About Me:

My name is Lisa DeLapo, and I am a vocal advocate of learner-centric instruction and for women in technology leadership. I am dedicated to learning something new every single day.

I am proud to have been awarded the 2021 Honored Educator of the Year by Common Sense Media. I won a CUE Gold Disk in 2016 for the work I have done to promote educational technology in public and private educational environments, and I volunteered for six years on the Computer Using Educators (CUE - now CALIE) Board of Directors. In 2023, I was honored by Tech & Learning as the Northern California Innovative Director of Technology. I have been a Google Certified Innovator since 2014, a Microsoft Innovative Educator, and a 2013 Krause Center MERIT Fellow. I earned the Outstanding Student Award when I completed the Certified Chief Technology Officer Program (CITE 2021, Cohort 15), and I have happily been serving CITE as a CTO Mentor since 2022. Recently, I completed CALIE's Certified Educator program as part of their inaugural cohort. 

I have a Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in Instructional Leadership, a graduate certification in network and communications management, a California multi-subject credential, and an administrative services credential. In 2024, I completed CSU Northridge's Assistive Technology Applications Certification, and in 2025, I completed the AI Empowered Educator Capstone at the Krause Center for Innovation and the CITE Technology Procurement Academy. I am currently pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, concentrating on emerging technologies, curriculum and instruction, and educational leadership.

I first entered education as a first grade teaching assistant at a small private school in 2005. When I began work on my credential, I moved to another private school, where I taught third grade. I looped to fourth grade with my class, and I later became the middle school language arts teacher and eighth grade homeroom teacher. Because technology was integrated into my vision of education, I became the school's Director of Technology, managing the infrastructure, networks, and machines while also teaching K-8 computer skills to teachers and students.

After the 2013 MERIT program, I accepted the Director of Instructional Innovation and STEM Initiatives position at a private all-girls high school in Oakland, California, teaching Computational Thinking, Information Literacy, and Computer Science. It was an incredible experience to inspire young women to choose STEM careers and empower them as vocal, strong global citizens.

In 2015, I had my first opportunity to join public education by becoming a district technology integration coach. In less than a year, I was promoted to become their Director of Innovation, Design, & Technology. During this time, I also served as a BTSA/Induction mentor for private and charter schools through Newark Unified School District.

In 2017, I joined the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College as their Innovator in Residence, creating and leading programs in educational technology and professional development for teaching, including Makerspace training and certification. I created an all-women's Makerspace Program called "UniDIVersity," which offered a safe place for women of color and women with special needs to earn the Makerspace certification. It was funded fully by the Morgan Family Foundation its first year; in subsequent years, Cisco funded the program. In 2018 and 2019, I created and led the Chief Innovation Officer Program at the Krause Center, where teachers who wanted to become technology administrators earned a certificate and 18 quarter units after the one-year program. I also served as the MERIT Director for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 cohorts.

In June 2019, I went back to school district life, where, for over six years, I was a Director of Information & Instructional Technology. I created their benchmarks for digital citizenship and media literacy, and their AI integration plan for teachers and students. I built a cohesive, efficient, dedicated team of 16 employees in data, systems, network, tech support, and STEM instruction. I increased the collaboration of district departments by holding regularly scheduled meetings to discuss upcoming initiatives where technology resources could be integrated. I created professional learning sessions in the 4Cs (collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking), technology integration across content areas, and artificial intelligence literacy and ethics. I wrote and edited 5-year technology plans with instructional technology as the WHY and information technology as the HOW. In addition, I created a technology committee and an AI committee made up of students, parents, principals, district leadership, classified employees, and teachers, and I led and coordinated annual parent information nights with Common Sense Education leaders as well as Bark & Securly educator collaboration. Throughout, I worked to create media balance by designing technology use in the classroom around active learning rather than consumption and passive learning.

Some of my biggest professional battles have been over what counts as learning. When my district adopted apps like Lexia, colleagues praised the adaptive design as "active learning." I saw a digital worksheet with better branding. When I countered that CAASPP testing is also adaptive - and no one would call standardized testing learning - the argument didn't land. The disconnect made sense once I understood its source: leadership had left the classroom so long ago that educational technology hadn't existed during their teaching years. They were mandating tools with zero lived experience of them - like taking navigation advice from people who stopped traveling before GPS existed. I was the only administrator who kept teaching during my time as a director, and that classroom reality made it impossible to accept the fiction. It's why I still teach today: I don't believe you can lead any educational environment without being immersed in it.

I now work for a small K-12 NPS/independent school that serves neurodivergent students. I teach K-12 classes most of my day and handle technology infrastructure, support, applications, and instructional innovation after school, during prep periods, and when the school is not in session. I am pursuing my SpEd credential (Mild-Mod, Education Specialist), and I am taking courses through the Krause Center for Innovation (KCI) in AI Educational Leadership.

Away from school and work, I am the proud mother of two adult children: one earned a PhD in mathematics and works in higher education, and the other graduated summa cum laude and works as a behavioral interventionist supporting kids with autism. My wonderfully supportive husband is also a career technology leader in public education.