Jenelle Leonard

Jenelle Leonard serves as Director for the Office of School Support and Rural programs. Her responsibilities include providing financial assistance for educational technology, comprehensive education centers, rural education programs, and comprehensive reform to state and local educational agencies. This includes administering grants and cooperative agreements and providing technical assistance to grantees and the public. She provides advice to senior management on the formulation of policy, the design of operating programs, and all issues relevant to the programs.

Prior to this assignment, she was the Group Leader for Technology and Flexibility, in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) at the U.S. Department of Education. As Group Leader, her primary responsibilities were to supervise staff assigned to group and coordinate, manage, administer, and oversee 11 different programs, which include the state technology formula grants and the Rural Education Achievement Program. Additionally, she shared in the development and establishment of specific performance standards for educational programs.

In December 2002, Jenelle Leonard joined the School Support and Technology Programs (SSTP) Office in the U.S. Department of Education as Program Manager/Team Leader of the State Technology Grants Program. Her primary responsibility was implementing and managing the State Technology Grants Program.

Prior to joining SSTP, Jenelle Leonard served at the U.S. Department of Education as Leader of the Technology Innovation Challenge Grant Program (TICG). In addition to managing the TICG Program, which included developing national guideline materials and policies, reviewing and issuing grants, program monitoring, and program evaluation, she served as an agency expert and authoritative consultant and provided leadership and guidance within the Department of Education as well as to state and local organizations, institutions, and agencies.

Jenelle Leonard served nearly a year and a half (1997-1998) as an Expert Consultant at the U.S. Department of Education in the Office of Educational Technology. She consulted and advised on issues related to the development and implementation of technology initiatives and national goals, such as professional development, telecommunications technologies, curriculum integration, and instructional applications. She participated in developing long-range plans, short-term plans, and strategies for implementing Department programs and initiatives, including the evaluation of the effect and impact of the use of technology in instruction.

Jenelle Leonard has held supervisory and technology-related positions in Prince William County Public Schools in Masassas, Virginia; at BDM Education Technologies Group, a K-12 systems integrator and consulting company; the Center for Instructional Technology and Training in the District of Columbia Public Schools, and at the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The TEA position provided her the opportunity to work with over a thousand school districts to implement the state's Technology Initiatives as mandated by the Texas Legislature.

Jenelle Leonard has over twenty-five years of experience as an educator. She has been a public school teacher and administrator, technology implementation and training consultant, college professor, and a regional and state education department administrator. Her background also includes designing and developing graduate-level instructional technology courses, technology and software procurement and installation oversight in over 400 hundred schools, and software development. Additionally, she has served on numerous technology advisory boards and served as a contributing editor for an educational technology magazine.