Peter Cohen, Ed.D., is the Principal of Nauset Regional Middle School in Orleans, Massachusetts, and a public school educator with three decades of experience. He has served as a middle school principal since 2006, leading schools and communities through periods of growth, innovation, and change. Throughout his career, his work has centered on creating schools where students are known, challenged, supported, and connected to something larger than themselves.
Dr. Cohen believes that strong school culture is not accidental; it is intentionally built through relationships, shared traditions, high expectations, meaningful student voice, and opportunities for both students and adults to lead. His leadership emphasizes a strong sense of belonging while maintaining high academic expectations for every student. He believes teachers do their best work when they are trusted and empowered to innovate, collaborate, and take thoughtful risks on behalf of students. Similarly, students should not simply attend school—they should have meaningful opportunities to shape their school community, exercise leadership, and develop a sense of ownership over their experience.
At Nauset Regional Middle School, Dr. Cohen has helped lead a renewed focus on school culture, belonging, student leadership, and connection. Central to that work is Nauset’s four-House system (Blizzard, Hurricane, Tsunami, and Tornado) which brings students and staff across grade levels together in smaller communities and creates opportunities for leadership, recognition, competition, service, and school spirit. The House System is grounded in the school’s ROCKS values: Respect, Ownership, Citizenship, Kindness, and Safety. Students serve in authentic leadership roles as House Captains, Deputy Captains, and members of the student Crew, helping to shape activities, traditions, and the culture of the school. The daily Nauset Time advisory program provides another important layer of connection, giving students a consistent adult advocate while creating time for academic planning, extra support, enrichment, reflection, and community building. Dr. Cohen has also supported innovative interdisciplinary and place-based learning opportunities, including EarthKeepers and ChangeMakers, which connect student learning to the environment, history, and communities of Cape Cod.
Before joining Nauset, Dr. Cohen served as Principal of Stony Brook Middle School in Westford, Massachusetts, and Cyrus Peirce School – the middle school on Nantucket, before leading a Charter Public School as Head of School. He began his career as a history teacher in Lexington. These experiences across diverse school communities have shaped his belief that successful schools combine academic excellence with strong relationships, teacher leadership, student agency, and a clear sense of shared purpose.
Beyond his work at Nauset, Dr. Cohen contributes to the profession through principal mentoring, professional learning, and conference presentations. He has presented at state and national conferences, including events sponsored by the Association for Middle Level Education, ASCD, ISTE, and MassCUE. His current professional work focuses particularly on middle school culture, belonging, student leadership, and the use of House systems to transform traditional positive behavioral supports into structures that build genuine community. He also serves as President of the Board of Directors of Friends of Pleasant Bay, where he works with community members and organizations to support education, stewardship, research, and public engagement surrounding one of Cape Cod’s most important natural resources.
Dr. Cohen earned his Doctor of Education degree from Boston College, where his research examined educational technology and organizational change. He also holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in education and history. Across his career as a teacher, principal, mentor, presenter, and community leader, his work has remained grounded in a simple belief: schools are strongest when every child feels that they matter, every adult believes they can make a difference, and the entire community shares responsibility for helping young people succeed.