Virginia Rhodes

VIRGINIA RHODES, Ed.D.

Dr. Rhodes founded RENEGADE LEARNING in 2012, to work with schools and districts committed to equity and quality public schooling. RL’s mission is to replace factory-model schooling with dynamic, highly engaging learning models where kids, teachers, and families all want to be. RL offers visioning, planning and training services for urban teachers, parents and administrators in new models for schools that are new or need transformation. RL ‘s B2B division links startups to marketing strategies built for real current school markets.Dr. Rhodes is an innovative educator, experienced in teaching, administration and policy in urban schools. She founded Ohio’s first public environmental high school and the largest urban, high-poverty, open-enrollment STEM high school in the U.S. (Hughes STEM).

Rhodes was principal investigator on the 2009 NSF-funded research project using the “STEM for ALL” urban high school model. She speaks and writes about strategies that combine STEM, SEL, restorative justice, cultural, outdoor and experiential learning to combat the effects of poverty, discrimination, and trauma. Rhodes advocates education for democracy, and designs new strategies for public districts losing students and revenues to for-profit charters.

Other research and writing topics by Dr. Rhodes include the effects of excess student mobility, school climate, innovative teacher hiring, race, outdoor ed, 21st Century collaborative administrative strategies, STEM, SEL, de facto Learning Theory, and school security. She also serves as an expert witness in education-related court cases.

Rhodes is active in her community, twice elected to the Cincinnati Board of Education. She holds degrees from Antioch College (BA), Indiana University (MAT), and the University of Cincinnati (Ed.D).

Rhodes has traveled and visited schools nationally and internationally. She has been in 20 countries and incorporates a global perspective into her work.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]