Frank D. Barnes

Frank Barnes has served for over 30 years as an educator, researcher, and organizer. Most recently, Barnes served as the chief accountability officer of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), where he has served in that role for eleven years (2012-2023) in the nation’s 17^th largest school district. Barnes went to CMS from the Boston Public Schools, where he was a teacher, and later held the position of chief accountability officer. In that role he led the design and rollout of the district’s school turnaround strategy, resulting in more than half of the district’s “turnaround schools” (6 of 11) exiting low performing status within three years, with two earning the highest school performance level possible in the state.

Prior to Boston, he was a senior associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, where he worked with urban school districts across the country helping them examine and improve conditions of schooling. He is the author of multiple articles, studies and manuscripts. Most notably, he co-authored the study Breaking the Link, an examination of equity and opportunity in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. He has presented at local, regional, national and international conferences on the topics of equity, accountability, school turnaround and urban school reform. He was the presenter of a Ted Talk on his doctoral research in 2018. He has a B.A. from Macalester College, two masters degrees — in teaching and curriculum and education policy and management — and a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.