Claude Nadir is a native Washingtonian and graduate of DC Public Schools. He graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 1997 where he studied Literary and Media Arts. He attended North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina on a full-tuition academic scholarship. In 2001, he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Nadir returned to Washington in February 2002 to teach in DCPS. Since then, his career as an educator has been wildly varied. He has taught at the elementary, middle and high school level; both evening and day programs; general and special education; public, private and charter; and in all quadrants of the city. He completed the Accelerated Certification Program at Trinity University in 2007 and obtained a professional license in Secondary English from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
Nadir has also designed curriculum for, and taught, several elective courses: Digital Music Production, Mural Painting, Career Preparation, Life Skills, and Self-Advocacy. He has also worked as Special Education Coordinator, Transition Coordinator and Vocational Evaluator for students with special needs.
He returned to Trinity for more post-graduate work and earned a Masters of Science in School Administration in 2010. While completing his coursework, Nadir worked in various administrative capacities at schools where he taught. He headed the department chairs at Rock Creek Academy; ran the summer session program at Village Academy and served as their interim Special Education Coordinator; and he wrote the student handbook at Washington Metropolitan High School. He hopes to begin the second phase of his career as a school administrator in the fall of 2011.
