After receiving her Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology, the first fifteen years of Debbie Furgueson’s teaching career were spent with children identified with Serious Emotional Disturbance, Severe Autism, and Specific Learning Disabilities. She spent 28 years teaching in Virginia, with license endorsements of NK-12 Serious Emotional Disturbance and General Education 3-6. Additional endorsements were earned as Teacher Leader, Mentor Teacher, and Career Teacher. She has also earned, and subsequently renewed, her credentials as a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Middle Childhood Generalist.  Currently, she is a STEM Math 6 certified teacher in Connecticut.

While in Virginia, she served on the Crisis Management Team, was appointed as Lead Teacher on the Behavioral Intervention Team, and held MANDT certification. Due to her background and experience, she was part of a hand selected team from her district sent for intensive behavioral intervention training. The team was then tasked with turn-around training for new teachers in the district with a focus on classroom behavior. It is this training that spurred her journey into further behavioral and trauma study and the development of A Better Classroom. She has subsequently received training in SWIS Data Monitoring and Analysis, Handle With Care, and Restorative Practices. To date, she has trained over 500 educators in grades K-8 helping them design positive classroom environments that best support the teaching and learning communities of their schools.