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Alumnus Appointed to Senior State Education Post
John B. King, Managing Director of Uncommon Schools, a nonprofit charter management organization that operates schools in New York and New Jersey, will become the New York State Department of Education's senior deputy commissioner for P-12 education, heading up school reform efforts.
In his new post, King will lead the state’s school reform efforts. “I look forward to working with teachers, school leaders, parents, and all of those throughout the state who are interested in raising student achievement,” King said. “The Regents have set an aggressive reform agenda and I am thrilled to work with them and Commissioner-elect Steiner to accelerate the progress already underway.”
King, who will start his new job on October 5, a few days after the state’s new education commissioner, David Steiner, takes office, co-founded the Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston, where he developed an instructional program and school culture that led to strong academic achievement among a study body that was entirely African American and Latino. Under his leadership, the school’s students attained the highest state exam scores of any urban middle school in Massachusetts, and routinely outperformed students from throughout Boston and its affluent suburbs. Roxbury Prep was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as one of eight top charter schools in the country.
As managing director at Uncommon Schools, King has continued to drive improvements in educational outcomes for low-income students in urban settings. In 2009, 98 percent of the students in the third grade through the eighth grade in Uncommon Schools’ New York network scored at Level 3 or 4 on the state math assessments, compared with 86 percent of all New York students and 82 percent of New York City students.
“John King is a nationally recognized education leader with a proven track record of lifting student achievement, particularly for low-income minority students in urban settings,” said Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, who is also a TC alumna. “His goal is always the same: ensuring that the students in his care are prepared for college-level work and productive careers.”
A former high school history teacher from a family of New York City public school educators, King has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a law degree from Yale University. He also has master’s degree in the Teaching of Social Studies (1996) and an Ed.D. in Inquiry in Educational Administration Practice (2006) from Teachers College. To read a previous story about King, go to http://www.tc.edu/news/article.htm?id=4757.
Published Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2009
