Roderick Castro

Roderick Castro, Ed.D. is a recognized educational leader and full adjunct professor at the USC Rossier School of Education, where he has taught since 2010. With a distinguished career spanning nearly three decades in public education, Dr. Castro has held pivotal roles from classroom teacher to principal, and now serves as Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for Santa Rosa City Schools. He oversees curriculum and instruction, MTSS, school innovation and college & career pathways and CTE, multilingual programs, and districtwide initiatives aimed at improving equity and academic achievement.

Dr. Castro earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership from UCLA, where his groundbreaking dissertation—Establishing a Peer & Mentoring Network to Support Achievement as an Intervention for Underachieving Gifted Latino High School Students—has received multiple recognitions for its innovation and impact. A specialist in literacy development, culturally responsive teaching, and education policy, he has taught a broad spectrum of Rossier courses including EDUC 558, a course originally authored by the late Dr. Reynaldo Baca and entrusted to Dr. Castro to modernize and teach until its sunsetting.

In addition to mentoring doctoral students and presenting nationally on issues of access and equity, Dr. Castro has been twice promoted at USC and holds the rank of full professor, adjunct. He brings a reflective, relational, and results-oriented approach to both his leadership and his teaching, continually centering the needs of underserved students and the educators who serve them.

17-24 2016 CALSA Principal Mentor/ Region 1 Director/ Presenter

Superintendents Leadership Academy, Association of Latino Superintendents & Administrators,

Presenter, Association of Latino Superintendents & Administrators, Albuquerque

2016 Advisory Board, Reading Certificate

2015 2012 2010 1 of 9 researchers selected in California to present new best practices at the 2010

Conclave of the California Association of Latino Superintendents & Administrators (CALSA) a t UC L A

March 12, 2010 - s e l e c t e d a g a i n fo r U C D a v i s C o n c l a v e ( 1 0 / 1 5 / 2 0 1 0 )

EDUC 528x: Foundations of Reading Instruction

EDUC 534x: Diagnosis of Reading Disabilities

EDUC 676 Literacy Development and Instruction in Secondary Education

EDUC 558: Culture Learning in Schools: Latinos in California

EDUC 501: Instruction for Teaching English as a New Language / TESOL

EDUC 568A&B: Guided Practice, Supervised Practicum in Observation & Teaching

EDUC 510: Foundations of Theories of Language Learning and Teach

EDUC 504: Foundations of Literacy Development & Instruction

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

Santa Rosa City Schools (15,000 ADA – 24 schools)

7/2022 – PRESENT

DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION,

San Francisco Unified School District & County Office of Education

7/2014- 7/2022

SUPERVISOR, SPECIAL EDUCATION

San Francisco Unified School District & County Office of Education

7/2013- 6/2014

LAUSD Site administrator, Assistant Principal, SLC Principal, TOS

1999 – 2013

TEACHER 

1995-1999

INSTRUCTOR – North Coast School of Education

2024-present

DISSERTATION COMMITTEE MEMBER- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

2017 – present

Rossier Organizational Change and Leadership (OCL) Ed.D Program

FULL PROFESSOR, ADJUNCT – UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

INSTRUCTOR / LECTURER – UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

2008-2014

Dissertation: Establishing a Peer & Mentoring Network to Support Achievement as an Intervention for Underachieving Gifted Latino High School Students