covering an 8th grade science teacher vacancy from Sept. to Dec. 2019. Additionally, I dedicated 100+ hours to developing 11 individualized education and post-secondary transition plans for students with mild to moderate disabilities. This work empowered families to ensure their students obtain appropriate services to which they are legally entitled. I managed communication streams with 22+ administrators, teachers, health professionals, and family members regarding collaborative teaching, adaptations, and modification plans. Often this work required challenging conversations about issues such as systemic racism and our school's role in perpetuating oppression. When the COVID pandemic overtook our world and changed the teaching paradigm for many educators, I strategically lead the team by example using my advanced skill with educational technology and previous experiences training teachers. 84% of middle school instructors embraced live online teaching within the first 3 weeks of transition to remote learning in comparison to some teams that never incorporated live teaching during 11 weeks of remote teaching. 80% of 8th-grade students in the Diverse Learner program had 100% engagement on a weekly basis and passed core classes with 70% (C) or higher.
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Brockhurst Capital Partners Chief of Staff and Operations Manager |
Chicago, IL, United States 1/2020 - now |
Brockhurst is a Chicago-based investment vehicle working to acquire, and then operate, a company within 12-18 months. I joined Brockhurst as the only intern at the start of the search in Jan 2020. After a successful first quarter, I transitioned to the Chief of Staff position and took on an increased amount of operations management. I managed the rigorous application and evaluation of over 380 applicants which included: drafting job descriptions, conducting multiple rounds of interviews, and developing the onboarding and professional growth program for 8 new additions to our internal team. I also expanded our off-shore team after starting with 3 people by creating smaller pods of tiered management and adding 2-3 people who reported to the initial team member. This resulting in a group of at least 7 off-shore searchers for a given niche. Through the expansion of the team and increased strategic outreach, we doubled our Q2 outreach numbers and tripled the Q2 conversion rate.
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Loren Academic Services Scholastic Manager & Intake Coordinator |
Chicago, IL, United States 7/2017 - now |
Loren Academic Services (LAS) is an educational services company that supports students, families, residents, and faculty by providing evidence-based support with measurable outcomes for individuals contending with learning disabilities, test-taking difficulties and organizational issues. As a scholastic manager, I use an evidence-based approach to bring $30,000+ of revenue to the company and have conducted 200+ hours of coaching, consulting, and curriculum design services over the last two years in this part-time role. I conduct research to apply best practices in coaching K-12 and Higher Education students, resulting in increased executive function skills, improved work outcomes, and higher achievement on national standardized assessments. 95% of my clients, including individual students and families, gave positive feedback regarding engagement and progress with learners.
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Daystar School Middle School Educator |
Chicago, IL, United States 7/2020 - 7/2020 |
At Daystar, I began as an apprentice teacher and progressed to lead teacher after my first year. I had the opportunity to develop programs using a data-based feedback loop for cultivating student accountability and reflection. Using the feedback loop with 54 middle school students created a positive culture of trust and respect, setting the stage for academic, social, and emotional growth. I also developed frameworks for instruction, classroom management, and blended learning in a 1:1 computing environment as well as the initial stages of Daystar’s special education program. In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I coordinated two school-wide long-term projects: the annual social studies fair and the inaugural Community Conversation for program evaluation. In organizing the social studies fair, I managed students’ pathways for project ideation, research, and completion along with supporting parents in helping students at home, and overseeing operations for the competition. In developing the Community Conversation, I arranged an evening of structured, in-depth conversations with stakeholders from our internal and external school community to develop ideas for growing the middle school program. This conversation occurred in tandem with a survey of previous middle school graduates to consider programmatic needs based on their experiences in high school and college.
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Teach for America Content Coach, Summer Training |
Chicago, IL, United States 3/2019 - 7/2019 |
During my second summer as a Content Coach in Teach for America’s 2019 training in the Chicago-Northwest Indiana region, our elementary team supported 39 teachers across 2 school sites. The goals was to lead pre-service educators in developing a pedagogical approach and applied skills for teaching mathematical content to students grades in 1-8. I was responsible for the development of 17 teacher-leaders, which included facilitating 15 introductory content sessions during the initial week of training and daily 2-3 hour content sessions throughout the remaining 4 weeks of training. My sessions were designed to elevate teacher performance through 15 learning cycles across 4 core practices. Using best practices for adult learning, I guided teachers’ in developing culturally relevant pedagogical practices through direct instruction, modeling, observation, and feedback on a daily basis. In addition, I worked to create a culture in which all pre-service teachers could bring their authentic personalities while learning to build their professional presence as educational leaders. By the end of the 5-week period, my school team achieved 9% higher than our goal on the Corps Strength Index (CSI) - a measure of culture and positive associations with the training process; my content area scored the highest rating of 73% on CSI, 23 percentage points higher than our goal. 90% of teachers in my content group were rated as beginning proficient or proficient. My school site and content area were at 74% on the Leadership Index which measured pre-service teachers’ development of mindsets and leadership orientations necessary to impact long-term change. After training ended, I was asked to host office hours to aid new teachers in their transition into the first year of teaching.
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Loren Academic Services Director of Scholastic Management |
Chicago, IL, United States 10/2018 - 3/2019 |
In this role, I worked with our executive director to manage our team of 4 education coaches supporting students in K-12, college, and graduate school programs. I oversaw relationship development with over 30 current and prospective clients, and our number of client conversions increased by 100% over 3 months. I also helped design and execute our strategic plan, weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual programming, social media marketing, business development, and team expansion. I co-managed the interview process for 3 positions which included creating and circulating job descriptions for the positions, designing a process for candidate evaluation, reviewing applications for over 150 candidates, facilitating a multi-touch interview process, and initial stages of hiring for new team members.
