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Robert Spear, Ed.D.

Graduate Adjunct Faculty, Education

Office phone number: (978) 887-6263
e-mail: rspear@plymouth.edu


Profile

Dr. Spear has been an innovative middle level educator for over two and one half decades. Presently, he is the Executive Director of the New England league of Middle Schools and has been in that position for nearly thirteen years. He is in frequent contact and visits numerous schools throughout the New England area to keep abreast of best middle level practices and see first hand exemplary practices. He is a former principal in a school that educators visited to see effective middle level education, and has been a middle level teacher and leader.


Dr. Spear has been active professionally on the national level. He was elected to two terms as an East Region Trustee to the National Middle School Association and is a former NMSA committee member. He is also active in several of the New England state middle level organizations.

Degrees and Education

  • Ed.D. Educational Leadership/Curriculum and Instruction, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 1993
  • Educational 6th Year Degree, Educational Administration, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 1974-1976
  • M.S., Guidance, Central Connecticut State College, New Britain, CT, 1969-1971
  • B.S., Education, Central Connecticut State College, New Britain, CT, 1965-1969

Research Interests

  • Middle Level Education

Publications

  • Author of Taking the Lead in Implementing and Improving Advisory, National Middle School Association, Fall, 2006
  • Author of Interviewing Leaders in Middle Level Education, A series in each issue of The NELMS Journal, 1993 to 2006
  • Co-author of Algebra: Challenge or Barrier, “Re-visioning” Middle Level Mathematics Instruction, The NELMS Journal, Vol. X, No. 2, Spring, 1998.
  • Author of Teacher Perceptions of Ability Grouping Practices in Middle Level Schools, Research in Middle Level Education, Vol. 18, No. 117-130 (fall 1994), NMSA
  • Author of chapters in Transforming Middle Level Education-, Perspectives and Possibilities, Allyn & Bacon 1992
    • "The Process of Change: Developing Effective Middle School Programs"
    • "Appropriate Grouping Practices for Middle Level Students"
  • Author of Middle Level Team Scheduling: Appropriate Grouping for Adolescents, Schools in the Middle, Vol.2, No. 1, 30-34 (Fall 1992), NASSP.
  • Selected participant in 1990 Delphi Study sponsored by National Middle School

Associations, Boards and Committees

  • New England League of Middle Schools – Executive Director, President, President-Elect, Past President, Board of Directors (6 years), member of, executive council, urban, elections, evaluation, institutes and workshops, finance, and by-laws committees, chairperson of the publication and curriculum committees
  • National Middle School Association – East Region Trustee 1996-2002, Resolutions Committee, 1989-1995
  • Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
  • National Association of Secondary School Principals
  • Intemational Reading Association. - Middle Level Literacy Committee
  • Phi Delta Kappa Educational Fraternity
  • National Staff Development Association

Academic Distinctions

  • Observer for 1990 shadow study Inside Grade Eight: From Apathy to Excitement sponsored by NASSP, Reston VA.
  • Recipient of Connecticut Association of Schools Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service to Middle Level Education, May 1998
  • Reviewer for Research in Mddle Level Education Journal
  • Reviewer for middle level and curriculum textbook publishers
  • Member of the joint committee on Middle Level Issues of the International Reading Association and the National Middle School Association
  • Mentor for Danforth Fellows, Developing Leadership for the Twenty First Century; Danforth Foundation, School Leadership Program
  • Advisory Committee member for Project L.E.A.D. (Leadership in Educational Administration Development) representing middle level education
  • Selected as Academy Fellow for year long Principal as Staff Developer: Building a Community Of Leamers Leadership Institute sponsored by Massachusetts Commonwealth Leadership Academy, State Department of Education
  • Selected as Academy Fellow for year long Supervision and Evaluation Leadership Institute sponsored by Massachusetts Commonwealth Leadership Academy, State Department of Education
  • Nominated for Central Connecticut Teacher of the Year, 1973. Trained Assessor for the National Association of Secondary School Principals Assessment Center

Professional Experience

  • Principal/Director of Curriculum Instruction, Staff Development, Southwick/Tolland Regional School District, Southwick, MA, April, 1990 to 1993
  • Principal, Powder Mill Middle School, Southwick, MA, grades 4-8, 1984 to 1993
  • Assistant Principal, Gateway Regional Middle School, Huntington, MA, grades 5-8, 1977-1984
  • Assistant Principal, Gateway Regional Middle School, Huntington, MA, December 1980 to January 1982
  • Teacher, grades 7-9, L.P. Wilson Junior High School, Windsor, CT, 1969-1977
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This page was last revised: 6/30/2009