Parrett holds a Ph.D. in Secondary Education from Indiana University. Parrett has served on the faculties of Indiana University, the University of Alaska and Boise State University. As Director of the Boise State University Center for School Improvement & Policy Studies

(1996 to present), Parrett coordinates funded projects and school improvement initiatives that currently exceed $ 8 million annually. His research on reducing achievement gaps and effective schooling practices for youth living in poverty, and low-performing schools has gained widespread recognition.

Parrett is the co-author (with Kathleen Budge) of the best selling, Turning High-Poverty Schools Into High-Performing Schools, (ASCD, 2012), winner of 2013 Silver Excel Award for Best Technical Book (Association Media and Publishing). He has also co-authored Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools, 2nd edition, (Corwin Press, 2008, Best Seller & Honorable Mention, National Education Book of the Year 2009), The Kids Left Behind: Catching Up the Underachieving Children of Poverty (Solution Tree, 2007, Best Seller), Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools (2003), Hope Fulfilled for At-Risk & Violent Youth (2001), How to Create Alternative, Magnet, and Charter Schools that Work (1997), Hope at Last for At-Risk Youth (1995), Inventive Teaching: Heart of the Small School (1993), The Inventive Mind: Portraits of Effective Teaching (1991), authored numerous articles in national journals and presented frequently at international and national conferences.

Parrett’s media production, Heart of the Country (1998), is a documentary of an extraordinary principal of a village elementary school in Hokkaido, Japan, and the collective passion of the community to educate the heart as well as the mind. Since its release, the production was nominated for the Pare Lorentz Award at the 1999 International Documentary Awards (Los Angeles, CA); has won the Award of Commendation from the American Anthropological Association, a Gold Apple Award for best of category at the National Education Media Network Festival (Oakland, CA), a National CINE Golden Eagle Award (Washington, D.C.), and a Judges’ Award at the 24th Northwest Film Festival (Portland, OR). In addition, Heart of the Country was an invited feature and screened at the Cinema du Reel festival in Paris (1998) and the Margaret Mead Film Festival (1998) in New York City. This work has received critical acclaim for its cinematography and insight into the universal correlates of effective teaching and learning and the power of community participation in public schools.

Parrett has also served as visiting faculty at Indiana University, the University of Manitoba, Oregon State University, Hokkaido University of Education (Japan), Nagoya Gakiun (Japan), Gifu University (Japan) and Heilongjiang University (People’s Republic of China). His consultancies include state departments, boards of education, state and regional service providers and school districts in 44 states and 10 nations.

Throughout his career, Parrett has worked to improve the educational achievement of all children and youth, particularly those less advantaged. Toward this goal, his efforts have resulted in the creation of numerous policies, programs and interventions designed to help educators, schools, communities, and universities benefit from research and best practice. These efforts have positively impacted the lives of thousands of young people, many of which live in poverty.