MICHELE HAMILTON

Michele Hamilton is an educator, author, researcher, school founder, and professional learning facilitator with over three decades of experience in education. Her career has included classroom teaching, educational research, principal coaching, restorative justice, school quality review, extended learning, and systems-level leadership in Oakland Unified School District.

Michele is the Founder and Head of School of Pear Tree Community School and the Founder of Seeds to Roots Oakland Training & Resource Center, where she designs and facilitates professional learning for schools, districts, education leaders, and community-based organizations.

Her work explores the relationship between identity, belonging, brain development, cognitive load, relationships, and learning, with particular attention to the experiences of children of color. She developed the MIRROR framework to help adults examine how environments, relationships, systems, and everyday interactions shape children’s development, resilience, sense of self, and access to learning.

Michele is also the author of the forthcoming Always Ours: The Science and Soul of Raising Children of Color, published by Bloomsbury Academic.