Elizabeth Arons

Elizabeth (Betsy) Arons is in her 34th year in public education and her 31st year in human resources administration in public school systems. In her current role as senior human resources policy advisor with the New York City Department of Education, she heads up an initiative with the labor and legal divisions to focus on the improvement or exiting of underperforming tenured teachers. She served as CEO of Human Resources, New York City DOE from 2004-07 and instituted a number of human capital and human resources reforms to elevate the strategic role of HR in meeting the achievement goals of the NYC schools.

She has been working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation since 2007 as a Human Resources/Human Capital consultant, supporting a number of urban districts in their HR and human capital reform efforts. Prior to her work with New York City schools, she served for eight years as the associate superintendent for human resources in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, for seventeen years in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia as director of human resources, assistant principal, and high school teacher, and for three years as a high school teacher in Evanston, IL. Her undergraduate degree in English and teaching credentials were earned at the University of California, Berkeley; her master's degree in English at the University of Illinois (Chicago); and her doctorate in educational administration and organizational development from American University (Washington, D.C.).