Danielle Smith is a Content Lead for Technical Assistance for Race to the Top States in the U.S. Department of Education’s Implementation and Support Unit. In this role, Danielle manages technical assistance for Race to the Top State grantees through the Department’s Reform Support Network (RSN) and leads the School Turnaround, Stakeholder Communications and Engagement, and Teacher and Leader Effectiveness/Standards and Assessments communities of practice. Additionally, Danielle leads technical assistance evaluation and manages strategic communications projects including the Department’s recently launched PROGRESS website. Prior to joining the Department, Danielle was a Program Manager at Mass Insight Education where she provided support to States and school districts to launch initiatives to turn around their lowest-performing schools focusing on building capacity for strategic planning, developing performance management systems, implementing lead partner market strategies and communications. Previously, Danielle worked at Georgetown University to connect higher education institutions with local communities and increase college access opportunities for all students. Danielle served as the university liaison to the local K-12 school system and community partners as the Director of the Ward 7 Initiative, a strategic community engagement initiative to match university resources to community and school needs and was a leader in the citywide Double the Numbers initiative to dramatically increase high school graduation and college going rates across the District of Columbia. Danielle holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Georgetown University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy.