Harrison Peters is the former state turnaround superintendent of Providence Public Schools in Rhode Island. Prior to that, Peters was the deputy superintendent and chief of schools for Hillsborough County Schools in Florida, where he oversaw the day-to-day operations of 250 campuses educating 220,000 students. His team of eight area superintendents, 850 administrators, and 15,000 teachers helped drive record-breaking graduation, industry certification, and college scholarship rates and significantly reduced the student achievement gap.

Peters began his career as an elementary school teacher in Apopka, Fla. Following that formative time in the classroom, he served in a number of leadership roles, including dean of students; assistant principal; principal; assistant superintendent; deputy superintendent; and chief of schools. His work in large districts—including Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Chicago Public Schools, Houston Independent School District, and Hillsborough County Schools—presented opportunities and challenges related to transforming some of the toughest schools in the country. As chief of schools on the Southside of Chicago, Peters was credited with significantly increasing ACT scores, reading and math proficiency, and graduation rates.

Peters is a proud veteran of the United States Navy. He earned a bachelor’s from the University of West Florida in elementary education, a master’s in education leadership from Nova South Eastern University, and a specialist’s degree in school transformation from the University of South Florida. He was honored as Zeta Tau Lambda’s Outstanding Educator and is an alumnus of the third cohort of the Future Chiefs leadership development program.