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 U.S. Education 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.

VP Al Mijares

I am happy to announce that Oregon has joined Hawaii in offering the PSAT/NMSQT® to all public school 10th-graders statewide through the 
PSAT/NMSQT Early Participation Program. The Western Regional Office offered PSAT/NMSQT workshops throughout Oregon and Hawaii to help educators understand the vast benefits and resources of the program. The PSAT/NMSQT provides students with individualized skills feedback in critical reading, mathematics and writing. In
addition, students have access to My College QuickStart™, including an SAT® study plan and MyRoad™, a valuable tool for education and career decision making. Districts and states will receive valuable data that is mapped to their state standards and AP Potential™, an online tool to identify potential students for Advanced Placement® course work. An additional 37 districts in California, Nevada, Colorado, Washington, Arizona and Alaska offered the PSAT/NMSQT to all 10th graders as well.

Staff Clark County School District in Nevada successfully participated in professional CollegeEd® training in preparation for the districtwide implementation for all seventh-grade students. We are excited about the district's comprehensive initiatives to promote a college-going culture for all students beginning in middle school. As Clark County is the fifth-largest school district in the country, with an annual budget of nearly $3 trillion, this will be the largest CollegeEd project in the Western Region.

We salute Jefferson County School District in Golden, Colo., for their outstanding commitment over several years to the College Board's Pre-AP® professional development. JeffCo’s secondary reform leader, Tammy Weatherly, has worked closely with the College Board to provide meaningful professional development to district staff members. JeffCo’s focus has been in the areas of English, social studies, science, world languages and mathematics. Since July 2007, JeffCo has coordinated more than 23 different Pre-AP professional development workshops in their quest to provide all students with rigorous instruction.

The U.S. State Department selected six school districts from the Western Region to receive Advanced Placement® Incentive Program Grants from the U.S. State Department, which will be used to facilitate efforts to increase the participation of low-income students in both AP® courses and exams and pre-AP courses. Congratulations to these school districts in Yuma, Ariz.; Riverside, Calif.; Fresno, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; and Colorado’s Weld County School District RE-8 and Weld County School District 6.

Chief Educational Manager Shelley Arakawa and Philip Ballinger, the director of Admissions at the University of Washington, conducted a presentation for the NACAC Assembly as part of the "Focus on the Future" discussion. This presentation summarized national demographic shifts and regional variations, and presented a case study for the state of Washington that demonstrated how general demographic data can be inadequate in a local context.

We have welcomed two new members to our team. Tarang Gupta, senior educational associate, relocated to the Western Region from the Middle States Office. And David Moniz, K-12 educational manager, will provide valuable support to educators in Arizona and Central/Northern California. 

Finally, I was honored on Sept. 17 to be the keynote speaker at the Parents Night Program at Rialto (Calif.) United School District. The event, which was a part of the Advancement via Individual Determination programs, was well attended by parents eager to help their kids plot a course to success through education. More than 200 participants attended this event. 

Advanced Placement® Incentive Program Grants have been awarded to six local school districts in the Western Region to facilitate their continued efforts to increase the participation of low-income students in both AP®  courses and exams and pre-AP courses. The six recipients — Fresno (Calif.) Unified School District, Riverside (Calif.) Unified School District, San Diego (Calif.) Unified School District, Weld County (Colo.) School District 6, Weld County (Colo.) School District RE-8 and Yuma (Ariz.) Union High School District #70 — received grants from the U.S. Department of Education that will be used to support the development, enhancement or expansion of AP courses, including pre-AP courses in mathematics, science, English and other subject areas.

The DOE selects grant recipients from school districts, state and local educational agencies or national nonprofit educational entities with expertise in providing advanced placement. The competitive three-year awards must be used to expand access for low-income individuals to Advanced Placement programs. Some of the options funded by these grants include teacher training, development of pre-AP courses, coordination and articulation between grade levels to prepare students for academic achievement in AP classes, books and supplies, and participation in online AP courses.

