As Philly’s New Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Farrell ’03 Leads With Students at the Center

In his two decades in education, one thing about Dr. Michael Farrell ’03 has remained constant: students sit at the center of all that he does.

Now, Farrell is helping shape the educational experience of the more than 115,000 students in Philadelphia’s public schools. After four years as the School District of Philadelphia’s Chief Learning Officer, he was recently named Chief Academic Officer.

“We believe that our students should have a robust, world-class teaching and learning experience regardless of what classroom they are in or what school they attend,” says Farrell.

In his new role, Farrell oversees the Office of Teaching and Learning and the Office of Curriculum and Instruction, a recently created, 300-person office that brings together the previous offices of Professional Learning, Curriculum and Instruction, and Career Advancement

For Farrell, equity of opportunity is central to that work. A student at Martin Luther King Jr. High School who wants to take an Advanced Placement course, for example, should have access to the same opportunities as a student at Central High School.

“A lot of work now is being done around ensuring student access across the district,” he says.

It’s a big job, with the potential to impact generations of Philadelphians. Farrell brings to it experience at nearly every level of education along with a belief that schools can transform students’ lives.

Even as a Prep student, Farrell knew he wanted to pursue a career in education. He attended La Salle University, where he studied Education and American Studies, the latter inspired in part by a class taught by Bill Conners ’80 and Dr. Chris Rupertus that he particularly enjoyed as a sophomore at the Prep.

After college, Farrell taught special education and math at Independence Charter School in Center City before moving to Science Leadership Academy, where he served as Learning Support Coordinator. After being laid off by the School District during a period of budget cuts, he became the founding principal of a new Mastery Charter school in South Philadelphia.

“This was an incredible opportunity to design the school, hire the staff, set the tone of a school community,” Farrell says.

He was grateful for the resources and support provided by Mastery, but also valued the autonomy he had to shape the school.

“We were able to build it from the ground up — what I thought was a world-class, well-rounded student experience, with access to the arts and music as well as science labs.”

The school quickly caught on in the community. When Farrell left five years later, more than 1,200 students were on the waiting list for the K-6 school.

He was then recruited to lead Penn Alexander School, a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania and the School District of Philadelphia. While Penn Alexander was a high-achieving school overall, there was a significant racial achievement gap between white students and students of color.

“We were tasked to think differently about how we support various learners: English Language learners, special education, etc.,” Farrell says. The school’s success in narrowing that gap earned Penn Alexander recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School.

Farrell’s success at the school level eventually brought him to the District’s Central Office, giving him the opportunity to expand his impact from one school to schools across the city. As Deputy Chief of Leadership Development, he created professional learning, coaching, and advancement opportunities for principals and assistant principals throughout the District’s more than 200 schools. His success in that role led to another opportunity: Chief Learning Officer, expanding his focus to the District’s entire workforce, including teachers and other staff.

“We developed some really innovative programs,” he says. Among them was an initiative to help classroom assistants and paraprofessionals complete their degrees, earn teaching certifications, and become teachers in the District. More than 150 participants are now working as teachers in Philadelphia schools.

“While we love to bring in people from outside of Philadelphia, it is so important that we grow from within where we can,” Farrell says.

Farrell has big ideas, but he is also realistic about the challenges facing the District.

“The School District is historically underfunded, so we know we can’t do this alone,” he says. “We are continuing to look for partners to leverage resources to build out programming throughout the city.”

With a role that requires him to think about education on a system-wide level, Farrell makes a point of regularly returning to the place where that work matters most: schools and classrooms.

“Seeing our students and our teachers always recenters my thinking and excites me,” he says.

He also understands the demands placed on the teachers and staff doing the work every day. His message to them is a reminder of the limited time educators have to make a difference in the life of a child.

“I try to remind them that our third graders only get third grade once, ninth graders only get ninth grade once, etc.,” he says. “Our parents are sending us the best that they have every day. We have an enormous responsibility to center those students and push them academically and socially over the 13 years that we have them.”

It’s a philosophy Farrell traces, in part, to his own experience at 17th & Girard.

“I received a world-class education at the Prep, with robust student activities and relationships formed in the classrooms, but also after school in the afternoons and evenings,” he says. “I learned at the Prep that every school should have something for every student, and that every student should have someone in the building championing them.”

Farrell had those champions himself — mentors and teachers who became lifelong friends. Today, his work is focused on giving Philadelphia students the same gift.

“I want to ensure that every student in the School District has a champion for them too.”