Sherly Chavarria

Sherly Chavarria is a Senior Program Officer for Education at the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation. She has more than ten years of leadership experience at the community, classroom, school, and district levels.

Most recently, she served as the Chicago Public Schools Chief of Teaching and Learning, where she led the district’s instructional response to the COVID-19 pandemic and advanced significant initiatives such as the development of Skyline, CPS’s first ever digital universal PreK-12 curriculum, introduced a new district-wide student assessment strategy and launched the district’s 350+ Tutor Corps program.

Before her roles in district leadership, Sherly served as the principal for William P. Nixon Elementary School. She spent her tenure building trust throughout her school community while developing a shared instructional vision, strengthening community relations and activities, and improving the school’s operational functioning. As a principal, Sherly was a member of multiple district leadership committees, including the Principal Advisory Council, SQRP Steering Committee, Instructional Equity Working Group, and Leadership Framework Working Group. Sherly was a teacher at National Teachers Academy, where she was recognized for her leadership with the Madeleine Maraldi Award for Teacher Leader Excellence.

Sherly holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in psychology and cultural and social anthropology, a master’s degree in teaching from National Louis University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.