Tanya Lewis, Director of Curriculum and Assessment with the Yukon Department of Education, is an educator who has served for more than 20 years in a variety of roles across three Canadian jurisdictions: Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and Yukon. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Mathematics, a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) in Secondary Mathematics and English Education and Teaching, and a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum and Instruction from St. Francis Xavier University.

Tanya began her career as a high school teacher of mathematics, sciences, art, and career and life management in Weymouth, Nova Scotia. She later served as a high school teacher of mathematics, sciences, and career and technology studies in Kugluktuk, the westernmost community in Canada’s territory of Nunavut.

Following two years of teaching, she assumed the role of high school consultant in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, where she provided curriculum and assessment support across all subject areas, with a primary emphasis on numeracy and literacy. During this time, she also supported the implementation of multiple graduation pathways for students in the five Kitikmeot communities, particularly in pre-trades and an engineering pilot project, and collaborated with fellow educators to develop Nunavut curriculum documents in social studies and the sciences.

After six years in Nunavut, Tanya relocated to the Yukon, where she has lived for the past 16 years. Her first position in the territory was a seven-year assignment teaching secondary school mathematics and science in Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. In this role, she integrated Yukon First Nations’ ways of “knowing, doing, and being” into the Grades 10-12 mathematics and science curriculum, collaborating with the Kwanlin Dün First Nation Education support teacher, local elders, and Knowledge Keepers to integrate traditional teachings into the curriculum. Tanya subsequently served as a secondary curriculum consultant with the Yukon Department of Education, providing instructional leadership, mentorship, and coaching to teachers in all areas of curriculum and assessment.

She currently serves as Director of Curriculum and Assessment, a role she has held for the past five years. In this position, she directs the activities of curriculum consultants and leads the Curriculum and Assessment unit in assessing, implementing, and evaluating improvements to instructional and assessment practices, grounded in research on best practices. Her responsibilities also include providing professional learning and collaborating with key education stakeholders, such as Yukon First Nations partners and the Yukon Association of Educational Professionals on a range of projects and plans.

As part of her curriculum and assessment portfolio, Tanya highlights her involvement in decolonizing practices, dismantling “colonial” ideologies, structures, and systems, while centering Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. She is also committed to closing the gaps between rural and urban students as a key priority. She describes efforts to implement culturally responsive numeracy and literacy strategies, incorporating the use of locally appropriate examples and texts.

Tanya explains that traditionally, all school authorities in Yukon follow British Columbia’s (B.C.) curriculum and provincial student assessments. Since B.C. has transitioned to computer-based online assessment, using Vretta’s digital platform, Yukon has adopted this approach as well. She expresses strong satisfaction with the online solution, noting that students regularly use technology in their everyday lives and are generally proficient with digital devices. While the implementation of online assessments in remote communities has been largely successful, intermittent Internet connectivity can present challenges.

Reflecting on her career, Tanya takes particular pride in her ability to build relationships, support individuals in professional development, work collaboratively, and foster effective teamwork. She is especially proud of her teams’ accomplishments across the territories, and highlights a highly successful on-the-land science camp she organized in Nunavut. Away from the office, Tanya enjoys outdoor pursuits, such as fishing and camping with her family.