Alumni

Dr. Joshua Starr

Joshua Starr, 8th Cohort ; Superintendent Stamford Public Schools

Dr. Joshua Starr currently serves as the Superintendent of Schools in Stamford Connecticut. This district of over 15,000 students serves a diverse student population through its twenty schools. Dr. Starr has focused much of his first year as Superintendent on ensuring that all students within the Stamford Public Schools are held to high expectations.

Prior to coming to Stamford, Dr. Starr served as the Director for School Performance and Accountability and as the Deputy Senior Instructional Manager for the New York City Department of Education. His administrative experience also includes working as the Executive Director of Operations in Freeport, New York and as the Director of Accountability and Information Management in the Plainfield Public Schools, where he also spent his USP internship. Prior to entering USP, Dr. Starr was a teacher and crisis intervention coordinator for four years at the Brooklyn School for Career Development.

Starr's thoughts on the USP program:

"The Harvard Urban Superintendent's Program has provided me with a way of thinking about urban schools that leads me to believe that all children can be served in our nation's public schools. The classes exposed me to the complex theories and conceptual frameworks that guide my thinking about how to help all children achieve. The extensive network of educational leaders has inspired me to believe that the only thing standing in our way is willpower. The internship gave me direct, hands-on experience with complex reform in an urban school system and forced me to develop new skills that enable me to lead an urban school system in the direction of all students leaving the Stamford Public Schools ready for college."

Dr. Starr received his doctorate and masters in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. The title of his dissertation was Leadership and Local Context: A Qualitative Case Study of the Interagency Collaboration in a New Jersey Community. He also received his masters in Special Education from Brooklyn College. As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Starr received a bachelor of arts in English and History.