Robert E. Feir

Executive Director

Governor’s Commission on Training America’s Teachers

Robert E. Feir, Executive Director of the Governor’s Commission on Training America’s Teachers, has been President of EdStrat21, an education strategies consulting firm with strengths in research, planning, evaluation, policy development, program design, project management, and grant writing, since 1997.  During the spring and summer of 2001, he provided staff support to the Empowerment Team of the Harrisburg School District.  He has served as a member of that district’s Board of Control since autumn 2001 and as chairman since summer 2004.  He also serves as Director of Education Initiatives for Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children and Senior Fellow at the Education Policy and Leadership Center, and from 2004-2005 was Interim General Manager and CEO of the Pennsylvania Public Television Network.

From 1997 to 2000, he served as CEO and Managing Partner of The Learning Resources Group, Inc., which provided consultation, training, and technical assistance to support employer leadership of education reform efforts in local communities.  In that role, he assessed and recommended improvements in schools located in urban, rural, and suburban communities in ten states.

Dr. Feir has over three decades of experience in education and education policy making.  His work has encompassed elementary, secondary, and higher education, and he has worked at the local, regional, and state levels in Pennsylvania, New York, and Rhode Island.

From 1994-1997, he served as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Business‑Education Partnership.  In that position, he led a 1996 school-to-work study tour in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, for Pennsylvania educators, employers, and government officials, under the sponsorship of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Between 1981 and 1994, he held a number of Pennsylvania state policy positions, including Executive Director of the State Board of Education and the Senate Education Committee and Director of Policy for the Department of Education. 

Prior to his Pennsylvania state‑level work, he was a teacher, curriculum coordinator, school superintendent, and assistant director of an intermediate unit.  In that position, he was responsible for providing curriculum and professional development services to 17 school districts.  Dr. Feir has taught high school and community college students and inmates in a federal prison.  He also served on the staff of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Panel on University Purposes.  In recent years, he has been an adjunct graduate school instructor in public administration and political science and an adjunct undergraduate assistant professor of political science. 

He has been active in education improvement efforts at the national level through participation in the Business Coalition for Education Reform, the Education Commission of the States, the National Association of State Boards of Education, and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

He holds a Ph.D. in political science from The Pennsylvania State University, master’s degrees in political science from the State University of New York at Albany and in education administration from Bucknell University, and a baccalaureate degree in political science from Bucknell.

For more information contact info@pateach.org