Barbara Patrick-Lashley

Dr. Barbara Patrick-Lashley is the new Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning for Rome City Schools, Rome, Georgia. However, she began her tenure as a dedicated educator with Montgomery Public Schools and has 30+ years of productive experience in education, with a latter focus on leadership development.

Dr. Lashley most recently served as Chief of Literacy on the senior cabinet of the Superintendent for the East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBR), the second largest district in the state of Louisiana, serving 41,000 students. During the first 10 months of Dr. Lashley's tenure, to strengthen school and community relations, she initiated the establishment of the Mayor's Joint Task on Literacy. The task force was charged with the development of the Literacy Blueprint which reflected the voices of teachers; parents; students; and other key community stakeholders. Additionally, Dr. Lashley created a cadre of district coaches and coordinators, which resulted in the hiring, training, and leadership development of 45 school-based literacy coaches. The implementation of Tier I literacy instruction led to meeting the goal of 3-5 % growth on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment, yielding on or above grade level increases:18% for kindergarteners; 18% 1st graders; 7% 2nd graders, and 3% 3rd graders. Ultimately, EBR students' performance grew overall 2% in grades 3-10.

As the first minority Director of Elementary Literacy, she led the literacy initiative for 74 Metro Nashville Public Schools, Nashville, Tennessee, resulting in literacy scores outpacing the state for the first time. Measuring Academic Progress (MAP) reading data results (2017-2019) out-paced national average in grades 3-8 (with exception of grade 5). Dr. Lashley established a cadre of Central Office Lead Literacy Coaches, of which she hired, trained, and developed an accountability system to support the district's 74 elementary schools in coaching for implementation of Tier I literacy instruction.