Betty Staley

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Betty Staley has been a Waldorf teacher and adult educator for over fifty years in kindergarten, grades, and high school including 27 years at Sacramento Waldorf School as a class teacher 5-8th grade and as pioneer of SWS’s high school. The class she taught in 7th and 8th grades became the first graduating high school class in 1978, and they are still in touch with her. She was chair of the High School for eleven years, taught history, history of art, and English.

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She was the chairperson of the Committee that negotiated the first public school inspired by Waldorf education, the Urban Waldorf School in Milwaukee,  Betty also spearheaded the program to adapt aspects of Waldorf education to students at-risk at the T.E. Mathews Court and Community School. She is a noted international speaker on Waldorf education, adolescence and child development.

 

As one of the founders of Rudolf Steiner College, she directed the High School Teacher Education Program and taught foundations courses in Anthroposophy. Betty helped to found a number of Waldorf high schools. She was greatly instrumental in founding the movement for Public Waldorf Education in the US, making Waldorf Education accessible to children without the prohibitive financial threshold of many independent schools. Betty has been active in AWSNA, and is now a key member of the Board of The Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, and a member of the Pedagogical Section Council in the US.

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She consults with Waldorf schools (public and private) and is an international lecturer on Waldorf education, adolescence, and parenting.  She is the author of ten books including several on adolescence - Her most recently published book is a children’s book - A Bit of Heaven on the Earth. Her next most recent is Africa, an incredibly rich curriculum guide for all grades, and valuable for every teacher, as we strive to ‘decolonize’ Waldorf Education. Her book, Tending the Spark, Lighting the Future for Middle School Students, has been a study topic in many schools.

 

Betty has a website and blog, which we highly recommend. Find it at https://bettykstaley.com/