College Board Connection Programs and Services
The College Board's mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. We are a not-for-profit membership organization committed to excellence and equity in education.
. . Sign up to receive Connection
COLLEGEBOARD.COM New England Middle States Southwest South Midwest West International
Connection Home
Latest News
Advocacy
Programs and Services
Membership Matters
Commentary
Events and Workshops

ARCHIVES
2008
   
→
   Aug/Sept
→
   Jun
→
 May
→
 Apr
→
 Mar
→
 Feb
→
 Jan

2007
→
 Nov

Programs and Services

Remembering Mike Riley

Mike Riley
Mike Riley


Michael N. Riley, senior vice president for the College Readiness Systems, died suddenly on Oct. 8, in Virginia, less than a week after celebrating his 58th birthday with his wife, Gail, and daughter, Michelle. Though long involved with the College Board as a member and Trustee, Riley only joined the staff in November 2007.

He was nationally renowned for his work as superintendent of the Bellevue (Wash.) School District from 1996 to 2007, where he sought to ensure that every child in his district received a high-quality, college-preparatory education. By joining the College Board, he was able to expand his vision to include every child in the United States, which he pursued through his leadership of the College Board Schools model and the EXCELerator™ Schools model, both of which are comprehensive models of school reform designed to prepare more students for college access and success, with special attention being paid to those students traditionally underserved in our country.

"Mike Riley was our friend and colleague for many years,” said College Board President Gaston Caperton. “We respected his intellect, his knowledge and his unwavering commitment to improving education. We'll miss many things about Mike: his warmth, his wit and his quiet confidence, and we, along with educators around the country, will mourn the loss of one of our most valued voices. We at the College Board will carry Mike's vision forward and are confident that his legacy will be a better education for underserved high school students, about whom he cared so deeply."

Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Riley learned as a young teacher that keeping failing students after school to do their work had a dramatically positive effect on their performance. The realization that all students could learn, and, indeed, excel if challenged and given adequate support and attention, informed his work for the rest of his life.

Lee Jones, senior vice president of College Readiness Products at the College Board, was the executive director of the Advanced Placement Program® when Riley was at Bellevue. “I first got to know Mike about eight years ago when he was leading the strongest AP® expansion in a school district in the country,” recalls Jones. “I had never met anyone who was as passionate about preparing students for AP as Mike. He provided a blueprint to illustrate how this could be done in other school districts.”

Jones and his colleagues at the College Board tried to recruit Riley for many years. “Mike felt he hadn’t completed the work he’d started at Bellevue. Finally, last year we were able to convince him to come to the College Board, because he was satisfied with the rigorous AP program he had implemented at Bellevue and wanted to try and do the same thing on a national level,” Jones explained. “It’s such a tremendous loss, but I am comforted knowing that Mike was doing exactly what he wanted to do with his life’s work. He was only with us a year, but the building blocks that Mike put into place will remain, and we will recognize his impact five, even 10 years down the line.”

Greg Shaw, the director of policy and advocacy for the United States Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, offered this: "Mike was the kind of bold and courageous education leader anyone would want for their children. He helped Bellevue become one of the top-performing school districts in the country. Mike believed at his core that every student could and should be prepared to succeed in college. We have lost a mentor, a leader and a friend."

Helen Santiago, executive director of New Small Schools at the College Board, remembers Riley as “a wonderful human being and a deeply committed educator. In the short time that I had the privilege of knowing Mike, I came to understand his intelligence, sharp wit, drive and intense compassion for making public schools great ones in service to children, their communities and, in effect, the greater good. To say that he will be missed is
an understatement.”

Peggy O’Neill Skinner, a fellow College Board Trustee from Seattle, knew Riley for many years. “Mike represented the search for excellence in education. I worked in his district for summer institutes and had the opportunity to work with him on the Board of Trustees. Mike and I had many conversations about education. We would test each other with the dialogue that represented the tension between a teacher and an administrator. He listened, and often disagreed, but never gave up his vision about what it meant to search for the best for students and what teachers give to the profession. I walked away from each conversation with a broader vision about education, and I was always confident that he did the same.”

Skinner added, “He knew what it meant to educate, and we all respected his views. But to me the most important connection was personal. Mike always solicited that connection. He asked about my family, and he told me about his. We often talked about what it was to age, to find the ways to make life easier, to cherish a moment. His passion about education was secondary to his family.  I'll miss the rock, the icon and the friend.”

Riley left an indelible mark on so many lives — above all, the students. One former high school student, Anne Kramer, remembers Riley from 20 years past. “While anchoring the news for WBAL Radio in Baltimore last Sunday, I read his obituary in my hometown newspaper. Immediately I had good thoughts of my years at Middletown High School. It has been more than 20 years since graduation, but I remember Dr. Riley walking the halls and talking with students about their latest accomplishments with a smile on his face and a sense of pride in his step. The education system has lost a great supporter of students and advocate to help them achieve greater things.”

Another former student from Seattle, Osbaldo Hernandez, remembered Riley’s support of his program to reduce Hispanic-student dropouts. “Dr. Riley will definitely leave a legacy behind, especially within the immigrant-student community. Thanks to his support, my program was a success, and it helped Hispanic students complete their high school requirements. He told me he wanted to give every student a ‘high-class, K-12 school education.’ I believe he accomplished more than that. He not only increased AP students but helped create a strong curriculum that would place all students at the same high expectations as anyone throughout the district.”

Perhaps some of the most important words to remember are Riley’s own. At a College Board employee meeting in September, he said:

The important thing is not to limit our imaginations when we try to address the seemingly intractable problems facing our profession. We need to think big to accomplish big things. … We are going to have to demonstrate our ability to design well, implement well, learn from our implementation, make adaptations quickly and efficiently and effectively, and repeat this cycle over and over as we go. … This is very important work we’re engaged in. I’m convinced that we’re the right people, that this is the right time and that together we can make a very significant contribution to the lives of many kids.

Continuing the important work to which Riley devoted his life is the only appropriate way to honor his legacy.



Email This StorySave to FavoritesPrint

 
 Copyright © 2008 collegeboard.com, Inc.