Dr. Daniel Reyes-Guerra

Tenured Faculty Member
School Leaders Program Coordinator
Executive Director, Office of Educational Leadership Learning
Department of Educational Leadership & Research Methodology (ELRM)
Florida Atlantic University

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

Education

Daniel Reyes-Guerra, PhD is an Associate Professor at Florida Atlantic University’s School Leadership Program (FAU) within the Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology of the College of Education. Having attained his PhD in Educational Leadership from FAU, he also holds a Master of Science in Educational Administration from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and a Bachelor of Arts (Double Major in History and Government) from Cornell University.

Professional Experience

His professional educational background includes having been the Secondary Director (Middle and High School) at the American School of Asuncion in Paraguay for seven years and a High School Principal at the Escuela Americana in El Salvador for three years. Prior to that, he taught English and Social Studies for a total of seven years at the American School of El Salvador and the American School of Guatemala. Outside of education but related to management and leadership, Dr. Reyes-Guerra owned and operated a furniture factory, managed a small coffee farm, and served as the Personnel Manager at a dining facility.

HIGHLIGHTS

Research

His research includes Social and Affective Leadership, School Improvement, Internships, School-District Partnerships, Strategic Leadership, and School Climate/Culture. Publications are a result of current and timely research collaborations including: developing university-district principal preparation partnerships to identify and prepare a broad range of dynamic school leaders (Reyes-Guerra et al., 2022) analyzing the principal’s role during the initial phase of the covid-19 pandemic (Reyes-Guerra et al., 2021), articulating the importance of school leader well-being and its effect on schools (Stefanovic, Reyes-Guerra, & Zorovick-Godek, 2021), utilizing networked improvement communities to facilitate change for improvement around a problem of practice (Thornton, Barakat, Grooms, Locke, & Reyes-Guerra, 2020), and investigating characteristics of effective principals (Reyes-Guerra et al., 2016).

Educational Leadership Policy

An important part of Dr. Reyes-Guerra’s professional service is supporting Florida educational leadership preparation programs, including collaborating with the Florida Department of Education on educational leadership policy. Through various initiatives, he brings together agencies, organizations, and individuals with complementary missions but who rarely have the opportunity to work together. This includes developing systems and policies around school leadership professional certification, educational leadership program approval standards, educational leadership professional standards and evaluation, educational leadership assessment, and related state-provided supports for leadership learning and professional development like leadership tracking systems and leadership coaching models.

Specifically, in his role as the FAU School Leaders Program Coordinator, Florida Association of Professors of Educational Leadership (FAPEL) Board Member, and P.I. on FAU’s University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) grant from the Wallace Foundation, he works closely with the Florida Department of Education on policy directly related to improving the professional learning and credentialing of school administrators with an aim to meet the needs of all public school students in the State. This has included (a) orchestrating the development of a research-based SELECT Report to the Florida Commissioner of Education (2018) (which provides a vision, mission, values, and prioritized strategies for the professional development across the school leadership continuum), (b) chairing the committee which re-wrote the William Cecil Golden legislation which governs school leadership professional development in the State of Florida, (c) directing and engaging in the development of the new Florida Educational Leadership Standards (2022), (d) leading the research and development of the new Florida educational leadership certification program standards (forecast to be released in 2024), and (e) coordinating and developing the new state-wide administration evaluation model for school leaders (2023). These policies all directly affect school leadership at both the assistant principal and principal levels.

Grant Awards

Starting with the PROPEL Race to the Top grant in 2011, which developed a state-of-the-art university-district principal preparation program, Reyes-Guerra has had a huge impact on research and service at the university, as he has procured through grant and contract awards over $14 million dollars in funding.

Reyes-Guerra has served as the Director and Principal Investigator on FAU’s University Principal Pipeline Initiative (UPPI) project funded by The Wallace Foundation (2016-2023). For the UPPI, Reyes-Guerra coordinated graduate program redesign, developed three district-university partnerships, and headed the SELECT Committee responsible for re-aligning policy for educational leadership professional development on the continuum of teacher leader to district administrator. He oversaw the development and implementation of FAU’s three partner districts’ Leadership Tracking Systems and FAU’s University Leadership Tracking System.

Currently, he leads two US Department of Education’s grants initiatives: Project PRAISE: Preparing for Readiness and Academic Improvement for Pre-K Els, and Equity for Instructional Performance (EQUIP) in partnership with Broward County Public Schools. These grants are centered on improving school leadership practice to impact diverse populations of students through strengthening school leadership pipelines, developing the quality of professional learning for the continuum of educational leaders from teacher leaders to district leaders, and meeting the needs of all students.

Reyes-Guerra serves as the lead consultant as the mentor university for the University of Louisville and Spalding University in their partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools as a part of The Wallace Foundation’s Equity-Centered Pipeline Initiative (ECPI). He also supports San Diego State University in their partnership with Fresno Unified School District in California in the same capacity.

Office of Educational Leadership Learning

Reyes-Guerra is the Director of FAU’s Office of Educational Leadership Learning (OELL), the professional learning arm of the School Leaders Program. Through OELL, Reyes-Guerra has landed multiple educational leadership professional development and service contracts including leadership academies and micro credentialing in Broward County Public Schools, developing leadership coaching systems with the School District of Osceola County, and university program development consulting contracts including Palm Beach County Schools, the School District of Osceola County, and Broward County Public Schools. He has also received two contracts with the Florida Department of Education to develop the content for the future William Cecil Golden website, designed to support school principals and assistant principals in the instructional leadership of their schools.

University-District Partnerships

Reyes-Guerra developed and oversees FAU’s three Florida university-district partnership programs, each of which is headed by a Program Coordinator faculty member: PROPEL with Broward County Public Schools, EXEQ with The School District of Palm Beach County, and ELITE with St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Martin, and Osceola districts.

School Leaders Program Coordination

In his role as School Leaders Program Coordinator, Reyes-Guerra is responsible for the PhD, Specialist, and Master’s Degree programs, supervising all program development, admissions, faculty scheduling, and coordinating student advising. He also oversees and supports Dr. Maysaa Barakat with her FAU-Egypt international partnership, which includes a yearly international educational conference held in Cairo, Egypt.

Service

His professional affiliations are also a big part of his service. Dr. Reyes-Guerra has served in every elected Board member office the Florida Association of Professors of Educational Leadership (FAPEL) and is currently the FAPEL Treasurer. His current position as the Past Chair of the American Educational Researchers Association (AERA) Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership Special Interest Group (LTEL-SIG) puts him in direct contact with leading scholars in the field. He is currently Treasurer, AERA Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership Special Interest Group (LTEL-SIG) and a member of the Florida Educational Leadership Examination (FELE) Steering Committee Meeting. He sits on various committees within the university, including the Broward Faculty Advisory Board, the College of Education Assessment Committee, and co-chairs the Department of Educational Leadership Quality Committee.

Other

One of six children of Central American parents, during what free time he can find, Reyes-Guerra is a ranked bridge player, swimmer, enjoys art collecting, spending time in El Salvador with family and friends, and enjoying the company of his labradoodle Zeus.