Dr. Devon Horton is the superintendent of DeKalb County School District, located in the Atlanta metro area. The district has more than 92,000 students and is the third-largest school system in Georgia. Horton previously served as superintendent of Evanston/Skokie School District 65, a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade district north of Chicago. In this role, he established Academic Skills Centers at all campuses that have supported gains in reading and math for Black and Latinx students; created a teacher residency program in partnership with local universities to train and develop master-level candidates to become teachers in one year; and leveraged the use of the Racial Equity Impact Assessment to gauge equity considerations in critical decision making.

Prior to Evanston/Skokie 65, Horton was chief of schools for Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky; deputy superintendent for East St. Louis School District 189 in Illinois; and a principal and assistant principal in Chicago Public Schools. He was selected to serve on the Illinois State Board of Education’s Inclusive American History Commission and is identified as a leader in the state’s equity work. In addition, he was named Superintendent of the Year by the National Alliance of Black School Educators.

Horton has conducted research on the impact of college and university leadership preparation programs designed for K-12 turnaround leaders. He holds a doctorate and a master’s in educational leadership from Chicago State University and a bachelor’s in elementary education from Jackson State University.