A highly-regarded urban educator in New Jersey for over 20 years, Baruti Kafele distinguished himself as a master teacher and a transformational school leader. He was selected as the East Orange School District and Essex County Public Schools Teacher of the Year and New Jersey State Teacher of the Year finalist.

Kafele served as a middle and high school principal where he helped “The Mighty” Newark Tech, go from a low-performing school in need of improvement to national recognition. This culminated in Kafele receiving the Milken Educator Award for his leadership.

For over 35 years, Kafele has delivered more than 3,000 conference and program keynotes, professional development workshops, parenting seminars and student assemblies. In addition to writing several professional articles for popular education journals, he has authored 14 books, including seven ASCD best sellers. His newest book, “What Is My Value INSTRUCTIONALLY to the Teachers I Supervise?” was recently released.

Kafele is the recipient of over 150 educational, professional and community awards which include the prestigious Milken Educator Award, the National Alliance of Black School Educators Hall of Fame Award and the East Orange, New Jersey Hall of Fame Award. He has been recognized as one of the World’s Top 30 Education Professionals for six consecutive years (2020 – 2025) by Global Gurus Top 30, for creating one of the world’s top school leadership training programs by Global Training (2025), and by the District Administration as one of the Top 100 Influencers for Educational Leadership in America for 2025.