Leonard Covello

Leonard Covello was an Italian-born American educator who spent his career developing schooling that supported immigrant children without forcing them to abandon their heritage. Born in 1887, he began teaching languages at DeWitt Clinton High School in New York in 1913, where he founded the school's Italian department and promoted bilingual instruction well before it was common practice. In 1934 he became the founding principal of Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem, leading the school for 22 years and building close ties between the school and its immigrant community. Covello argued that bilingualism and biculturalism let students become full participants in American life without cutting them off from their families and native culture, and he later advised programs serving Puerto Rican migrants. His 1958 autobiography, The Heart is the Teacher, remains a widely cited account of immigrant education in twentieth century America.