Mary Gardner Briggs
REPD Senior Director
Mary Gardner Briggs began her career at CSBA as an education policy analyst in 2016 and now manages research and education policy analysis for the association. Gardner Briggs began her career in education in 1997 as an elementary school teacher in the greater Sacramento area. Her 12 years’ experience as a classroom educator inspired her to enter a doctoral program at UC Davis, where she studied school organization and educational policy. Gardner Briggs has served as a mentor teacher for multiple subjects credential candidates at CSU, Sacramento, and supported teacher candidates in their master's program at UC Davis.
While a graduate student, she studied California school finance reform with a team of researchers from Davis, UC Berkeley, USC and the RAND Corporation. Additional research included a 3-year evaluation team of a multi-district transformation effort led by Michael Fullan. She was selected to serve in 2015 and 2016 as a guest instructor for the professional development of educators in the Chaoyang District of Beijing.
In addition to managing the REPD team, she has overseen projects for the California School Boards Foundation, which coordinates grant-related work to develop resources and support for CSBA members.