Al Adams

Al Adams received an Ed.D. in administration, planning and social policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (1985), M.A.T. from The Colorado College (1980), and B.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania (1969). He is in his ninth year of “rewirement,” consulting with independent school heads and trustees, and serving as a 1:1 advisor to a number of school heads. This follows Al’s 28 years as a head: 5 at the Cambridge School of Weston (MA) and 23 at San Francisco’s Lick-Wilmerding High School. Earlier in his career, Al was a teacher, coach, and administrator at The Colorado Springs School (C.S.S.), was a founder of the K-6 Children’s School and head of C.S.S.’s pioneering, nationally-acclaimed Middle School. In 1987 he led the creation of the national Network of Progressive Educators, later to become the Progressive Education Network, and was instrumental in developing the Private Schools With Public Purpose consortium.

Al is best known in the education arena for his articles, presentations, workshops and consulting related to leadership, organizational systems, strategic thinking, institutional positioning, diversity/equity/inclusion, and public-private partnerships. During his tenure at Lick-Wilmerding, it became recognized as a national leader in the realms (1) its head, heart, hands curriculum, (2) modeling what it is to be a private school with public purpose and (3) advancing pioneering approaches to access, inclusion and student success.