TED Community » Dominic Randolph

About Me

I became the sixth Head of The Riverdale Country School in July 2007, the school’s centennial year. Riverdale is a Pre-K-Grade 12 independent school in New York City of 1100 students.

Previously, I served in the capacity of Assistant Head Master at The Lawrenceville School, an independent boarding school of over 800 students close to Princeton, New Jersey. I am a citizen of both the United States and United Kingdom and was educated in both countries, graduating from The Lawrenceville School in 1980. I received my bachelor’s degree in English and American Language and Literature in 1985 and my Master’s in Education in 1995, both from Harvard University.

After more than a decade of teaching and administrative experience working in schools in Europe and the Middle East, I returned to Lawrenceville in 1997 as a teacher in the English and Interdisciplinary Departments and was promoted to Dean of Studies two years later. In 2004, I was named Assistant Head Master, an instrumental role in Lawrenceville’s operational management.

Throughout my professional career, my work in schools has focused on several educational areas: understanding research in cognitive science and its implications for instruction, fostering critical and critical thinking skills and non-cognitive capacities in students, constructing effective arts programs, infusing technology in schools to help support learning, teaching discussion techniques to young people and developing school-wide curricula.

Recently, I have started several initiatives: a research study on developing character strengths with Marty Seligman and Angela Duckworth at the University of Pennsylvania and David Levin of the KIPP charter schools; a “design thinking” initiative with IDEO and a group of teachers at Riverdale; a broadening of the school’s interdisciplinary course offerings with consultation from Veronica Boix-Mansilla of Harvard Project Zero, Tony Wagner of Harvard’s Change Leadership group, and Grant Wiggins; a project to inspire “passions” in young people with Tony Schwartz of the Energy Project; and we are beginning a Center for Social change to foster global understanding and social entrepreneurship in young people with individuals in the Acumen Fund, Ashoka and the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India.

I serve on the boards of The Lawrenceville School and the Guild of Independent Schools of New York City. I have become a Google Certified Teacher as part of Google’s initiatives in education. I have made numerous presentations to schools and at conferences.

I live with my wife, Kris, and daughter, Elsa, in the Bronx, New York.