The Opportunity Trust

Ayanna Banks serves as the Associate Partner for Instructional Excellence and Equity at The Opportunity Trust. Most recently, Ayanna was the Manager of Academic Operations at Noble Schools leading network-wide projects and coaching campus leaders. She has served young people across the nation as a teacher, instructional leader, assistant principal, and coach. In her work, she spearheaded and executed a successful school turnaround achieving exceptional academic and school climate growth.

In 2010, Ayanna was named Teacher of the Year at Austin High School in Sugar Land, TX and later named one of three Secondary Teacher of the Year finalists by Fort Bend Independent School District. In 2015, Ayanna published her first book, Quick Lessons for Algebra Readiness.

Ayanna earned a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her MEd specializing in math from Cambridge College, and is currently earning her MBA from Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with emphases on Business Analytics and Entrepreneurship & Strategic Innovation. She is also a Forté Foundation Fellow.

Email Ayanna: abanks@theopportunitytrust.org