Richard Lemons has spent the last three decades working in and around public education. He began as a high school teacher in North Carolina, then became a literacy coach in Boston, worked at a think tank at Harvard, and moved to Washington DC to serve as an educational civil rights policy advocate. Today, in addition to teaching at Yale, he is the Executive Director of Partners for Educational Leadership, a non-profit that partners with school districts to improve “leadership, equity, and large-scale systemic and instructional improvement.”
Dr. Lemons currently teaches EDST 290: Leadership, Change, and Improvement in Education. The course examines the complex realities of school improvement in the United States while highlighting the leadership required to initiate the change. At the end of the semester, teams of students present their learning to an audience of public education leaders from across the state and nation. Dr. Lemons describes this as a “special evening” where guests including state commissioners, dozens of superintendents, and other prominent education figures are welcomed to consider the students’ insightful work.
Dr. Lemons continues to explore what constitutes high-quality teaching and learning, and how we can improve classrooms across the US in an equitable way. He says he has been blessed to meet “so many amazingly talented students and future leaders who will leave their mark in this world” throughout his career.