Dr. Vernon-James Riley

Vernon-James Riley, Ed.L.D., is the Founder and Chief Education Officer of VJR Consulting Firm, through which he and his consultants network train, coach, and support school and system-level leaders to strengthen the mindsets, skills, habits, and systems necessary for transformative instructional leadership—ultimately driving teacher development and accelerating student growth and achievement. Known as a knowledgeable and dynamic facilitator of adult learning, Vernon-James has led professional development for over 10,000 educators in cities across the U.S. and the United Kingdom, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia, New York City, San Antonio, Tulsa, Washington, D.C., and more.

 

Vernon-James recently served as Vice Provost of National Leadership Programs on the Professional Education Team at the Relay Graduate School of Education. In this role, he set the vision and led the implementation of nationally scaled leadership fellowships for school and district leaders. In previous roles at Relay, he delivered high-impact professional development and on-the-ground coaching on school culture, instructional planning, observation-feedback, data-driven instruction, and strategic planning to principals, assistant principals, and instructional coaches across PK–12 public, private, and charter schools. His coaching has contributed to double-digit gains in student proficiency and significant reductions in the number of students performing at the lowest levels on state assessments within a single year at multiple schools.

 

Earlier in his career, Vernon-James served as Principal of North Star Academy West Side Park Middle School in Newark, New Jersey—a National Blue Ribbon School and part of the Uncommon Schools network. Under his leadership, the campus achieved significant academic growth, with all grades outperforming state averages in Math and exceeding the performance of New Jersey’s non-economically disadvantaged students in English Language Arts. He began his career as a teacher, Dean of Students, and Director of Operations.

 

Vernon-James holds a Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, an Ed.M. in Organizational Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University, an Ed.M. in Instructional Leadership from Relay Graduate School of Education, an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from Michigan State University, and a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University. He is a certified “platinum” alumnus of the Leverage Leadership Institute, a certified Data Wise Coach, and an alumnus of the Education Pioneers Fellowship.