Panelist: Richard M. Gordon IV

Principal, Paul Robeson High School for Human Services

Richard M. Gordon IV is an award-winning educator who has been the Principal of Paul Robeson High School for Human Services in the West Philadelphia/University City section of Philadelphia, PA for approximately eight years. Slated for closure in 2013 in response to a city financial crisis, Paul Robeson High School was spared at the 11th hour and placed under the leadership of Principal Gordon, whereby his transformative and innovative leadership led the school to be recognized as the “2017 Most Improved High School” in the City of Philadelphia. With a 100% minority student population (95% African-American) and a 100% school poverty rate, Principal Gordon is credited with developing a model college & career readiness program and for achieving a 95% annual graduation rate (the city average is a 70% graduation rate). In 2019, the Pennsylvania State Department of Education recognized Principal Gordon for Paul Robeson High School becoming a “High Progress” school, removing it from State’s list of academically “high needs”/lowest performing schools.

As principal of a small high school in the 8th largest school district in the country, Principal Gordon has won some of the nation's highest honors in education, including the 2021 NASSP National Principal of the Year Award, the 2020 Pennsylvania Principals Association’s State Principal of the Year Award, the 2020 NASSP Distinguished Service to Education Award, and the 2019 National Alliance of Black School Educators’ National Principal of the Year Award.