Brandon L. Davis

Brandon Davis has been principal of Cora Kelly Elementary School for eight years, a Title 1 program with a diverse population, where 90% are students of color, and 82% receive free or reduced meals. Through his leadership, Cora Kelly has been transformed into a high achieving school, meeting all state and federal achievement benchmarks for the past four years. In 2011, Cora Kelly students achieved a 98% pass rate in mathematics on the Virginia SOLs, representing the highest percentage ever in the Alexandria City district. Davis works closely with his staff to implement a multi-tiered system of support and encourages a culture where every student is met at his or her current level, pre-assessed, and flexibly grouped across grade levels to ensure new learning is achieved daily. Davis has integrated STEM education through partnerships with organizations like Retired Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians (ReSET) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), offering school-wide lessons, experiments, and coding classes. Davis is described as “the catalyst, the change agent, the visionary, and the champion of children.” He received the 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award as well as the Distinguished Education Leadership Award from the Washington Post in 2014, the same year that Cora Kelly was granted a School Bell Award. Davis holds a B.A. in Elementary Education from Temple University and Master’s degrees in Educational Administration and Professional Studies from George Mason University.