Roderick “Rod” Paige, a pioneering educator, coach, and public servant who grew to become the primary African American U.S. Secretary of Schooling, died on Dec. 9, 2025. He was 92.
Born June 17, 1933, in Monticello, Mississippi, to 2 public faculty educators, Paige’s life was formed by the ability of studying and the pressing must develop alternative. After incomes his bachelor’s diploma from Jackson State College, he accomplished a grasp’s and a doctorate of training at Indiana College in Bloomington, Ind.
Paige started his skilled profession within the classroom and on the soccer area, educating and training in Mississippi earlier than turning into head soccer coach at Jackson State College, the place he recruited future NFL Corridor of Famer Lem Barney. He later coached at Texas Southern College (TSU) and served as its athletic director, arriving in Houston within the Nineteen Seventies and shortly turning into a pressure for group advocacy.
Schooling, nonetheless, grew to become Paige’s defining area. At TSU, he superior from professor to dean of the School of Schooling and established the Heart for Excellence in City Schooling.
As a Houston Impartial College District trustee, he co-authored the transformative “Declaration of Beliefs and Visions,” laying the muse for sweeping reform targeted on accountability, decentralization, and educational high quality.
In 1994, Paige grew to become superintendent of HISD, the place he applied revolutionary packages—together with trainer incentive pay, performance-based contracts, expanded constitution choices, and partnerships with licensed non-public colleges to ease overcrowding.
His management helped gasoline what grew to become often known as the “Houston Miracle,” a interval of rising take a look at scores that was later scrutinized for dropout underreporting however continues to be extensively credited with reshaping city training coverage.
Paige’s nationwide impression grew when President George W. Bush appointed him U.S. Secretary of Schooling in 2001. He was at Bush’s facet when information of the second airplane placing the World Commerce Heart arrived on Sept. 11, 2001. Paige performed a central function in growing and implementing the No Baby Left Behind Act, which pushed nationwide accountability requirements and earned three consecutive clear federal audits for the division.
After leaving Washington in 2005, Paige continued contributing to training, together with serving as interim president of Jackson State College from 2016 to 2017. His legacy is acknowledged in colleges bearing his identify in each Houston and Mississippi.
Paige devoted his life to increasing academic entry, demanding excellence, and believing within the transformative potential of each little one.
Paige is survived by Stephanie Nellons-Paige, a enterprise government and philanthropist, and their daughter, Danielle R. Robinson.
