Dr. Anael Alston

Born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn, Dr. Anael Alston “Dr. A” is currently the Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Access, Equity and Community Engagement in the New York State Education Department. In this capacity, he informs educational policy across the state and administers over $200 million dollars to help support students across New York State from pre-Kindergarten through college. Prior to that, he was the Superintendent of Schools for the Hamilton Central School District. As a superintendent, Dr. Alston distinguished himself as one of the few Superintendents across the state to have a 100% graduation rate while moving an agenda that included creating a program that allows international students to pay tuition to attend public school and involving the entire school community in creating a board adopted 5-year strategic plan to improve access, opportunity, and fiscal responsibility to the small rural school district.

As a principal, Dr. Alston has been recognized at the county, state, and national level for his ability to lead teams to increase capacity and raise student achievement. Dr. Alston has written political commentary for Newsday, as well as for local, regional, and national publications; has presented at national and statewide conferences on school change and curriculum reform; testified for Governor Cuomo’s Education reform Commission; and has made guest appearances on radio shows as an education expert. He has been consulted on various educational initiatives and has given speeches from Brooklyn, NY to Cape Town, South Africa.

He is also co-author of the book You’re Hired: The Inside Secrets to Landing Your School Leadership Job. His latest work, “Growing Up Single: An Unorthodox Road Traveled,” is a featured chapter published in Telling Our Stories: Culturally Different Adults Reflect on Growing Up in Single Parent Families by Dr. Donna Y. Ford, was published in the summer of 2017.