Jarvis T. Sanford has served as principal at Dodge Renaissance Academy since August 2004. In this capacity, Sanford has worked tirelessly with students, teachers, staff, parents and community, and external partners such as Winston and Strawn LLP and Boeing International, to accomplish a dual mission at Dodge.

he school’s twofold objective is to educate underachieving students and to train “future resident teachers-in-training.” Literacy and research-based instruction, intensive professional development, and commitment from all who work with the students at Dodge are some of the hallmarks of the advances that can be observed daily. Sanford wants to help make Dodge a premiere school of educational and social excellence where students make outstanding academic advancements, become leaders within their East Garfield Park community on the city’s near west side, and become accustomed to the rigor of high expectations, while becoming lifelong learners.

Sanford first taught in a Chicago suburb and then moved to the Chicago Public Schools, where he taught the fifth, seventh, and eighth grades. He has also worked for the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where he ran student residential-life programs and led training for the office of affirmative action.

Sanford earned both his MBA and his doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Northern Illinois University.