Fenwick W. English
| Fenwick W. English | |
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| Born |
Fenwick English February 9, 1939 Los Angeles 
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| Occupation | Professor of Educational Leadership |
Fenwick W. English (born February 9, 1939, Los Angeles, California, United States) is an education professor.
In 2002, he became the Robert Wendel Eaves Sr. Chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This distinguished position honors one of this century’s great leaders in elementary education.
Fenwick English was born in Los Angeles, California to middle-class parents Mel and Phyllis. His father taught middle school woodshop and his mother taught music. Fenwick's father and mother were both accomplished pianists.
In 1956 English enrolled in college at USC where he graduated with a B.S. in English and Education in 1961, and an M.S. in Elementary Administration in 1963.
While studying for his M.S. he was also a teacher of third grade at the Tweedy Elementary School in South Gate, California.
From his career start as a third grade teacher, English quickly moved up in the ranks of practicing educators and in school administrators. He taught elementary and middle school at Palm Crest Elementary School and Foothill Intermediate School in La Canada, California from 1961–1964. His leadership in the classroom was respected and this led to his promotion to Assistant Middle School Principal at that same Foothill Intermediate School from 1964–1965. In 1965, he moved up to Middle School Principal and Central Project Director, Temple City USD, Temple City, California.
It was during his five years at Temple City that he started to formulate his ideas into writing. His observations in the classroom and school became the groundwork for his first book Differentiated staffing: Giving teaching a chance to improve learning published in 1969.
The book was well received, and it was not long before he was putting his theories into practice. In 1970 he was asked to direct a project in staff differentiation with three pilot schools in the Mesa Public Schools District in Mesa, Arizona. The project was funded by Arizona State University where English was employed with the title of Project Director/Visiting Lecturer. In essence he was conducting practical research by being allowed to reorganize each pilot school along slightly different models and then measure performance differences. This work was the topic of his Doctoral Dissertation, and he received his Ph.D. in 1972.
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