About Dr. Olsen
Experience, translated into understanding.
Dr. Susan Olsen has spent more than twenty-five years in California public education as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, school leader, teacher educator, university instructor, and statewide education policy leader.
A trusted guide to a complex system
Through Office Hours with Dr. Olsen, she helps parents, educators, and community members understand how public education works so they can ask better questions, advocate more effectively, and participate more confidently in decisions that affect children.
Dr. Olsen holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from Sacramento State and an M.S. in K-12 Reading and Literacy, and is the recipient of the CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Her work begins with a simple belief: education policy does not have to be uncomplicated, but it does have to be understood. Office Hours creates the space to slow down, trace how a decision was made, and find the right place to ask the next question.