How the Mid-Career Program gave Philly schools CLO Michael Farrell the tools to support others

January 17, 2025
Michael Farrell

Michael Farrell

A sign in Michael Farrell’s office reads “2:30 p.m.” For Farrell, a Penn GSE graduate and chief learning officer (CLO) for the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), the placard is a subtle reminder to support the district’s educators, principals, and students.

“I think, ‘What are they doing at 2:30 p.m., and what are their challenges every day?’” Farrell said. He sees the deadline as a reminder to stay grounded and focus on work in the classrooms before students are dismissed and educators head home.

As a former classroom teacher and principal, Farrell understands the challenges educators and administrators face in supporting their students. He uses that experience to inform his current role, where he provides leadership in creating and implementing professional development for SDP’s educators and leaders.

Farrell is also a 2022 graduate of Penn GSE’s Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, a three-year, executive-style doctoral program. The program offers working professionals in the education field an opportunity to hone their leadership skills in an intense, cohort-based model.

Previously as the principal of West Philadelphia’s Penn Alexander Elementary, a Penn partnership school, Farrell resumed his teaching career as an adjunct professor at Penn GSE. That experience inspired him to further his education.

“I loved being back in a learning space as an instructor and also had a need and desire to find a space for myself to be a learner in a structured way,” he said.

Penn GSE’s Mid-Career Program offered the right opportunity. Farrell, who had moved to SDP’s district leadership as deputy chief of leadership development, could work full-time while studying in a collaborative learning community.

He says the program helped refine his leadership practices, and his cohorts were supportive and collaborative. At Penn GSE, Farrell tackled a dissertation subject he said isn’t often discussed: how white school leaders are supported by their school systems and what training is available to them around anti-racist racial identity.

He studied 25 white male and female school leaders identified as anti-racist by their school leaders “to understand their journey in their anti-racist racial identity development and how it intersected with white identity and how it showed up as a white leader.”

Under Farrell’s leadership, SDP now offers training and support for white school leaders centered on racial identity and anti-racism.

Philadelphia has been Farrell’s home base throughout his life. A West Philadelphia native, he graduated from La Salle University with a dual degree in special education and American studies. Farrell landed his first teaching position in 2007 at the Independence Charter School, where he taught special education for five years. He shifted to leadership as a learning support teacher for the SDP’s Science Leadership Academy-Center City. He later served as the founding principal of Mastery Charter Thomas Elementary School before being named principal at Penn Alexander in 2017.

At Penn Alexander, Farrell said a key goal was to create an equitable learning environment for all students, particularly those not meeting grade-level standards. He took full advantage of Penn’s support, which included supplemental programming and additional resources to reduce class sizes.

Educators and administrators analyzed student data to identify struggling students and create appropriate learning programs. Staff worked closely with students’ families to assess their social, emotional, and academic needs and develop learning plans. Farrell also reallocated resources to increase the number of special education teachers who provided student interventions.

The results speak for themselves. In 2021, Penn Alexander received a coveted National Blue Ribbon from the Department of Education for excellence in closing the achievement gap.

“It was a proof point that school funding matters, and when principals are given additional resources and can think about long-term planning, they can create supports that really meet students in need,” Farrell said.

In his current post as chief learning officer, Farrell’s office directs ten programs that support teacher and leader education and help current employees explore and advance in their careers in district programs. His team leads “Grow Your Own” initiatives for SDP educators, school staff, and classroom assistants interested in earning their teacher or principal’s certificates, who receive support and tuition reimbursement.

Farrell says his duties are centered on improving opportunity and equity for the SDP’s 218 schools, staff, and nearly 116,000 students on his mind.

“We want our students to have a world-class curriculum and world-class opportunities, and our teachers to have world-class learning materials supported through intentional professional learning,” he said.