Courtney Armistead

Senior Specialist, East Region

carmistead@niet.org

Courtney Armistead, a senior specialist with NIET, partners with district and school leaders across Tennessee and Arkansas to strengthen instructional systems and leadership practices. As assistant director of educator effectiveness team at the Tennessee Department of Education, she supported statewide initiatives such as evaluator certification and student growth portfolios, strengthening her expertise in using data and observation to inform leadership decisions and instructional improvement. Courtney also brings more than a decade of experience in urban, rural, and suburban educational contexts, including roles as RTI and testing coordinator, instructional coach, and classroom teacher. 

Courtney’s work is grounded in a deep understanding of how evaluation, feedback, and aligned systems support instructional quality and student learning. Courtney works alongside superintendents, central office teams, and building and teacher leaders to facilitate professional learning communities, design and deliver professional development, and support sustainable improvement efforts at scale. She believes effective leadership is rooted in clarity, coherence, and shared responsibility for teaching and learning. Courtney brings a relentlessly optimistic, equity-centered approach to her work, focused on strengthening systems, building leadership capacity, and improving outcomes for all students.

Courtney earned a Master of Education in education policy from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, a bachelor’s degree in education from Tennessee State University, and is bilingual.

Courtney Armistead

Who is your favorite teacher?

While I have had a plethora of phenomenal teachers cross my path, Ms. Jackson, my son's kindergarten teacher, is among my favorites. She remembers and connects to each and every one of her students for a lifetime. When we see her in public, she rushes to embrace my teenage son and calls him his childhood nickname. She has repeatedly expressed an interest in being present at his graduations, marriages, and births, and sends us a Christmas card every year. Her commitment to relationship-building and a positive culture and climate resonates in our community and her students maintain close, personal connections to one another long after they've left her classroom. Ms. Jackson is one of those teachers that leaves each person she encounters feeling unique, seen, and cared for, and inspires me to do the same.

What was your favorite subject in school and why?

In school, my favorite subject was, and still is, world languages. I took five years of French and many more of Spanish. I am invigorated by the process of learning something completely new from the ground up. Learning languages is simply fun, but it also provides an opportunity to delve intimately into world culture and explore a variety of disciplines through a new lens. Through language learning, I also study history, music, and literature, and have the opportunity to travel, connect, and build relationships.

What do you do in your free time?

In addition to world travel (I've been to 8 countries!) and spending time outdoors with my family, I am an avid cyclist. In a good week, I ride my bike over 150 miles and love nothing more than to be on the road on two wheels.