About

Wade Whitehead, a fourth-generation teacher, product of Virginia's public schools, and inductee to the National Teachers Hall of Fame, serves as Executive Director of the Teachers of Promise Foundation. For thirty years, including 27 in Room 312 at Crystal Spring School, Wade served as a classroom teacher in Roanoke, Virginia.​​

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Wade was raised outside Bristol, Virginia, where he attended High Point Elementary School and John S. Battle High School in the Washington County Public Schools system. He graduated with degrees in Anthropology and Elementary Education from the College of William & Mary. He earned a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Virginia and certification in School Management & Leadership from Harvard University. He is certified in Gifted Education and in grades K-8 is endorsed as a school administrator.

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At the Teachers of Promise Foundation, at 501(c)(3) based in Roanoke, VA, Wade oversees the effort to identify, recognize, equip, and inspire the best prospective teachers in America. The TOP Foundation's innovations and partnerships include the Teachers of Promise Institute, the Smoky Mountain Teachers of Promise Summit, and the Maryland Teachers of Promise program. More than 4,000 Teachers of Promise have been honored through these initiatives.

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Wade has been a National Board Certified Teacher since 1999. His professional recognitions and awards include the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, the McGlothlin Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, the Virginia Lottery Super Teacher Award, the Virginia Lottery Excellence in Education Award, and the Sam's Club Teacher of the Year Award. He was named to the 2001 USA Today All-USA Teacher Team and was the 2000 Roanoke City Public Schools Teacher of the Year. In 2013 he was named “Most Inspiring Teacher” by The Roanoker magazine.  In 2016, Wade was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

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Through his consultancy, Causing Thinking, Wade has created and presented more than 350 workshops, keynotes, and professional learning experiences around the world on topics including adaptive thinking, differentiated instruction, project-based learning, classroom community and culture, effective parenting, and use of technology with and around children. He frequently appears at conferences, schools, universities, and in various media to speak and listen about teaching, learning, and leadership. He cowrote Be A Teacher, which has been used across college and district teacher preparation and development programs across the United States and in China. His clients and audiences have included school districts, universities, non-profits, corporations, and organizations including the National Assessment Governing Board, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education, Lexus, Toyota, Pfizer, Exact Sciences, PBS, and Apple. His next book, What Is Your Teaching Stance?, co-written with Dr. Alex Carter, is due in 2025.​

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Wade has served on Virginia Department of Education and statewide committees and task forces, including the Committee To Enhance the K-12 Teaching Profession in Virginia and the Uniform Performance and Evaluation Committee. He appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board's Teacher Advisory Committee and has advised the United States Department of Education. A former member of the Kappa Delta Pi Public Policy Committee, he was a charter member of the Virginia Standards of Learning Innovation Committee, which worked to imagine and invent a new generation of assessments and accountability. At the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, he helped create and judge the inaugural "I, Too, Am the Dream" contest. Wade has served as an advisor at LeapFrog and Flocabulary and is a Director at the Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning, and Creativity and POP Scholar, Inc.

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Since 1996, Wade has worked with Peter H. Reynolds and FableVision Learning to develop instructional programs and curricula, including the North Star Approach to Teaching and Learning, which served as the cornerstone of his classroom practice. This framework celebrates distinctions in student learning styles, experiences, preferences, and strengths and has led to the development of other teaching resources and technology tools, including Brain Cogs.

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From 2000 until 2014, Wade served as Chair of the Virginia Milken Educator Network (VMEN). Comprised of recipients of the Milken Educator Award, the network convened a community of expert educators over a range of teacher quality initiatives and professional learning events.

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In the early 2000s Wade traveled across Italy and Greece, where he studied the roots of western civilization, and into the Yucatan Peninsula, where he explored ancient Mayan ruins and traditions. His photographs and video footage were used to write and produce "Teacher Travels," a by-teachers, for-kids instructional television series on PBS.

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Wade founded and directed The Jiving Five, a Roanoke-based jazz, swing, and funk quintet. He formerly performed and recorded with The SwayKatz, The Stardusters, the Blue Ridge Trombone Ensemble and his rock band, Soupy Chopez. He is an alumnus of the Gentlemen of the College, the oldest men's a cappella group at The College of William & Mary.

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Wade is a Director at First Tee - Roanoke Valley and served on the Executive Committee of the Roanoke Valley Match Play Championship (est. 1935). He is a member of the Dormie Network and Ballyhack Golf Club. A Golf Digest Panelist, he is involved in amateur golf and golf course architecture communities and has played in three State Opens of Virginia.

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​Wade is an ordained deacon and ruling elder (and former Diaconate Moderator and Session Clerk) at Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). There, he co-created MENistry and was Chair of the RCPC Mission Study Team.

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Wade is married to high school sweetheart Robbie Gibson, who works for Otsuka. They are blessed with two children: Jack, a high school Physics & Chemistry teacher, and Grace, who works for a non-profit research and development center. Wade's parents, Ed and Betty, taught in public elementary schools for more than eighty combined years. Wade's brother Scott and sister-in-law Virginia teach in public schools, as do several other members of his extended family.