Joanna Merrithey

Director, ELA

Joanna started her career with CSA Education right out of college, working her way up to become the Director of ELA. Joanna oversees all editorial ELA projects at CSA. Her priority is understanding the client’s expectations and vision for each project and building the teams that will execute those plans. She communicates with clients and with CSA’s team leads throughout the duration of each project to ensure that all deliverables are of high quality. She has been known to support her many teams by writing, editing, reviewing, and copyediting as needed to get the project done. 

Along her journey, Joanna worked as an editor and studied under the guidance of many well-respected phonics experts with decades of contribution to the curriculum development industry. Discovering her talents included excellent communication skills, creative problem solving, and synthesis of materials, Joanna began managing projects and learning the skills needed to integrate lesson plans into a final cohesive product. Her attitude and dedication has helped her mentor and teach newer editors. Combined with her own congenial and outgoing personality, her skills have led her to become an effective Director of ELA. Respected and highly regarded by her coworkers and clients, Joanna is successful in maintaining a collaborative line of communication with clients while encouraging and motivating her team. Throughout her tenure, Joanna has been a consistent and reliable team member, actively contributing to a variety of programs and products for publishers such as Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill Education, as well as Benchmark and EMC School. 

The following items represent the range of her experience and expertise:

• Managing and mentoring large editorial teams through all stages of curriculum development
• Creating decodable books and passages along with corresponding lessons for GK–G2 
• Supporting teams to write and edit comprehension questions for GK–G6 readers
• Developing lessons plans for daily, live-action classes for kindergarten
• Writing student consumables for teaching and practicing handwriting skills
• Designing student activities, word games, and infographics for preK–G8
• Establishing teams to create valid, authentic assessments for GK–G8
• Collaborating with clients on prototypes and proofs of concept to align with the client’s vision
• Maintaining clear communication with clients, team leaders, and supporting staff

Joanna earned her BS in Print Journalism from the University of Illinois, Champaign–Urbana, and continues to support educational endeavors as a volunteer reader within her community.  Joanna works to ignite a passion for books, storytelling, reading, and learning in young people through her professional and personal work.

Joanna may have ended up in the educational publishing industry, but deep down she hopes one day she can experience her dream job: meteorologist.