Howard Road Academy

From the Desk of Stiles X. Simmons, Chief Academic Officer

As your new Chief Academic Officer for Howard Road Academy (HRA), it is my privilege and the highlight of my career to be given the opportunity to lead and learn from a group of educators who care immensely about the academic and social emotional development of children. I am honored to be in a position to contribute to the betterment of my community and society as a whole. As the great Dr. King stated, “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity, importance and must be taken up with painstaking excellence.” In my mind, we should all strive to make a positive difference in the lives of others, especially our children. This is a responsibility that I have taken seriously throughout my professional career.

I began my career in education in 1997 as an elementary teacher at Mann Learning Community (MLC) with Detroit Public Schools. I worked with students at different grade levels and from culturally diverse backgrounds. During my tenure at (MLC), we were recognized as a “Golden Apple” school as well as a grade “A” school for three consecutive years. In 2007, I left the classroom to serve as a Reading First Literacy Coach at MAAT Academy located on the far eastside of Detroit. During my time as a literacy coach, I provided ongoing job-embedded professional development for K-3 teachers and instructional assistants. As a result of our efforts, students at MAAT Academy achieved tremendous gains in the area of reading. In fact, we were recognized by our Superintendent as one of the “top ten most improved” schools in the district. I then decided to broaden my horizons, so I sought and earned a position as principal of Baldwin Elementary School located in Baldwin, Michigan. During my tenure as principal, I successfully led several school-wide reform initiatives—differentiated reading instruction, response to intervention (RtI), and writer’s workshop. The successful implementation of these initiatives resulted in significant student achievement gains. In fact, we were recognized by the Michigan Department of Education as a grade “B” school, after being a grade “C” school for the previous three years.

I fully intend to marshal my talents, knowledge, and skills to help bring about the change necessary to ensure that our students, at HRA, receive the high-quality education that they need and deserve. But, as you know, meaningful change in education occurs when every stakeholder is energized, mobilized, and working towards increased student achievement and performance. I am confident that together, we will accomplish the task at hand.

Stiles X. Simmons

Chief Academic Officer

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