Teri Sperry grew up in Tennessee and Nebraska in a family of educators. She earned a B.A. in English from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with the support of a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities. Soon after graduate school, she moved to Austin, Texas, the vibrant community she has called home ever since.
She spent much of her professional life as a freelance editor, specializing in scholarly books for university presses as well as other educational materials, a profession that allowed her the flexibility to pursue other rewarding roles: urban homesteader, occasional political organizer, school volunteer and PTO officer, and, most importantly, parent. A passionate advocate for education transformation, she became an educational consultant and publisher in 2011, founding Alt Ed Austin to help families learn about the many unconventional schooling options—holistic, progressive, democratic, self-directed, and other child-centered models—in the Austin area. Her goal is always to find the right fit for each kid.
Teri currently spends much of her time observing in schools, researching and writing about education, consulting with parents about schooling options for their children, and collaborating with schools and other educational organizations to support and strengthen the local alt ed community. Most recently, Teri has been delighted to work with her colleagues at Enlight Ignite and partners at Luvmour Consulting to create the International Council for Accrediting Relationship-based Education (ICARE), an accrediting agency that supports schools in strengthening their holistic practices and overall school sustainability while building public trust in relationship-based education.