Joe DiMartino is founder and president of the Center for Secondary School Redesign (CSSR), which builds on work started at Brown University where he served as Director of Secondary School Redesign. CSSR provides substantial technical assistance to numerous districts and schools that are seeking to personalize learning for adolescents including as the primary TA provider for the New England Network for Personalization and Performance Assessment (NENPP). NENPP includes 13 high schools in 4 New England states and was awarded an i3 grant to assist schools to move toward performance assessment. CSSR is also the primary TA provider for the Springdale AR Race to the Top District efforts to increase personalized learning district wide. Both of these projects include a move away from seat time to competency for earning course credit.



In addition to writing numerous published articles, Joe has co-authored two books: Personalizing the High School Experience for Each Student, and the Facilitator’s Guide for High Schools at Work: Creating Student Centered Learning, both published by Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. He also co-edited Personalized Learning: Preparing High School Students to Create their Futures, published by Rowman Littlefield and The Personalized High School: Making Learning Count for Adolescents published by Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.



Joe holds a B.A. from Brown University, an M.Ed. in Special Education and Counseling from Rhode Island College, and has completed all the coursework for a Ph.D. in Culturally Responsive Education from Brown University. Joe is first and foremost a parent and grandparent, often stating that he has learned much more from his six children, including the four adopted from outside the United States, than he could ever hope to teach them. Helping to create learning environments where diversity is valued, as exemplified in his family, is a prime motivator for Joe.