The Biography

José Luis Vilson is an educator, sociologist, and bestselling author who explores issues of race, professionalism, and building a better future for us all.

José Luis Vilson is a veteran educator who started his career in middle school in the Inwood / Washington Heights neighborhood of New York, NY teaching students math. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in mathematics education from the City College of New York, and a master's degree in philosophy from Teachers' College, Columbia University. He is currently a doctoral candidate at Teachers' College, Columbia University studying sociology and education with a policy concentration. He’s also a committed writer, activist, web designer, and father. He is the co-founder and executive director of EduColor, an organization dedicated to race and social justice issues in education.

His first solo project, This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and the Future of Education, was published by Haymarket Books in the Spring of 2014. He is a National Board Certified Teacher and a Math for America Master Teacher. He currently serves on the board of directors for the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and PowerMyLearning.

He has served as a board member on the Board of Directors for the Center for Teaching Quality and the president emeritus and co-founder of the Latino Alumni Network of Syracuse University. He has written for Edutopia, Progressive Magazine, The New York Times, CNN.com, Education Week, Huffington Post, and El Diario / La Prensa NY. He has also been featured at PBS, Vox, Mashable, Idealist, Chalkbeat NY, TakePart, Mother Jones, Manhattan Times, and the Fusion.

He co-authored the book Teaching 2030: What We Must Do For Our Students and Public Schools … Now and In The Future with Dr. Barnett Berry and 11 other accomplished teachers, and profiled in two other books: Teacherpreneurs (Berry, Byrd, Weider; 2013) and Teaching with Heart (Scribner, Intrator; 2014).

He was named one of GOOD Inc.’s GOOD100 in 2013 of leaders changing their worlds and an Aspen Ideas Scholar in 2013. He has also spoken at TEDxNYED, Education Writers Association Annual Conference, Netroots Nation, The US Department of Education, and the Save Our Schools March. His blog, TheJoseVilson.com, was named one of the top 25 Education Blogs by Scholastic, Education World, and University of Southern California Rossier School of Education’s Teach 100.

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Awards and Honors

PowerMyLearning Community Leadership Award 2023

Bluehost Creator Awards 2023

Coalition of Educational Justice / Urban Youth Collective 2019 Honoree (Culturally Responsive Educators)

2016 Rising Star of the Year, Hispanic Coalition of New York

Aspen Ideas Fest Scholar 2013

Mashable’s 10 Rockstar Teachers

GOOD Magazine’s GOOD 100 for 2013

Education World’s Top 25 Blogs

Scholastic Instructor’s Top 20 Teacher Blogs of 2009

2007 Weblog Awards Nominee for Best Education Blog

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    I Got A Story To Tell

    The aspiration was always about transforming the vision of what the teaching profession could be, big moments at a time. Writing a politically-oriented race-centric education blog while employed back in 2007 felt dangerous in some ways, but little did I know that the NYC Department of Education I worked for would block my blog from every computer in the nation's largest public school system. Getting chances to speak includes being the only current classroom teacher in the midst of education luminaries to front the nation's largest anti-testing rally in the country. Time and again, I got the blessing to be a featured speaker where I got to be the first current classroom teacher, but left these spaces hoping I wasn't going to be the only current classroom teacher.

    Then, I wrote my first solo book This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Educationa best-selling book coming up against dozens of books from major publishers giving voice to folks who either left the classroom long ago or those who had never been. I focused mine on those who stayed and those who believed in the power of our students, especially those most marginalized by our school system. Since then, I've been to the White House, The United Nations, Gracie Mansion, done hundreds of speaking engagements, traveled across the country, and supported a plethora of educator-centered movements, including EduColor, an organization that helped set the future for education and digital organizing and community building.

    I believe not just in the thousand-plus students I had in the Heights or the plethora of colleagues who served communities, but because I believe in us. Teaching mattered to me a ton when I was a younger man, but now as a father to a nine-year-old who attends a public school and husband to a wife who works at public school, I more viscerally understand the depths of education as a life's calling but as societal right.

    So now I have a call to action and so do we. Join me in making the work happen. Do you believe?

    "Education has been a core part of my identity since I was young, teaching myself how to read in Spanish so I could keep up with my catechism classes while attending public school in the LES. I read books not to escape poverty, but to embrace my culture and help lift us up. I sang in the choir and picked up acting in high school while getting on the honor roll through middle school and high school. I was also a spelling bee champ somewhere, too. I learned from civil rights greats in my student activism at Syracuse University while helping to elevate voices through multiple organizations, including as education chair of La LUCHA. As I was coming up on senior year in 2004, I had a choice to make about my future: to get into computer science or get into teaching by any means."

    I chose to teach.

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