Michael McDowell,Ed.D.

Author

Michael McDowell, EdD has been a public school educator for the past eighteen years serving in the roles of classroom teacher, academic and athletic coach, school principal, assistant superintendent of personnel and instruction, and superintendent. Dr. McDowell currently serves as the Superintendent of the Ross School District. Previously, Dr. McDowell was a national faculty member for the Buck Institute of Education, adjunct professor at San Francisco State University, a school development coach at the New Tech Network, and an advisor to educational organizations focused on equity, excellence, and innovation.

His practical expertise in schools and systems is complimented by his scholarly approach to leadership, learning, and instruction. He holds a BS, MA, and EdD Dr. McDowell received the Tom Fine Creative Leadership Work for his doctoral work. Moreover, over his career, schools under his leadership have received Distinguished School Accolades. In addition to his vocation, Dr. McDowell contributes his time to his community by participating as the Chair for the Operational Steering Committee of the Special Education Local Plan Area, board member for the School of Environmental Leadership and as the advisory chair for One Percent for Education.

Over the course of his career, Dr. McDowell has authored bestselling books, provided keynotes and workshops, and provided practical tools and resources for thousands of teachers and leaders on almost every continent around the world. He is the author of several books including Rigorous PBL by Design: Three Key Shifts for Developing Confident and Competent Learners (2017), The Lead Learner: Increasing Clarity, Coherence and Capacity for All (2018), Developing Student Expertise: A Guide for Ensuring Students Excel to High Levels of Achievement and Beyond (2019), Teaching for Transfer: A Guide for Designing Learning with Real-World Application (2020), The Busy Teacher: Differentiation for Every Classroom (2021), Rigor Redefined: Ten Teaching Habits for Surface, Deep, and Transfer (2024) and A Visual, Step-by-Step Guide for Re-Envisioning Rigor: Powerful Routines for Promoting Learning at High Levels (2024).

A prolific author and consultant, Dr. McDowell is recognized as one of the leading authorities on integrating innovative and impactful practices into schools. Offering keynotes and executive coaching to heads of school around the world, he partners with educational leaders to implement high leverage strategies that will enhance teaching and learning in classrooms, schools, and systems.