The beginning of Hilderbrand Pelzer III’s leadership in the education field started when he became Philadelphia’s youngest high school principal during the early 2000s. However, Pelzer’s greatest accomplishment—in a career that included leading five different schools—was arguably in one of the largest prison systems in the United States: the Philadelphia prison system.

Here, Pelzer made a significant impact by exemplifying a pivotal shift toward a leadership style characterized by high expectations for all incarcerated youth. Pelzer raised expectations in the Philadelphia prison system by using all the resources at his disposal to change the system’s entire culture and by demonstrating that incarcerated youth can learn. Leveraging the unique lessons he has learned inside jails, Pelzer teaches his audiences how to raise expectations for all students.