Inspiration

Putting Children First

As chief of teaching and learning for Boston Public Schools, Lesley Ryan Miller focuses on teacher needs and whole-child development

Decades before assuming the role of chief of teaching and learning for Boston Public Schools, Lesley Ryan Miller knew the value of a good education. Her mother, Sharon Ryan (Sargent’70)—a BU trustee, noted philanthropist, and former occupational therapist—made sure of it. A benefactor of several universities, Ryan eventually named a scholarship in honor of her daughter, which funds the education of future generations of BU Wheelock students.

“It allows someone else to get a really strong education, and then go back into the world and give back,” says Miller (CGS’94, Wheelock’96). “And that means a lot to me.” 

Miller, who grew up knowing she wanted to be an educator, saw her mother’s civic-mindedness as a guiding light throughout her career—a road that took her from educator to principal to administrator in schools in and around Boston. Now, Miller is leveraging her experience to meet the needs of the city’s 125 schools and 46,000 students.

She oversees learning outcomes, educator needs, and whole-child development, among many other day-to-day concerns. Her oversight also includes content areas like STEM and humanities, supporting school libraries, as well as visual and performing arts; promoting BPS’ equitable literacy initiative and multitiered systems of support frameworks; and offering early childhood programs—including universal pre-K, teacher leadership opportunities, and health and wellness programs. In order to maintain a solid perspective of educator and student needs, she can be found working on administrative projects in the BPS central office at the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in Roxbury, Mass., attending city council hearings, and, most frequently, visiting classrooms around the city.

“The most important part of the job is in understanding what’s working and what the problems of practice are, and thinking about how the district-level work contributes to fill the needs that the school has,” Miller says. “That could be teacher support, financial support, procurement support, or professional learning opportunities.”

BU Wheelock’s influence is never far away, she adds.

“It’s in Wheelock’s mission to support Boston Public Schools,” she says, “and I’ve found that they put their money where their mouth is. Anytime we’ve had a need, BU has risen to the occasion.”

Their most recent collaboration is the Dr. Carol Johnson District Leadership Fellowship, named for a visionary former BPS superintendent and one of Miller’s mentors. The fellowship targets district staff and school leaders who want to advance to central office roles like Miller’s. The yearlong BU Wheelock program sees fellows through courses that prepare them for the challenging work of district leadership and culminates in a certificate of advanced graduate study.

“The Carol Johnson Fellowship is critical, because the transition that I made from being an educator, and then moving to central office, is a big one,” Miller says. “There aren’t many programs like this, and BU really rose to the occasion. We said that it was a need, and they responded by talking to professors, building syllabi, thinking about what the competencies were, and then helping us to implement.”

Educational leadership, Miller knows, is like education itself: the more you invest in it, the greater the benefit for all. It’s what her mom taught her early on, it’s a mantle she’s taken up herself, and it’s a philosophy she hopes will be instilled in the leaders who come after her.

“It’s inspiring the way my mom supports schools and does it all in service to what students will gain and then give back to the community,” she says. “She always said, you have to give to get.”