LaVonne Sheffield

Associate VP, Early College Expansion

Contact LaVonne Sheffield

Lavonne M. Sheffield, Ph.D., leads JFF’s expansion of early college services designed to help school districts raise the graduation and college readiness rates of underserved and struggling students.

Sheffield is a veteran teacher and administrator with over 35 years of experience. She was most recently school superintendent in Rockford, Illinois, a district serving 30,000 students. Her accomplishments included aligning the district’s curricula—and classroom instruction strategies—to state standards. Prior to Rockford, she was superintendent of the Recovery School District in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she led the development of curricula that met the needs of specialized student populations.

Sheffield began her career as a teacher in the Detroit public school system and has also served as chief of staff to the mayor of Cleveland, chief academic officer of Detroit public schools, and chief accountability officer for Philadelphia public schools.

Sheffield has a Bachelor’s degree in education and a Master’s degree in education from Wayne State University in Michigan, as well as a doctorate in education from the University of Michigan.