Christa Donnelly is the assistant principal at Eugene Field Elementary School in Park Ridge, Illinois, which is located just north of Chicago and serves over 600 students in grades K-5. Christa holds a bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, and grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago. She worked as a special education teacher supporting primarily students with emotional disabilities in self-contained settings while pursuing a Masters in Special Education (LBS2) with concentrations as a behavior intervention and curricular adaptation specialist and a second Masters degree  in School Leadership.  Christa has served as an elementary assistant principal for the past 7 years. Prior to making the transition to her current leadership role, Christa was an associate principal for student services for four years. Christa’s teaching career focused on elementary school programming for students with identified disabilities in diverse suburban environments and in both monolingual and dual language programs as well as in partnership with special education cooperatives. Christa’s passion for effective inclusion, universal design, and collaborative practices has led her to present at various conferences, including IPA and IAASE’s annual conferences.