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Janet N.Y. Zarchen began her career as a teacher in multilingual classrooms in California and continued to teach across the grades in Guadalajara, Mexico; New Jersey; and Connecticut. These diverse experiences led her to believe that two foundational parts of teaching are building relationships with students and being responsive to their strengths and challenges. She finds deep satisfaction and happiness in her friendships with former students, now adults and many with children of their own.
Before supporting schools and districts as an educational consultant for the State Education Resource Center (SERC) in Connecticut, Janet worked as an instructional designer for a major publishing company and at the University of Connecticut. At SERC she facilitated the development of curriculum, district and school equity plans, school improvement plans, and multi-tiered systems of support. She coordinated the literacy initiative for the agency which included serving on state-wide management teams for two federal literacy grants. For several years, she managed the equity grant which supported SERC’s annual racial equity conference, equity programming for school districts, and internal capacity building.
Away from the school setting, Janet has presented at national and regional conferences, including International Literacy Association (ILA), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), National Summit for Courageous Conversation®, and The Educator Collaborative’s Gathering. She has been a board or steering committee member of the New England Reading Association (NERA, now defunct) and the Literacy Consultants Coalition (defunct). She currently is a board member of Teaching Learning Alliance, Inc. and is on the steering committee of the International Literacy Educators Coalition (ILEC).
As the founder of Learning Layers, LLC, she facilitates the development of curriculum, district and school equity plans, school improvement plans, and multi-tiered systems of support. She also provides coaching and training to educators on topics including literacy, curriculum and instruction, support for multilingual learners, and diversity, equity, and anti-biased educational practices. These topics are also her areas of focus, passion, and study. Other areas of interest are researching her family’s Japanese American history and finding the best hot fudge sundae in the country. Janet lives in Connecticut with her partner Lou, their dog and cats, and the neighborhood bears.