Fresno Unified School District will use its grant to offer services to seven high-poverty high schools and 14 middle schools, including new AP courses and sections in each high school and AP Chinese Language and Culture courses in two schools. New Spanish for Native Speakers courses will be introduced to prepare more native Spanish-speaking students for success in AP Spanish. The Advancement via Individual Determination programs at the participating schools will be expanded by increasing the number of AVID elective sections and by integrating AVID strategies into core academic courses. Teachers will attend AP training, parents will attend education workshops that promote postsecondary planning and preparation, and upcoming AP students will be offered summer prep workshops. Tutoring will be available to AP/IB students after school and on Saturdays. Using AP and IB exam standards as the starting point and mapping backward to lower grade levels, Vertical Teams of teachers will develop aligned programs of study that will provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for success in AP and IB courses.

In Riverside, Calif., the Access the Advanced Placement Advantage project will provide assistance to nine high-poverty Riverside schools, including four high schools and five middle schools, to increase the participation and success of low-income students in AP courses and exams. Riverside will develop vertically aligned teacher teams in grades seven through 12 in English language arts, mathematics and science to build common expectations and skills needed by low-income students to be successful in an AP curriculum. Upcoming students will have an opportunity to preview their AP course syllabus, meet their teacher and fellow students, and sample lessons through an online “reboot” summer camp. Peer tutoring will be provided to AP students who need academic support. Financial incentives will be offered to AP teachers for completing an AP certificate program designed by the district in collaboration with the University of California at Riverside.

San Diego Unified School District is working with six high schools with high concentrations of poverty to eliminate achievement gaps in student participation and success in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses and exams. Each school will add at least two new AP or IB courses in English language arts, mathematics or science in each year of the project. Critically needed foreign language courses — including Arabic, Chinese and Japanese —will also be developed and offered by these schools. To better prepare students for advanced course work in the upper grades, the project will establish and train teams of high school and middle school teachers who will work together to align the core academic curriculum across grade levels. An AP/IB summer bridge program will give upcoming students an introduction to the pace and rigor of these courses, assistance in improving their writing skills and the opportunity to begin their studies early. Seniors who have completed AP courses will provide tutoring to younger students who are new to AP before, during and after school. Over the course of the project,
pre-AP, AP and IB teachers at the six schools will complete 150 or more hours of professional development, while principals will participate annually in professional development based on The College Board Leadership Institute for Principals™.

Weld County School District 6 will engage eight high-poverty schools — including three high schools and five middle schools — in its initiative to increase the successful participation of low-income students in AP courses. Distance learning will be used to give students access to AP courses that are not currently offered at their high schools. AVID programs will be implemented in all eight schools. Teams of core academic high school and middle school teachers will be established to develop and implement a vertically aligned curriculum that prepares students to succeed in advanced coursework. AP students will be given additional academic support through tutoring offered outside of school, as well as through online AP exam review courses. AP teachers will get intensive professional development from The University of Northern Colorado summer institutes. Teachers will receive financial incentives for the success of non-traditional students in AP courses and exams.

Weld County School District Re-8 plans to increase the participation of low-income students in AP courses through online courses and the district’s implementation of the AVID program, which will be expanded to support students in grades 11 and 12 as they participate in AP courses and prepare to apply for and enroll in postsecondary institutions. AP teachers will receive intensive training during AP Summer Institutes at the University of Northern Colorado and will serve on the district’s Vertical Teams of teachers to develop a comprehensive, aligned program of study that prepares students for AP courses.

Yuma Union High School District and three neighboring elementary school districts will carry out a comprehensive plan to increase student enrollment and success in AP and pre-AP courses at five high-poverty high schools and their eight feeder middle schools. The AVID program will be implemented schoolwide in all schools, and Arizona Western College will recruit and train college students and college-educated community volunteers to provide tutoring to students. At the start of eighth grade, all students will complete the EXPLORE assessment to evaluate their academic knowledge and skills and allow them to explore how their interests relate to different potential career areas. Using results from EXPLORE and local benchmark assessments, middle and high school counselors will help students develop five-year plans for taking courses in high school and the first year of college. The project will establish Vertical Teams of middle and high school teachers in the core academic subjects who will work together to align curricula and improve the academic preparation of students for advanced course work. AP and pre-AP teachers will receive professional development in the content areas they teach through AP Summer Institutes. Students enrolled in AP courses will be given the opportunity to enroll simultaneously in the same course online to receive additional instruction and support. A new online course in AP Chinese Language and Culture or Japanese Language and Culture will be offered to students beginning in the second year of the project.

Click here to see events and workshops in the Western region.