Johnny Duda, Ed.D.

Johnny is the developer of Functional Learning, the method underlying all of Vault Prep's instruction — an approach built on three literacies: comprehension, critical thinking, and problem solving.

He graduated from Harvard University in 1999 and received his doctorate in Education from UCLA in 2011. Before founding Vault Prep, he was Executive Director of the Student Voice Project, a nonprofit serving students and teachers in some of Los Angeles's most under-resourced schools. Before that he spent years in the classroom, teaching everything from middle school special education math to AP Physics, World History, and Ethics at the high school level.

Alongside developing Vault Prep's programs, Johnny continues to teach a small number of students himself each year — the practice that keeps the method grounded in what actually happens when a student works through a problem.

A portion of the practice is reserved each year for scholarship students, funded by his work with full-paying families.