Many
changes, successes, plans mark Dr.
Carol R. Johnson’s first year
as superintendent of Memphis City Schools
Memphis, Tenn. – When
Dr. Carol R. Johnson was chosen to lead
the struggling Memphis City Schools district,
people may have wondered what an outsider
from Minnesota would know about this city’s
problems. But Johnson has proved herself
over the past year, laying a bright plan
for the future.
“As educators, we
hope to make a difference in at least one
child’s achievement, one child’s
confidence and one child’s expectation
for himself,” Johnson said. “We
hope to transcend whatever barriers of
background and family circumstance that
might stand in the way of students achieving
success.”
Since becoming the superintendent of the 21st largest school district in
the nation on Oct. 6, 2003, Johnson has more than made a difference.
Just a few of her first year’s
many accomplishments include the removal
of 83 schools from the state’s No
Child Left Behind list; the restructuring
and realigning of administrative departments
and positions with alternate funding sources;
the successful bids for two highly-praised
national programs, New Leaders for New
Schools and The New Teacher Project; and
the renewal of the district’s focus
on literacy with her MCS Reads initiative.
Johnson has re-energized
the employees of the district with her
compassion, focus on educating children
and strong belief in the importance of
building relationships throughout the city.
She has taken the lead on
correcting problems at schools on the state’s
No Child Left Behind high priority list
by “Fresh Starting” five schools
(replacement of a school’s entire
staff) and restructuring grades and replacing
leadership at other schools. At the same
time, she had to identify $25 million in
budget cuts during her first fiscal year.
“ It has been a challenging
year with many tough decisions to make,” Johnson
said. “But our Board Commissioners
have been focused and supportive, and our
schools are improving, which reinforces
the importance of the community investing
additional funds in the public education
of its children.”
Given her track record of
success, however, it’s been no surprise
that Johnson has achieved so much in such
a short amount of time.
Before coming to Memphis
City Schools, Johnson served as superintendent
of the most diverse school district in
Minnesota, Minneapolis Public Schools.
In her tenure as superintendent, from 1997
to 2003, Johnson led the effort to establish
district content standards aligned with
No Child Left Behind, and she established
a consistent and coordinated reading/language
arts, math, science and social studies
program that improved reading, math and
writing performance among all students.
She began her career as a
teacher in the Washington DC Schools in
1969. She has also served as program coordinator
for a U.S. Department of Education career
opportunities program, Minnesota State
Facilitator Project director and dissemination
coordinator, and assistant principal and
principal at Jefferson Elementary-Hall
Montessori School.
Some of Johnson’s many
accolades include the Minnesota Alliance
of Black School Educators Leadership Award,
Women Ventures Award, Minnesota Superintendent
of the Year, Citizen of the Year Award
from the University Rotary, Society for
Child Development Achievement Award and
Bush Leadership Recipient. She is also
a member of The College Board, the American
Association of School Administrators Women’s
Conference Advisory Committee and the Harvard
University Urban Superintendents Advisory
Committee.
However, perhaps the biggest
achievement Johnson has helped orchestrate — at
least as far as Memphians are concerned — is
the removal of 83 Memphis City Schools
from the state’s No Child Left Behind
high priority list, a 56 percent reduction
from the148 schools on last year’s
list.
“ I don’t attribute
this success to my arrival, or to any person,
rather to the many dedicated teachers and
community volunteers who worked tirelessly
to help individual students make progress,” Johnson
said. “Already, we have increased
our focus on literacy and offered more
professional development in mathematics
and science. All our schools are emphasizing
95 percent attendance, and many have employed
family specialists to better connect with
parents.”
Part of the district’s
improvements came from Johnson’s
proactive efforts to increase student achievement
and attendance.
“ We’re no longer
waiting for the state to tell us what needs
to be done and how,” Johnson said. “The
Fresh Start process is a way to increase
student achievement and education quality
before it reaches the point of state takeover.”
As part of her proactive
approach, the superintendent introduced
her vision, the new “Three Rs” — relationships,
responsibility and results — at the
beginning of the 2004-05 school year.
“ No matter who you are or where you work, relationships matter,” Johnson
said. “When educators acknowledge each other, try to serve students, families
and staff well, when we act and operate as if we are one family committed to
the children of this community, then we can be successful.”
To achieve successful results,
the most important aspect of education
is literacy, Johnson said. With that in
mind, she introduced a new Memphis City
Schools initiative called MCS Reads, and
it involves everyone in the MCS community
reading 25 books a year.
“ Because the only
way to significantly improve literacy and
fluency in reading is for our children
to read more, I want to establish a goal
of every student reading a minimum of 25
books,” she said. “This major
initiative is not just for our students.
We will also challenge each member of our
staff, along with our board commissioners,
our parents and community supporters to
read 25 books as well.
“ In addition, teams
from all elementary schools received reading
training this summer, and a new reading
program will focus on students who are
struggling the most in the middle schools.”
The bottom line, Johnson
said, emphasizes the importance of the
community as a whole taking responsibility
for the great task of educating the city’s
children.
“ Responsibility for learning — for achieving — is and must
be shared with students and families, with schools, the district office and the
community,” she said. “We as school people must embrace accountability.
We’re not waiting for others to set our standards. We’ll set high
standards for ourselves.”
What has she done
for us lately? A LOT!
In Year One as superintendent
of Memphis City Schools, Dr. Carol R. Johnson
has raised the bar on academic achievement
and district performance including the
following initiatives:
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