Brenda Cassellius

Dr. Brenda Cassellius has spent three decades as an educator devoted to helping all children succeed and thrive. Throughout her career she has had many accomplishments in school systems in Minnesota and Tennessee, including redesigning programs to put students first and leading an integration and achievement agenda. She also implemented the Minneapolis Secondary Redesign and reformed school districts in Tennessee, resulting in accelerated gains, narrowed achievement gaps, and the end of corporal punishment.

Most recently as Boston Public School Superintendent she led the district through three school years impacted by the global pandemic. A respected educator throughout her profession and across partisan lines, Dr. Cassellius is best known for her unrelenting advocacy and commitment to ensuring all children are given an equitable and excellent education. Leading for equity, Dr. Cassellius passed historic admission policies at the nation’s oldest public school and raised college and career graduation requirements for all high schools, garnering the highest graduation rates on record. Dr. Cassellius also worked alongside three Mayors to invest 110 million dollars in annual ongoing funding and a 2-billion-dollar investment in capital funding. Dr. Cassellius is credited with prioritizing, listening to the community, and implementing practices and policies that systemically improve equitable student outcomes.

As Minnesota's commissioner of education from 2011- 2019 Dr. Cassellius worked to enact comprehensive education reforms that benefited every child throughout the state. Her straightforward, community-driven approach resulted in a remarkable list of accomplishments, including historic new funding for schools, the enactment of all-day kindergarten, state-funded preschool for 25,000 three- and four-year-old children, and the highest high school graduation rates on record. She is most proud of the work she did regarding equitable policies such as reforming Achievement and Integration aid, American Indian Education Aid, School Lunch Aid, Anti-bullying legislation and the development of a Transgender Toolkit.