Making the Common Core Standards Work: Using Professional Development to Build World-Class Schools

Dr. Robert J. Manley graduated from Iona College with a BA in Spanish Language Arts and minors in Philosophy and Education. He completed his MA degree in the Humanities at Hofstra University and his Professional Diploma and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Educational Administration at St. John's University. He taught Spanish language skills and served as an instructor in a New York State Model Humanities program at West Babylon High School. For 21 years, he served in a variety of administrative positions including Assistant Principal at Babylon Jr./Sr. High School, Principal in Plainedge School Distrct, and Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction and Superintendent of Schools in West Babylon, New York. He served as President of the Board of Directors for the Suffolk County Library System and Suffolk County Organization to Promote Education. Currently, he is Professor of Educational Administration and Leadership in the Doctoral Program at Dowling College, New York.In the last six years, he has presented peer-reviewed papers at the Sixth Annual Conference on Social Issues at Oxford University, England; the World Association for Case Research and Application in Mannheim, Germany, and Lucerne, Switzerland; and the Eastern Educational Research Association in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Clearwater, Florida. In addition, he presented workshops on School Board Governance practices at the New York State School Boards Annual Convention and at the National School Boards Conference. On January 8, 2009, he presented Systems That Work for Students in Higher Education as Keynote Speaker at the International Symposium for Quality in Higher Education at Shri M.D., Shah Mahila College of Arts and Commerce, Mumbai, India. In January 2011, his paper titled Indian, Mexican, and USA Management Students Interpret Moral Leadership for a Global Economy was awarded Best Paper for Management at the International Business and Economy Conference at Universidad Panamericana, Guadalajara, Mexico. He is the coauthor with Richard Hawkins of a book on school reform titled Designing School Systems for All Students: A Toolbox to Fix America's Schools.