Phil Zarlengo named executive director of regional education laboratory

Phil Zarlengo, who has served in a variety of urban and suburban teaching and administrative positions, has been named executive director of the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown, one of 10 research and development laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Phil Zarlengo has been named executive director of the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown (LAB), one of 10 federally funded research and development laboratories. The appointment was announced March 18 by Brown University and the LAB's board of governors.

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Acting executive director since 1996, Zarlengo has been the LAB's director of programs and services since 1995. As director, he planned and implemented all LAB programs with schools, state departments and other agencies in accord with the five-year $24.3-million contract signed by the U.S. Department of Education in December 1995. He worked with the LAB's major clients throughout the region and worked with the nine other federally sponsored regional laboratories. He also helped to develop the competitive grant proposal that brought the LAB to Brown University.

Zarlengo has served in a variety of urban and suburban teaching and administrative positions. As assistant superintendent of Providence Public Schools, he developed the city's first desegregation plan and a program for training and developing school administrators. Most recently he served as a director in the R.I. Department of Education where he developed a blueprint for the state's first integrated health education and social services units at school sites called "Child Opportunity Zones." As executive director of the Andrew W. Mellon Superintendents' Leadership Academy at Brown, he initiated innovative vehicles for helping school superintendents across the nation prepare for leadership challenges around demographic changes forecast for the future.

Zarlengo has a Ph.D. in education administration and curriculum planning from the University of Connecticut, an M.A. in history from Brown University, and a B.A. in social sciences from the University of Massachusetts.

The Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown

The Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University (LAB) is one in a network of 10 regional laboratories sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Together, they promote knowledge-based school improvement and ensure that those engaged in improving education at the local, state and regional levels have access to the best available knowledge from research and practice.

The LAB serves New England, New York, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. A consortium of Brown University and Hunter College at City University of New York, it operates in partnership with nine other organizations that share common goals.

The LAB's applied research and assistance concentrate on improving teaching, learning and assessment; building capacity, leadership and partnerships; supporting state/island systemic reform; implementing urban and rural school reform; and disseminating products to promote systemic reform on a larger scale.

Additional information about the LAB can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.vlab.brown.edu.