The mission of the School Improvement team is to provide differentiated support and guidance to schools that will result consistent, grade level, standards-based instruction within highly engaged, collaborative, and productive classrooms for all students. Support will be provided in the problem solving and planning process to strengthen the capacity of the instructional leadership teams to make critical decisions. Schools will be engaged in ongoing progress monitoring and data management in order to ensure the highest level of instruction to every student, in every classroom in Manatee county schools.

The School Improvement department collects and reviews school improvement plans for each of the district’s schools as well as School Advisory Council membership rosters. The school improvement plans and the School Advisory Council membership rosters are approved by the school board annually. The work on the school improvement plans are closely monitored by the School Advisory Council and the appropriate Executive Director. The Director of School Improvement facilitates the meeting of the District Advisory Council, which also monitors and supports the school improvement process. The School Improvement Team also monitors implementation of the extended reading hour for identified schools.

Ms. Gonzalez, Director, reports directly to the Deputy Superintendent and serves as a member of the Instructional Division leadership team.

A strong advocate for academic excellence, Mrs. Lourdes Gonzalez brings more than 28 years of academic excellence to her post as Director of School Improvement at the School District of Manatee County. As a visionary leader with operational, planning and administrative experience, her expertise lies in overseeing areas such as day-to-day operations, curriculum development, community partnership building, and standard setting for both students and staff to realize improved academic performance. 

Most recently, Mrs. Gonzalez served as an Intern Director at the Office of School Performance and Accountability at Broward County Public Schools and Principal at Hollywood Hills High School in Broward County. Previously, she held other leadership and teaching positions working with children and families in middle and high school settings serving as an educational administrator, ESOL Coordinator, Team Leader and Classroom Educator. She has also led efforts to support Title I initiatives and diversity programs, create new district-wide curricula, reaffirm academic programs, and sustain strong academic initiatives at Broward County Public Schools. Her recent efforts involved the initiation of an Entrepreneaur and Leadership Military Academy, a Latinos in Action leadership program, a Peers as Partners mentoring initiative for Students with Varying Exceptionalities (SVE); and leading efforts to restructure academic programs and provide leadership for the implementation of several district-wide initiatives.

Mrs. Gonzalez holds Masters Degrees from Nova Southeastern University in Educational Leadership and Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Florida Atlantic University.

She is bilingual and is fluent in both English and Spanish.