Meet Our Consultants
Leaders in Education
Dr. Abelardo Saavedra
Dr. Saavedra’s retirement was the culmination of 40 years as an educator in the public schools of Houston and Corpus Christi serving as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, assistant superintendent, associate superintendent, deputy superintendent and superintendent of schools.
Dr. Saavedra became the superintendent of the Corpus Christi Independent School District in 1993. He held that position until 2000.
Dr. Saavedra joined Houston ISD and became the Superintendent of the East District in February 2001. In August 2002 he became the executive deputy superintendent for School Support Services. In 2004 Dr. Saavedra was named Superintendent of Schools for the Houston Independent School District. Dr. Saavedra became the first Mexican American Superintendent of Houston ISD. Dr. Saavedra served as Superintendent for HISD until 2010.
During his tenure in Corpus Christi as superintendent of schools, the district received state and national recognition for its “Real World Academic Standards” in all grade levels. While Superintendent of Schools in Houston, HISD developed and implemented the largest pay for performance program in the country. To date, HISD has awarded over $100 million in performance pay to its teachers and campus-based administrators. During this period of time, the district was recognized for its work in developing a value-added data program to measure the performance of students and teachers. As a result, the academic performance in the schools increased dramatically. The number of Exemplary schools increased from 6 in 2005 to 84 in 2009, an increase of 1400%. In 2005 only about 38 schools, or less than 1/5 of the total schools, had earned the state accountability rating of Exemplary or Recognized. By 2009, 205 schools or about 3/4 of all schools were either Exemplary or Recognized. During this time, there was also a substantial closure of the achievement gap by minority students and children of poverty.
His experience brings invaluable insight into the search process, helping us vet candidates, providing research, and analyzing the compatibility between candidates and schools.