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Dr. Renard Adams

Dr. Renard Adams

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Dr. Renard Adams, an accomplished educational leader with a history of using data to drive school support and district improvement, will join Portland Public Schools as Chief of Research, Assessment, & Accountability, Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero announced this week.

“We are pleased to welcome a well-regarded leader, Dr. Adams, whose educational background and leadership will bolster our ability to make data-driven decisions that better serve our students and make us a stronger school system,” Superintendent Guerrero said.

Reporting to the Superintendent in this cabinet-level role, Dr. Adams takes over the role previously occupied by Dr. Russell Brown. He will serve as a member of the Superintendent’s Leadership Team and lead the Office of Research, Assessment, and Accountability. He will continue to build on this team’s critical role in the implementation of assessments to inform instruction, ongoing research and evaluation studies, and preparation of data analysis to drive our continuous improvement activities as a school district.

“Data should serve as a flashlight, illuminating our progress and successes as well as our areas for continuous improvement and growth,” Dr. Adams said. “Sharing and discussing our system data publicly will provide ongoing transparency into system performance.”

Dr. Adams comes to PPS from Baltimore County Public Schools, where he served in a variety of leadership roles since 2007, including Senior Executive Director of Curriculum Operations, and Executive Director of Performance Management and Assessment.

He served a leading role in the development and implementation of the district's "Blueprint 2.0: Our Way Forward," a major strategic plan project that spanned five years. Dr. Adams led the way in creating a system-wide framework for program evaluation, including a process to select, approve and acquire programs while using data analysis to streamline processes for principals and teachers.

Dr. Adams has also taught at the university level, as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Goucher University and John Hopkins University, and served as an assistant principal at the elementary and high school levels.

Born and raised in Baltimore, he gravitated toward art, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Art, with a concentration in drawing and illustration, from Morehouse College. He discovered his career direction while working in a job that took him into a classroom.

“I fell into education working one-on-one with a student with multiple disabilities,” Dr. Adams said. “I loved the classroom so much that I went to school and became a middle school special education teacher. There is truly nothing like the spark that occurs when students learn.”