In 1989, Deborah Louis began her career in education. Until the fall of 2006 Deborah taught On-Level, Pre-AP, and AP English to middle school, freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior students of diverse ethnicities with a variety of learning styles.
While at Duncanville ISD. from 1990 to 1998, Deborah was appointed Secondary English Vertical Team Coordinator where she coordinated a team of twelve Pre-AP and AP teachers in the design and development of an aligned and comprehensive 7-12 Pre-AP and AP English Program.
In August 1998, Deborah began teaching at Birdville Independent School District where she taught junior AP Language and Composition and senior On-Level English and served as English Vertical Team Coordinator for Birdville High School and its three K-8 feeder schools. In 2002, while still at Birdville, she became an Instructional Technology Specialist, training multidisciplined K-12 teachers in methods of integrating technology into their curricula to meet district, state, and national objectives.
In 2004 Deborah was asked to join Dallas Independent School District as Lead AP English Instructor where she worked with inner city students and teachers in developing programs, coordinating workshops and institutes, and modeling effective lessons in the classroom.
Deborah is a former College Board consultant, conducting numerous one- and two-day workshops as well as summer institutes across the Southwest Region and on the National circuit between 1994 and 2005. In August 2007 she opened Louis Educational Concepts, an independent consulting firm which provides professional staff development training to educators and concentrated instruction to groups of students in all subjects. Deborah’s focus is innovation in education, producing over 35 workshops in English Language Arts and TechEd. She works with philanthropic foundations who entrust her to develop, coordinate, and manage programs to improve the educational experience for students and teachers.
Deborah met Jane Schaffer in 1992 and began using her program with high school students of various learning styles and abilities. Over the years, Deborah attended many of Jane’s workshops and the two developed a professional and personal relationship. In 2007, Jane asked Deborah to become one of her national presenters. After Jane’s diagnosis, she talked with Deborah about carrying forward the Jane Schaffer Writing Program’s legacy. Honored by Jane’s request and committed to spreading JSWP to students and teachers in the digital age, Deborah purchased the Jane Schaffer Writing Program® in 2011. Deborah has a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in English with Emphasis in Classical Rhetoric from The University of North Texas in Denton, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Humanities from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria. She resides in Dallas, Texas.