Rena Johnson

Rena is the former principal of DC Scholars Stanton Elementary, Washington’s first elementary school turnaround charter and district partnership school. Ms. Johnson left a legacy of successfully working with families of students and rallying teams around aligned initiatives. Through her leadership and training, teachers conducted more than 450 visits to homes of students and their families in one school year. In 2015, after working closely with her staff, Ms. Johnson wrote a grant to create The Boys Institute at Stanton to foster the talent and genius of her black and brown boys. 

Ms. Johnson currently serves in the role of Senior Director for School Launch and Incubation at CityBridge Education, committed to incubating, launching, and transforming schools to deliver on talent and the potential inherent in our children, specifically the most disinherited by poverty and race. Ms. Johnson began her education career as an elementary school teacher in Atlanta, GA as a Teacher For America (TFA) corps member before joining the TFA DC Regional Team, where she managed placement strategy and new corps member transition. From TFA, Ms. Johnson became a resident principal with New Leaders for New Schools where she led the implementation of the Achievement Network data driven instructional model and founded a New Teacher program for all 1st year teachers. Ms. Johnson holds a BA from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in Education, Policy, and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.