Shawn Joseph, Ed.D. — career educator, scholar, and advocate for students — brings more than three decades of experience in public education to Prince George’s County Public Schools.

Prior to his appointment as Interim Superintendent, Dr. Joseph served as an assistant professor of educational leadership, administration and policy at Howard University, home to one of the nation’s top-ranked colleges of education. He also served as co-director of the AASA/Howard Urban Superintendents Academy, through which he mentored top administrators in local school districts across the country on priorities including academic improvement, program evaluation, and student-focused budgeting. Additionally, Dr. Joseph is a leader in the NSBA/Howard School Board Governance Academy, through which he supports local school board members in areas such as budgeting, policy development, and superintendent evaluation.

Dr. Joseph also serves as a senior associate with HYA, a national network of education experts who assist public-school districts in recruiting and developing great leaders. In that role, Dr. Joseph has helped place top administrators in school districts across the country, leading or co-leading leadership searches in districts including: Atlanta (Ga.) Public Schools; Clark County (Nev.) School District; Montgomery (Ala.) Public Schools; Paterson (N.J.) Public Schools; and Rochester (N.Y.) City School District.

Dr. Joseph understands the challenges and opportunities facing Prince George’s County Public Schools.

From 2014-16, he served as PGCPS’s deputy superintendent for teaching and learning and, during that time, the district increased access to rigorous academic programming while prioritizing literacy training and supports to schools. Earlier in his career, he spent 16 years as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, and district administrator in Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools. Additionally, Dr. Joseph served as superintendent for the Seaford (Del.) School District and Metro Nashville (Tenn.) Public Schools.

Dr. Joseph is the recipient of numerous recognitions for his work to improve academic outcomes for historically marginalized students. He is a past recipient of the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals’ Middle School Principal of the Year Award, the Tennessee Tribune’s Person of the Year Award, and the American Educational Research Association’s Outstanding Dissertation Award for Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership.

Through his leadership posts, Dr. Joseph has served on the boards of the Council of the Great City Schools, an association of large urban school systems, and Learning Forward, the nation’s leading educator professional development organization. His work has been published in leading education journals and magazines including: AASA’s School Administrator, NASSP’s Principal Leadership, Urban Education, Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, Theory Into Practice, and Journal of Negro Education. He is the author of “The Principal’s Guide to the First 100 Days of the School Year” (Routledge).

Dr. Joseph holds a doctoral degree in educational administration and policy studies from George Washington University, a master’s degree in reading education from Johns Hopkins University, and a bachelor’s degree in English education from Lincoln University, the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU. He is a native of Central Islip, N.Y.