Early learning · Education policy · Austin, Texas
Early learning at the scale of public systems.
I spent twelve years in Istanbul’s public preschools as a teacher, vice principal, and head of a preschool branch, where I made a new teaching model work for thousands of children inside national standards. Now, with a master’s in education policy from The University of Texas at Austin, I want to help shape how technology and public policy serve young children.
What I bring
I know how early learning works from the inside, from one classroom to a whole school system.
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Running programs at scale
As vice principal of one of the largest public preschools in Turkey, I planned schedules for 19 classes, coached 30 teachers, and set up 14 staff commissions to run the school. About 2,500 children learned there during those five years.
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Making new ideas work within the rules
School-Without-Walls let children learn across age groups, rooms, and hours, with time outdoors every day. My job was to make it work within every standard of Turkey’s national preschool program, in every class.
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Reaching families the system misses
I managed operations for Traveling Schools, the school’s mobile kindergarten: buses fitted out as classrooms that brought free preschool to families who could not afford it. At school, I led the first-week program that welcomed about 900 children and their families each year.
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Working across systems and cultures
I trained and led in Turkey’s public schools, earned a certificate in outdoor education and forest kindergartens through a Finnish and Turkish program, and studied education policy in the United States. I also know what it is like to meet a new system as a newcomer, which is how many families meet school. In Austin, I host a monthly Turkish Story Time for young children at the Central Library.
What I learned
A new idea reaches children at scale only when it can live inside the rules of a public system. Technology is no exception.
- 2012–2017 School-Without-Walls An alternative preschool model, run inside the national program across 19 classes and 30 teachers.
- 2012–2017 Traveling Schools Buses fitted out as classrooms, bringing free preschool to neighborhoods where families could not afford it.
- 2012–2017 The first week Registration, orientation, and an adaptation program for about 900 children and families a year.
- 2017–2020 Learning centers and outdoor days Four learning centers, a school-wide Outdoor Classroom Day, and an internship program with universities.
Now
I am looking for work where public education, policy, and technology meet.
I live in Austin and completed my M.Ed. in Educational Policy and Planning at The University of Texas at Austin in May 2026. I am interested in education partnerships and public-sector programs at technology companies, learning products for young children, and policy roles at the institutions that shape early education.
