Richard Lemons

Richard Lemons serves as the Executive Director of Partners for Educational Leadership, a non-profit organization that partners with school districts to support leadership development, systemic change, large-scale instructional improvement, and equitable practices in order to improve learning, achievement and life outcomes for all children.   The organization leads programs such as the Superintendents’ Network, facilitates the Systemic Instructional Improvement Program (SIIP) Network, and also partners with numerous Connecticut districts.  

Richard has a long history of working on issues of equity and urban school improvement from within important education institutions. He served as Vice President of Program and Policy at The Education Trust, a national organization relentlessly committed to shrinking the achievement gaps that plague our educational system. He served as Associate Director for the Harvard Change Leadership Group, a research and professional development center focused on helping districts improve. He also served as a faculty member at the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut.  Before these positions, Richard served as a teacher, literacy coach and change coach.

Richard has worked with dozens of U.S. school districts and has consulted to schools and districts across the globe, taking him from Jordan to South Africa.  Richard earned his Ed.M. and Ed.D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He earned his BA in Political Science from North Carolina State University. Richard has been published on a range of topics including leadership development, professional learning, organizational change, instructional quality, and equity in schools.