Courtney Acosta, EdD, is a veteran educational leader with more than two decades of experience spanning classroom instruction, campus administration, district leadership, and national virtual schooling. She currently serves as Senior Director of Compliance and Accountability and Head of School for Apex Learning Virtual School at Edmentum, where she provides strategic leadership.

Before transitioning to national and virtual education leadership, Dr. Acosta held multiple senior leadership roles in Georgetown ISD and Round Rock ISD in Texas, including Chief Strategist of Systems and Operations, Executive Director of Campus Operations and School Leadership, and Principal of McNeil High School. 

Through The EdLeadership Pair, Dr. Acosta brings a systems-level, compliance-informed, and practitioner-grounded perspective to conversations about leadership, school improvement, virtual education, and the real work behind sustainable excellence in schools.

Mario Acosta, EdD, is an award-winning educator, author, speaker, and presenter. He spent 20 years of his career as a teacher, instructional coach, assistant principal, academic director, and principal. He was named the 2022 Principal of the Year in Texas while serving Westwood High School, a U.S. News & World Report top-50 campus. 

Dr. Acosta has had success in leading schools of all sizes, with students and teachers from a variety of backgrounds. He’s led “school turnaround” in high-poverty middle and high schools in Texas, which yielded immediate and significant growth in student achievement data.

Dr. Acosta is the author of The Schools Our Students Deserve. He is also the coauthor of several books, including ReImagining School Climate; Five Big Ideas for Leading a High Reliability School; Culture Champions; Culture Keepers; and Professional Learning Communities at Work® and High-Reliability Schools.