Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee was selected by Mayor Muriel Bowser in December 2018 to serve as chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Before joining DCPS, Ferebee served as superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools, where he employed transformation efforts to drive turnaround for low-performing schools and raise the district’s graduation rate by 15 percentage points. During his tenure, graduation rates for Black and Hispanic students surpassed the district average, with Black students also surpassing the state average. Ferebee designed a student-based budgeting process, which allowed schools to innovate in order to meet the needs of their students and improved transparency and equity around the distribution of resources system-wide.

Prior to working for Indianapolis Public Schools, Ferebee was chief of staff for Durham Public Schools in North Carolina, where he reduced to zero the number of schools in Durham designated by the state as “low performing.” Also in North Carolina, he worked for Guilford County Schools as a principal, where he was named Principal of the Year, before serving as an instructional improvement officer and regional superintendent.

Ferebee earned his doctorate in educational leadership from East Carolina University, a master’s in school administration from The George Washington University, and a bachelor’s in elementary education from North Carolina Central University. In 2016, Ferebee was named among Education Week’s Leaders to Learn From. He also received Marian University’s 2016 John A. Purdie Innovator and Mentor of the Year Award. Ferebee serves on the Chiefs for Change Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees for the College Board.