• Educator
• Researcher
• Mama
• Wife
• Advocate

Hello!

My name is Erica Buchanan-Rivera, also known as Dr. EBR.  Throughout my career in education, I have served as a kindergarten teacher, an award-winning principal, a director of curriculum, a chief equity officer, and am adjunct professor. I attended Butler University where I received my bachelor’s degree in elementary education and master’s degree in school administration. My doctoral research centered methods to cultivate an inclusive school environment. I developed an instrument to measure inclusivity within schools, which I described in my book “Identity Affirming Classrooms: Spaces that Center Humanity.” As an educator, I have strived to be the leader I needed as a child while operating in inequitable educational environments that lacked culturally responsive pedagogies. I find joy in helping school leaders and teachers engage in justice-centered work to improve outcomes for students. All students deserve spaces where conditions are conducive for learning. Students also deserve environments where they can be their authentic selves.

My work has been featured in Education Week, Edutopia, MindShift, K-12 Dive, Educational Leadership Magazine, and national podcasts that you can access through this website. I have also been recognized for many awards, including an administrator of the year award for collective efforts that yielded to a high performing school under my leadership. Outside of school systems, I am passionate about mobilizing communities to elevate racial equity. I developed Racial Dialogue Circles (RDCs) within my community, which was designed to ignite conversations about race and justice among people of various racial backgrounds. After the implementation of several circles, community members created a Racial Equity Community Network (RECN). This organization is a network that provides an entry point for people of all backgrounds to work towards rebuilding a just society. Feel free to follow RECN on Facebook.

In my personal life, I am happily married to my best friend Jesús and a proud momma to a beautiful daughter. I enjoy cooking, laughing at my husband’s witty sense of humor, all sweets with chocolate, playing my violin, and spending time with family. If you have read my book or blogs, you know that I am truly blessed to be here and love my people.

Thank you for reading more about my humanity. Please do not hesitate to reach out for support or words of encouragement. We need each other in this era of truth decay and political violence, and I want you to know that you are not alone! There’s power in community.