Anna Maria Mulè is an innovative and successful educator with nearly 20 years of experience in the New York City educational system. Her interest in arts and culture is fed and informed in equal turn by her career, which has prominently featured her support of English Second Language and English Language Learners. In her support of these students, both young and old, she has grown fond of the history these students bring with them.
Anna Maria Mulè’s love of ESL was first introduced through history, as she has long loved it. Both recent and ancient history featured prominently in her education, which brought her to Iona college in 1993, where she began the path to earning a double major in both History and Secondary Education. She ended her undergraduate career in 1997, and she quickly found a position at the Newtown High School. This role allowed her to share her love of history, civics, economics, and more. This is also where she first taught English Language Learners, and she quickly took to the different teaching styles and techniques needed for their success.
Her love of teaching ELL students led her to pursue a role in teaching ESL students, which she found at the Queens Adult Learning Center. She taught adult students English, Civics, and other topics which were key to their success in the U.S.
While gaining teaching experience, Anna Maria Mulè continued her own education, earning her masters in History and Secondary education in 2001, and then her Masters in Education Administration in 2003. These back-to-back masters degrees provided her with a powerful foundation of knowledge with which she repositioned her career aspirations. She realized she could support her interests and students better in an administrative role than she could within the classroom and so, in 2005, she accepted a position as Site Supervisor for the 7th Grade Saturday Preparatory Acadamy in Brooklyn. Here, she focused on support for ESL instruction and collaborated with superintendents to organize model lessons for how to teach ESL and ELL students. She also achieved QTEL certification at this time. Later in the year, she also joined the Region 4 Learning Support Center for a half of a year, where she conducted staff development and coordinated different procedures.
In 2007 she joined the Department of Education to further establish and develop ELL Curriculum to be as effective as possible. Anna Maria Mulè Liasoned with more than 70 schools and piloted the Achieve 3000 program for online literacy. Her experience with the DOE provided her with a wide network of school and education professionals, all of who informed her understanding of the ESL and ELL curriculum, experience, and life. Her love of these students continued to grow, and she found herself seeking a role as principal in order to have a more direct impact on her student’s lives.
She joined the Cobble Hill School of American Studies in 2010. As principal, she implemented a turnaround initiative in order to transform and revitalize the school, seeking to raise the graduation rate above the 56% graduation rate at her hiring. By 2015, the graduation rate was 80%. Her initiatives removed the school from the Schools in Need of Improvement list by 2014.
Anna Maria Mulè spent nearly a decade in the development and leadership of the Cobble Hill School, and she left the position proud of the work she had completed. She joined the Office of School Leadership with the DOE in 2019 and still works there today. As a New Principal Support Coaching Fellow, she serves as a resource for new principals throughout the state to lean on. She provides strategies, mentorship, and professional development to those entering the role.
