Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction

Rorie Fitzpatrick

Ms. Rorie Fitzpatrick, Interim Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction, has worked in the field of education for more than 20 years. Prior to assuming her current role, her responsibilities included serving as Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning as well as Director for special education and federal and state school improvement efforts, including taking the lead role in developing Nevada’s successful ESEA waiver application.  She plays a key leadership role on the Nevada Teachers and Leaders Council, moving the state forward in developing a comprehensive educator accountability and support system.

Before joining the state education agency 14 years ago, she was a faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno in the College of Education, focusing on increasing outcomes for people with disabilities as well as coordinating and teaching in special programs addressing environmental studies and sustainability.  The bulk of Ms. Fitzpatrick’s direct instructional experiences with students have been concentrated on teaching children with disabilities ages birth-five in early intervention service settings and in early childhood classrooms.  Her commitment to students with disabilities earned her the Nevada PEP Hand-in-Hand Award in 2012, an honor she deeply values.

Her focused areas of policy development and implementation are associated with educator, school, district, and state performance accountability and support systems to increase student achievement in grades Prek-12.  To successfully undergird the implementation of policy initiatives, Ms. Fitzpatrick has a deep interest in systems organization and progressive leadership approaches, and combines this knowledge of implementation science research with evidence based approaches for improving educational outcomes.

Ms. Fitzpatrick has received a B.S. in Agriculture and M.Ed. in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Nevada, Reno.