Todd Flaherty

As Deputy in Residence for the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Senior Policy Consultant for the National High School Center, Dr. Flaherty works on secondary school transformation at both the national and state level. Prior to that, as Deputy Commissioner of Education in Rhode Island for twelve years (1995-2007), Dr. Flaherty played a vital role in implementing Rhode Island’s systemic school reform initiatives outlined in the state’s Comprehensive Education Strategy (CES). Working with his SEA teams, he was part of leading and supporting a new set of statewide standards and online K-12 curriculum standards, new large scale assessments through the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), formulating and implementing a set of high school restructuring regulations, and building a Highly Qualified Leaders program and website. Dr. Flaherty has also done substantial work in designing and implementing Rhode Island’s accountability system known as Progressive Support and Intervention (PS&I), primarily with urban districts.

Currently, Dr. Flaherty collaborates with other national policy-making organizations and state education agencies on secondary school redesign, addressing policy development and comprehensive implementation strategies. He has broad experience as a school administrator, and served as president of the RI School Superintendents Association (RISSA) and was principal of two award winning high schools: Governor James B. Hunt (Jr.) High School in North Carolina, and Narragansett High School, Rhode Island. Dr. Flaherty has been a visiting Associate Professor at Brown University focusing on educational leadership in urban and diverse settings. He holds a Bachelors Degree from Syracuse and a Doctorate from Boston University.