Larry Paska began his professional learning journey as a middle school social studies teacher in two New York State public school districts. From there, he joined the New York State Education Department (Albany, NY) to serve in many unique roles. He led New York’s standards and assessment programs for K-12 social studies education; started the Office of Educational Design and Technology to launch the Board of Regents’ Statewide Learning Technology Plan and adopt state regulations for online and blended learning; and managed learning systems across school subjects as the Interim Director of Curriculum Services and Interim Chief of Student Support Services.
Larry then became the Director of Social Studies for the Harrison Central School District (Harrison, NY), leading and planning professional development for three teams – social studies, business, and library media. He then became the Director of Professional Development for the Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES (Harrison, NY), where he coordinated a year-round professional learning program for teachers and administrators in 32 public school districts representing over 145,000 students.
Larry Paska is currently the Executive Director of the National Council for the Social Studies (Silver Spring, MD), a professional membership association of educators offering conferences, summer institutes, webinars, and publications as part of a complete professional learning program. In this role, Larry supports an annual conference of over 4,000 attendees, recognized as one of the “fastest 50” nationwide in growth by total attendance (Trade Show Executive, 2018). He doubled the Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society chapters for high school juniors and seniors, expanding its reach to nearly 700 chapters across the United States and 4 countries, and introduced the Junior Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society for middle-level students (grades 7-9). He also won an $800,000, three-year grant from the Library of Congress to develop online methods texts for higher education faculty.
Larry was an adjunct professor teaching education methods to graduate students, and holds permanent 7–12 social studies education and school district administrator certifications in New York State. He earned a B.A. in History and an M.A.T. in Social Studies from Union College (Schenectady, NY) and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University at Albany (Albany, NY). He holds a Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from ASAE.
Larry serves as the Co-Chair of the National Coalition for History, the Board Treasurer of CAEP (the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation), and Vice-Chair of the Trust for Insuring Educators-Forrest T. Jones & Company, Inc. He is also a member of ASAE. Larry volunteers as the President of his local homeowners’ and pool board associations. He resides in Boyds, MD with his wife, Miriam, and twin daughters.
