Bo Ryan

Bo Ryan

Bo Ryan is principal of the Ana Grace Academy of the Arts Elementary Magnet School in Bloomfield, Connecticut. He is passionate about building and sustaining professional learning communities (PLCs) and creating high-performing teams. He has led two different schools to Model PLC at Work® certification: Woodside Intermediate School in 2012 and Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Middle School in 2016, just four years after it opened.

Bo has worked in education since 1994, having served as a teacher, coach, director, adjunct professor, and principal. He started his career in education as a graduate assistant football coach for Syracuse University, coaching in two bowl games. Bo started his teaching career at John C. Clark Elementary School in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was recognized as the city’s Teacher and Educator of the Year. During his time there, Bo created various before- and after-school programs for hundreds of students a year. In the summers, he directed a camp called the National Youth Sports Program, which served over 400 children in the city. Bo also instructed a graduate class on PLCs and interventions as an adjunct professor at the University of Saint Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut.

Bo’s article "Learning by Doing: The Arts Middle Way" is published in AllThingsPLC Magazine. Bo also wrote The Brilliance in the Building: Effecting Change in Urban Schools With the PLC at Work Process, a collection of all his experience teaching and learning in urban schools over the last 20 years. His passion for writing this book arose from his incredible experiences growing up in an urban neighborhood.

Bo is certified in PLCs, response to intervention (RTI), Transforming School Culture, and Priority Schools in a PLC at Work. He has worked with schools across the United States. He earned undergraduate degrees from Western Connecticut State University, a master’s degree from Syracuse University, and a sixth-year degree from Southern Connecticut State University.