James Harris earns doctorate 

Congratulations to Dr. James T. Harris, executive principal of Phoebus High School (PHS), on the successful defense of his dissertation at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. The title of Dr. Harris' dissertation is Principal Leadership for Equity: Actions and Preparedness in One Urban School Division. 

Dr. Harris has led efforts to transform Phoebus High School in both student achievement on standardized assessments and through project-based learning. His leadership efforts have resulted in a leap in science scores, significant yearly increases in the number of young people receiving their associate degrees prior to receiving their high school diploma, and an on-time graduation rate of 98.47%, with a dropout rate of 0%. The results from Dr. Harris' study will be used across HCS as a way to continue our efforts for equitable learning.

Harris is a graduate of Phoebus High School and a Gates Millennium Scholar. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History and a master’s in teaching and education, both from Hampton University.  Harris further pursued his education and earned his Ed.S. in educational leadership and administration from The George Washington University. He was named a 2019 Emerging Leader for the Association for Supervision for Curriculum Development (ASCD).

Harris has been with HCS for 14 years and served as a teacher/instructional leader, an academy principal, and now executive principal at PHS. Prior to joining HCS he worked in a neighboring school district for one year as a teacher, Educational Talent Search, and the Breakthrough Collaborative.