Elise Darwish

Elise Darwish served as the founding chief academic officer at Aspire, serving in that role from 1999 to 2016. During her tenure, Elise helped grow the organization to a high-performing charter management organization with 38 schools in Tennessee and California. Throughout her tenure, she held a steadfast commitment to scholars, ensuring that Aspire’s growth was matched with continued quality. 

Following Aspire, Elise served as the CEO of  Ensemble Learning from 2016 to 2023. Ensemble Learning is focused on removing barriers to achievement for multilingual learners with targeted professional development and coaching, serving 190 schools and over 100,000 students nationwide.

Elise’s roots in the charter sector go back to its origin. She was the founding instructional coordinator at the San Carlos Charter Learning Center, the first charter school in California and the second in the nation.

Elise is an Aspen Pahara Fellow and serves on the board of Learning Ally, an organization devoted to literacy, with a particular focus on supporting students with learning differences.