Kari Miller has been a Title I educator for over 20 years. A graduate of the University of Southern California and Pepperdine University, Mrs. Miller spent much of her career in California, teaching kindergarten through 6th grade in Los Angeles Unified, Templeton Unified, and Garden Grove Unified School Districts. In 2008, she was appointed principal of Buena Vista Arts-integrated Magnet School in Ontario-Montclair, California, where she transformed this targeted Program Improvement School into a California High Performing School in just two years. In 2010, Mrs. Miller moved to middle Tennessee and was named the principal of Hillsboro Elementary-Middle School, a rural Title I school south of Nashville. In her five years as principal, Mrs. Miller and her staff have increased English Language Arts achievement scores from 56.6% to 83.0% proficient/advanced, Math scores from 41.5% to 87.4% proficient/advanced, and Science scores from 61.2% to 93.9% proficient/advanced. Recently, Hillsboro was named a 2014 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, the state winner of the middle school 2014 SCORE Prize (State Collaborative on Reforming Education), a 2014 Tennessee Reward School in both Performance and Progress, and the #1 ranked middle school in Tennessee by Niche.com. Mrs. Miller is currently working on her doctorate in Assessment, Learning, and School Improvement at Middle Tennessee State University.