Beryl Nelson (1947-2022)
Beryl Nelson was the Lead Charter School Accountability Specialist Emeritus after her retirement from CSDC. She worked with charter schools and their granting agencies on issues of accountability, particularly in the areas of educational programs, governance, and operations. Beryl worked on dozens of in-depth school charter school reviews for CSDC. Beryl led hundreds of training sessions for charter school leaders and board members on governance and accountability matters. Combined with her earlier career, she likely visited more charter schools across the nation than anyone.
Prior to joining CSDC in 2007, Nelson had a distinguished career as an education researcher, including working on groundbreaking studies of English learners, college completion, and the first nationwide study of charter schools. She had a phenomenal capacity for conducting sound qualitative and quantitative research and linking it with policy and practice. Beryl held a MA in Public Policy from UC Berkeley.
In addition to being a most gifted and accomplished researcher, Beryl was a valued colleague known for her warmth, depth of character, and rich intellect. She was a mom, partner, friend, foodie, charter school governing board member, and Oakland A’s fan.