by Great Schools Partnership
The Great Schools Partnership (GSP) announced earlier today that founder and executive director, David Ruff, will be retiring from his position after 17 years—each one spent endeavoring to improve outcomes for all students. David’s retirement is effective June 30, 2024.
“A visionary leader and passionate advocate, David has dedicated his professional life to the cause of equitable access to quality education,” said Sean T. Findlen, president of the GSP Board of Directors. “Since the founding of the Great Schools Partnership in 2007, David’s vision and efforts have made a lasting impact on schools, teachers, and most importantly, countless students across Maine, New England, and beyond. On behalf of the GSP Board, we are grateful for David’s service, we celebrate his many achievements, and we wish him all the best in his next chapter.”
“GSP is an amazingly robust organization with incredible staff who are ready to navigate and lead the organization in its current and future work,” noted Ruff. “I am immensely proud of the organization we have built and the impact we have had on public education in New England. What started as an idea to fulfill a need has had a major impact on classroom practices and state policy across hundreds of schools. I am tremendously excited to see what the future brings for GSP, my dear colleagues here, and my many, many friends who have continued to press for educational redesign in schools, districts, and state agencies across the region. It has been a unique honor to work with all of them.”
GSP began in 2007 as a small team with limited influence across New England. Under Ruff’s leadership, GSP developed and facilitated the New England Secondary School Consortium that brought together the six New England state education agencies to promote personalized learning that incorporated proficiency-based learning. As GSP grew in influence, the organization expanded its reach to fully incorporate deep community engagement strategies and to align its work with a deep educational equity stance.
Currently, GSP provides coaching support to over 75 schools or districts and has worked in 18 states across the U.S. This work includes schools and districts in every New England state, a collaboration with the Vermont Agency of Education to support development of a statewide portrait of a graduate, efforts with the Washington State Board of Education to pilot mastery-based learning aligned with culturally responsive sustaining education, and a regional strategy to racially, ethnically, and linguistically diversify the educator workforce. The GSP website remains a wealth of free in-depth resources on these subjects—available for any educator teaching anywhere in the world.
GSP will be starting a national search for David’s replacement starting in December. All interested applicants are encouraged to watch our website or follow our LinkedIn profile for announcements, or email EDsearch@greatschoolspartnership.org.
