Valerie Feit, Ed.D.

The teacher students have been waiting for, and the one they remember for the rest of their lives.

A note from Valerie

I began my professional life on stage, dancing with the Eliot Feld Ballet and the Alvin Ailey Dance Company in New York. The stage taught me how talent actually grows: through serious training, honest feedback, high expectations, and the moment when a performer stops imitating and starts creating. I have built my career around making that moment happen for young people.

As a district leader, I designed and directed talent development programs across STEM, the humanities, and the arts. I have mentored students who became scientists, policy researchers, writers, entrepreneurs, and artists. What they had in common was not a particular kind of intelligence. It was the experience of being taken seriously: of having an idea, and someone saying, let's see how far you can take that.

Recently, several of my former students, now in their fifties, came to tell me that our work together changed their lives. Nothing I've published or built means more to me than that.

The world our children are entering is being redesigned by AI. I find that exhilarating, not frightening. The young people who thrive will be those who know their own minds, pursue what genuinely fascinates them, and create what no machine can. That is the work I love most, and I'd be glad to begin it with your child.

Valerie

Background

  • Talent development leadership: Director of K–12 Enrichment Education and Co-Director of Counseling, Rye Neck Union Free School District, New York, where she built district-wide programs across STEM, the humanities, and the arts

  • Independent Learner Program: Founder; more than 500 students have made their ILP work the centerpiece of applications to Ivy League and other highly selective universities in the U.S. and abroad

  • Published work: Co-author, with Bill Tobin, of Student Research for Community Change: Tools to Develop Ethical Thinking and Analytic Problem Solving (Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 2020), used in teacher preparation programs

  • International: In 2025 she and John Dalton visited high schools in Nanjing. In 2026, Professor Yang Yubin of Shandong University's College of Education adapted the Confident Learner for Chinese students, for testing in schools in Shandong Province.

  • Education: Ed.D., Educational Leadership, Management, and Policy, Seton Hall University; master's in School Counseling, College of New Rochelle

  • Earlier career: Professional dancer, Eliot Feld Ballet and Alvin Ailey Dance Company

In the press

A woman with glasses and long dark hair sitting on a blue armchair in front of a green screen, smiling at the camera.

Building bridges in China

Dr. Valerie Feit and John Dalton visited high schools in Nanjing in 2025.

Three people standing in front of a sign with Chinese characters near a gated entrance, in an outdoor setting with trees in the background.
Group of seven professional individuals standing together indoors in front of a large sign with Chinese characters, logos, and an illustration of the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge. They are dressed in business attire, smiling for the photo.
A woman and a man standing together in front of a large digital display with a red background, welcoming Dr. Valerie Feit and Mr. John Dalton. The woman is wearing a black dress, and the man is wearing a dark suit with a light-colored shirt. They are smiling and posing for the photo in a room with wood flooring and white perforated wall panels. There is a tall white air conditioning unit and a green potted plant in the background.

A small team, chosen with care.

Our mentors are practitioners: scientists, writers, educators, and strategists from Brown, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, and Michigan, each certified in our methods and chosen because they understand the pressures of high school and how to help students demonstrate their thinking. Some are ILP alumni who now guide the next generation.

A middle-aged man with gray hair smiling, wearing a gray turtleneck sweater, standing indoors next to a wall with artwork.

John Dalton, Director of Strategic Development and AI Integration. A graduate of Brown University (bachelor's in literature, master's in applied mathematics) with an MBA from Columbia. John helps students turn research into action, connecting them with experts and community partners so their projects matter beyond the page.

Woman wearing a straw hat and glasses, smiling, in front of a colorful wall of posters or advertisements.

Jing Wen (Lark), Chinese Cultural Liaison and Program Administrator. An educator with more than twenty years in China–U.S. academic exchange, including two decades teaching at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics. Lark makes sure Mandarin-speaking families are fully part of every conversation.

A smiling man with black glasses and a red polo shirt standing outside a brick building. There is a window behind him with a poster that has the words 'JoyceCharge' and a woman doing a yoga pose.

Patrick Ardinger, M.A., Lead Teacher and Professional Development Coordinator. A Stanford graduate in English and longtime middle school lead teacher at the San Francisco Schoolhouse. Patrick specializes in ethics, storytelling, and the kind of clear writing that sounds like a real person.

Young man wearing a blue cap and blue shirt, smiling, with a blue background.

Zifeng Tang, STEM Advisor and ILP Teacher Certification Trainer. An NYU biology graduate now pursuing graduate study at Columbia. Zifeng helps students bring high school science up to the level universities expect.

A smiling woman with long brown hair, hoop earrings, and wearing a necklace with a flower pendant.

Nicole Pereira, STEM Mentor and ILP Teacher Certification Trainer. An ILP alumna with degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan. Nicole guides students through designing laboratory and community science projects, the same path she once took.

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