Don Shalvey Email Address

Deputy Director

Aspire Public Schools is an education management institution which specializes in teacher professional development, career ladder, and teacher effectiveness.

Donald Shalvey, Deputy Director for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s US Program Education Initiative, leads grant making for states, districts and networks throughout the United States. Prior to joining the foundation, Donald was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aspire Public Schools and has spent the past 40 years in public education where he is widely recognized as a leader in public school reform and the charter school movement. In 1992, Donald served as the Superintendent of San Carlos School District, where he sponsored the first charter school in California. The San Carlos Charter Learning Center became a California Distinguished School and has since served as a model for many other charter schools. In 1998, Donald and entrepreneur Reed Hastings, co-founded Californians for Public School Excellence, a grass-roots organization that led to the passage of the Charter Schools Act of 1998, which lifted the cap on the number of charter schools in the state. Donald is a frequent Advisor to policy makers, practitioners and authorizers of charter schools across the nation. Donald served as the Chair of the California Commission for Special Education; he is also a Board Member on a number of not-for-profit organizations including: Jobs for the Future (JFF), Ed Source, and the Stanford University School of Education and College Summit. Donald's work has been recognized in a variety of national publications and television/radio shows including: The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Newsweek and the Charlie Rose Show and NPR. In 2002 the prestigious Ashoka Foundation recognized Donald as a Fellow for his outstanding work as a social entrepreneur. More recently, Don was given the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for advancing the quality of life for Californians and in June 2009, he was elected to the Charter School Hall of Fame by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Donald earned a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership / Administration from the University of Southern California, a Master of Education in Counseling and Guidance from Gonzaga University and a B.A. degree from LaSalle College.