Phil leads the Writing Pathways Innovation Lab, a multi-year project centered on providing teachers with a clear, coherent, open-source roadmap for implementing high-quality writing instruction. In partnership with educators and researchers, the project will co-construct a writing pathway, a sequence of skills, that teachers can test and improve in their classrooms to advance the teaching of writing nationally.

Phil was a New York City Department of Education educator for 35 years. He spent 27 years at the High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology in Brooklyn where he was an English teacher, an assistant principal, and the school's principal for 13 years. He later served as the Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning for the school system, leading the development and implementation of all aspects of academic practice and policy.

He comes to Teaching Lab from Quill.org, where he led the initial stages of the Writing Pathways project. Phil holds degrees and certificates from Swarthmore College, Teachers College, Columbia University, and Hunter College. He was awarded the Sloan Public Service Award for Outstanding Public Service by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Fund for the City of New York. 

Phil lives in New York with his wife.