Dr. Berman has been a policy leader in all three states in which he served as superintendent, as well as nationally. In Massachusetts, while serving as president and board officer for the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS), he led a Special Education Task Force that proposed and then facilitated the legislative passage of significant additional funding for special education. Known as the Circuit Breaker, this part of the school funding formula now provides approximately $500 million in additional annual funding to Massachusetts school districts. He also represented MASS on a coalition of special education organizations—the Coalition for Special Education Funding—that worked with the legislature on special education issues. In addition to his work on special education, he led a task force focused on charter schools to help resolve the tensions between public and charter schools in the state and served on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Civic Learning and Engagement Task Force.
In Kentucky, he was a leader in promoting school integration and preventing the resegregation of Jefferson County’s public schools. He also led statewide work with the superintendents’ association in balanced assessment approaches. He served on the Governor’s Task Force on Transforming Education in Kentucky as well as on the Governor’s School Curriculum, Assessment and Accountability Council. He also served on the executive board of the Kentucky Association of School Administrators (KASS), and on the boards of directors of Greater Louisville Inc. (the Louisville Chamber of Commerce), Kentuckiana Works (Workforce Investment Board), the Louisville Zoo Foundation, the Louisville Fund for the Arts, and the Muhammad Ali Center.
In Oregon, he continued his policy leadership, co-chairing a task force to re-imagine grades 9-14 through the integration of college courses into secondary schools and the acceptance of credit for those courses at the community college and university level. In addition, he served on the Vision and Policy Coalition and the Funding Coalition of the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA).
Nationally, he has been a policy leader and advocate for social-emotional learning, student civic engagement, and inclusive approaches to education such as universal design for learning and the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program. Most recently, he has taken a leadership role in addressing the attacks on public education around equity, inclusivity, the teaching about race and history, social-emotional learning, book banning and other issues.
Rose, J. (Host). (2024, October 2). Leader Chat: Ep96 – The Call to Courage with Sheldon Berman and Luvelle Brown. Cognia. Webinar: https://vimeo.com/1015372389/9fd194aefa. Podcast: Episode 96: The Call To Courage with Sheldon Berman and Luvelle Brown – Leader Chat With Jeff Rose | Podcast on Spotify
Stiepleman, P. (Host). (2024, September 17). The Call to Courage: Shelley Berman navigates divisive forces in education. [Podcast episode]. The imperfect leader: The superintendents and leadership podcast. Liberated Syndication. https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/33029662
Collins, J. (Host). (2024, August 20). Call to Courage: Standing Up for Public Education with Sheldon Berman [Audio podcast]. Red Wine & Blue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9k-qBo-6C4
The Call to Courage: Standing Up and Speaking Out Against the Assaults on Democracy, Educators, and Students in America’s Schools (with Luvelle Brown). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2024.
Taking a stand against divisive concepts laws. School Administrator, Vol. 80, No. 5, May 2023; reprinted in online issue July, 2024.
Becton, S. (Host). (2024, March 18). Student engagement and positive culture: A discussion for school leaders, with S. Berman and C. Johnson-Dean [Webinar]. Facing History and Ourselves. https://www.facinghistory.org/learning-events/student-engagement-positive-culture-discussion-school-leaders
Vincent, K. (Host). (2024, February 1). Responsive classroom adoption: Insights from school leaders, with S. Berman, A. Nichols, M. Cretsinger, and A. Sansone. [Webinar]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1wAt_IE0lE
Reclaiming the narrative: Pushing back to protect teaching, important content and students’ sense of belonging. School Administrator, Vol. 80, No. 2, February 2023; reprinted in online issue July, 2023.
Stiepleman, P. (Host). (2024, January 30). Dr. Sheldon Berman talks integration, division, and the importance of knowing our history. [Podcast episode]. The imperfect leader: The superintendents and leadership podcast. Liberated Syndication. https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/29638348
Authentic settings for studying problems of practice. School Administrator, Vol. 72, No. 3, March 2015.
Recalling public schooling’s larger aims. School Administrator, Vol. 71, No. 10, November 2014.
Re-imagining grades 9-14. A report by the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators and the Oregon Association of School Executives to the Accelerated Learning Committee of the Oregon Legislature. (Workgroup Co-Chair). Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, May 1, 2014.
The resegregation of America’s public schools. School Administrator, Vol. 70, No. 11, December 2013.
Our hearts are broken. In AASAConnect, website of the American Association of School Administrators, December 19, 2012.
Foreword. In Richard Sagor and Deborah Rickey, The Relentless Pursuit of Excellence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2012.
The achievement gap vs. the empowerment gap. Citizenship Matters. Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States, September 2010.
Commitment to equity unbowed. The Ole Landmark: Newsletter from the Greater Louisville Alliance of Black Educators, Vol. 10, no. 3, Fall 2007.
How to reform the charter school program (with Thomas Scott). CommonWealth, Vol. 10, no. 2, Summer 2005.
Beyond discord: Resolving the tensions between charter and public schools. Report of the Charter School Task Force, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, March 2005.
Effective recruitment and induction: Lessons learned. In J. I. Goodlad and T. J. McMannon (Eds.), The Teaching Career. New York: Teachers College Press, 2004. Link to editor’s review.
Vouchers leave behind the neediest (with Christopher Martes). CommonWealth, Vol. 7, no. 2, Special Issue 2002.
The rising costs of special education in Massachusetts: Causes and effects (with Perry Davis, Ann Koufman-Frederick, and David Urion). In C. E. Finn, A. J. Rotherham and C. R. Hokanson (Eds.), Rethinking Special Education for a New Century. Washington, DC: Progressive Policy Institute and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, 2001.
The impact of special education reform: A case study of Massachusetts (with Perry Davis, Ann Koufman-Frederick, and David Urion). Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, March, 2001.
Mathematics reform: One district’s story (with A. Camins). In T. Gordon (Ed), Leading the Way: Principals and Superintendents Look at Mathematics Instruction. Sausalito, CA: Marilyn Burns Education Association, 1999.
Narrow definition for a broad problem. School Administrator. Vol. 52, No. 8, September 1995.
Education Reform At Risk: A Study of the Impact of Education Reform Finance. Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, April 1995.