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Teach for America, Chicago-Northwest Indiana Content Coach, Summer Training |
Chicago, IL, United States 3/2018 - 7/2018 |
As a Content Coach in Teach for America’s 2018 summer training for the Chicago-Northwest Indiana region, I was on a team of 4 coaches who supported 70 pre-service elementary teachers in developing a pedagogical approach and applied skills for teaching mathematical content to students grades in 1-8. Our goal was to activate and develop culturally responsive, transformational teacher leaders and transition teachers from pre-novice to proficient in 5 weeks by valuing human beings, staying rooted in the mission, and taking responsibility. In addition to leading 11 initial content sessions during the first week of training, I was responsible for facilitating daily 3-hour sessions over the next 4 weeks, led weekly collaboration with 11 training facilitators across 2 school sites, and directly managed the development of 14 teacher-leaders throughout the summer. 100% of teachers in my content group were rated as beginning proficient or proficient at the end of the summer and 100% of teachers indicated they felt valued as people and as part of the community. My manager evaluated my work as exemplary in the following areas: strengthening community, acting with humility, demonstrating resilience, learning continuously, and achieving impact.
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Teach for America Corps Member: Frazier Preparatory Academy & John B. Murphy School |
Chicago, IL, United States 6/2016 - 6/2018 |
After becoming very ill during my first time as an educator in the Teach for America program, I decided to return in 2016 to complete the program. I wanted to serve students who are most impacted by systemic inequity and honor the commitment I had made after college. In 2016-2017, I managed a self-contained classroom at Frazier Prep Academy: I taught students with significant learning issues who were at least 2-3 years behind their grade-level peers. I formed a team with paraeducators and led them to develop trauma-informed teaching skills that empowered students to apply cognitive-behavioral techniques and change unproductive behaviors. This type of instruction eventually led to students demonstrating an average growth rate of 200% in math and 90% in reading during one school year. In 2017-2018, I taught special education at John B. Murphy Elementary School. This was my first time simultaneously teaching 3 grade levels and 4 subjects with 5 different teachers to manage the educational experiences of 125 students on a daily basis. At times, balancing the preparation and execution necessary in this role was challenging, however, I learned how to effectively manage relationships with my co-workers, students, and their families and this helped engage all parties in actualizing our plans for high student achievement.
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Teach for America Resident Teacher, LEARN Charter Network - Excel Campus |
Chicago, IL, United States 7/2011 - 12/2012 |
During my first year of teaching, I was unexpectedly paired with another novice teacher and assigned to teach a split-level classroom of 30 3rd and 4th graders. This is an unusual teaching assignment in general, and especially unheard of for novice teachers. However, in addition to working with my teaching partner to design and execute 36 high-level weekly instructional plans using flexible configurations based on student needs, I also created and conducted professional development for our entire teaching staff of 30+ educators on how to integrate cutting edge interactive technology in their daily lessons. I also developed and taught an applied mathematics project for 20+ advanced first and second-grade students in an after-school enrichment program.
My Other Activities
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Hope Learn Grow Founder |
Chicago, IL, United States 8/2013 - 9/2018 |
I founded Hope Learn Grow to help struggling students and their families navigate Chicago’s complex educational landscape. As part of this work, I held individual academic preparation and recovery sessions with students in K-College, and with individuals working to resume school or complete their GEDs. I administered a summer learning intensive for struggling students in the summer of 2013 with an 80% average growth rate. In the spring of 2018, I partnered with the Chicago Global Shapers to develop a curriculum for parent education seminars teaching 50+ families how to support exceptional learners at home and in school.
Interests & Passions
- - I love to read books of all genres and, in my opinion, audiobooks count! I especially love science fiction novels, thrillers, and non-fiction psychology.
- - Zumba and Kiera LaShae's workouts! If you haven't tried these yet and you like to dance, you definitely should.
- - Oculus VR gaming. Regular video games will never feel the same again. :)
Interesting Tidbits
-I enjoy dancing, as I trained in ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and lyrical dance starting with ballet at four years old. I'm currently learning Spanish and Fante (Akan). -For a brief period of time, I taught in a hospital for individuals with mental health difficulties and chemical dependency. -I once traveled to 11 different countries in 28 days!
Career Mission
I plan to pursue Consulting (Strategy - Tech, M&A, HR) immediately post-MBA and ultimately progress to a c-level corporate leadership role. As a Black woman and educator, my experiences have made me a lifelong advocate for developing businesses, networks, and organizations that empower people to restructure our society for the better. I aim to continue growing the organization I've started, Hope Learn Grow, to support families in gaining tech access and build digital skills for the future.
What I Do Well
- I love to help others grow into their potential. I'm really good at seeing the picture and forecasting the long-term outcomes of a particular trajectory.
Top Places
- Berlin, Germany; Budapest, Hungary; Puerta Vallarta, Mexico; A good book + my imagination :)
Languages
- French (Basic)
- Spanish (Basic)
Target Schools
- University of Chicago - MBA (Booth) University of Chicago - MBA (Booth)
- Northwestern University - MBA (Kellogg) Northwestern University - MBA (Kellogg)
- University of California at Berkeley - MBA (Haas) University of California at Berkeley - MBA (Haas)
- Duke University - MBA (Fuqua) Duke University - MBA (Fuqua)
- University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - MBA (Ross) University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - MBA (Ross)
- Indiana University - MBA (Kelley) Indiana University - MBA (Kelley)
- University of Rochester - MBA (Simon) University of Rochester - MBA (Simon)
Target Cities
- Chicago, IL, United States