ASCD Faculty Bio

Judy Hilton

Hilton is an educational consultant whose areas of expertise include Understanding by Design, teacher evaluation, and leadership. She was a visiting professor at  the Metropolitan State College of Denver, where she helped prepare prospective educators to teach for understanding; to differentiate instruction to meet the variety of learners in a classroom, and to select and use appropriate, research-based best practice strategies to improve student achievement. She also wrote and directed an alternative principal licensure program in Colorado.

For 30 years, Hilton was a K–12 central office human resources director and both a middle school and high school principal in the Cherry Creek (CO) Schools, where she was successful in turning low-performing schools around and creating climates of teaching and learning for the entire school community. She believes that school reform is a collaborative effort for which administrators must communicate the vision and provide the support and training the faculty needs to ensure gains in student achievement.

Hilton recently served as the "thinking partner" for a cadre of leaders from the Colorado Department of Education and helped create and implement protocols and prototypes for Colorado schools in the implementation of  new content standards. She has also been instrumental in reform efforts in various school districts and helped teach and coach Common Core State Standards initiatives. She holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Denver and has cognates in educational leadership, assessment, and organizational systems.