Seattle Schools superintendent sets ambitious agenda
Seattle schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who just ended her third year in the city, is about to embark on a handful of academic initiatives, including a new school-improvement plan that will support and pressure schools to improve.
Seattle Times education reporter
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In her first three years in Seattle, schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson closed schools, oversaw a new student-assignment plan, added an exam that students take three times a year and revamped the way the district funds schools.
And she's just getting started. To date, much of what she's done has laid the groundwork for what's next: a handful of academic initiatives with the kind of accountability Goodloe-Johnson has talked about since she arrived.
One big one, to be rolled out this November, is a new school-improvement plan that will include a new scorecard for each school that measures both achievement and improvement in a number of areas — not just test scores, but also such things as credits earned and number of students in advanced classes.
Schools high in both will be able to continue much as before. But those with low scores and little improvement will get a lot of attention from the central office — more financial support, but also more direction.
The idea is not to rank schools — that doesn't help students, she says. But in an effort to infuse accountability throughout the school district, Goodloe-Johnson says she wants to make it clear where each school stands, and insist on improvement where it's needed.
"Accountability is key to success in anything we do," she said. "It's just like losing weight. Drink the water, exercise. Don't eat fat stuff. Then you hold yourself accountable by getting on the scale.
