International Training Consultant, MicroSociety Inc.

Suzanne Downing is a MicroSociety Inc. international training consultant. She was previously a regional director at MSI responsible for building a network of funded schools and districts in 18 states in the South and Central regions of the United States. She also helped launch the first MicroSociety school in Colombia, located just outside Bogota. Before joining MSI, Downing was the executive director of Taylor Reading Corps and principal at Myers MicroSociety Elementary School in Taylor, Michigan, where she led a previously low-achieving facility to a turnaround that included accreditation from the North Central Accreditation Association, federal grants totaling $400,000, and partnerships at the county and state levels for enrichment, afterschool and health service programs. Myers MicroSociety Elementary was featured in Thomas Armstrong’s “The Best Schools” in 2006. She has also served as program director for the Regional School Service Center; a principal at a National Exemplary High School in Houston, Texas; and an undergraduate instructor and Dean’s staff member at Texas A&M. Downing sat on a White House task force for the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, landmark federal legislation guaranteeing free and appropriate education for children with disabilities. She also sat on state task forces related to early childhood education and teacher evaluation. Downing began her career as a middle school math teacher and a special education teacher and administrator.