Dr Creg E. Williams Named Superintendent
The St. Louis Board of Education is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Creg E. Williams as superintendent of the St. Louis Public School district. Dr. Williams was appointed by the board in a 7-0 vote; his contract will be negotiated in the near future. Ron Jackson, Chairman of the Superintendent Search committee says, “Dr. Williams demonstrates all of the qualities that we are looking for to lead our district towards accreditation and becoming the great school district we know that it can be.”

Dr. Williams is currently the deputy chief academic officer of the School District of Philadelphia, a position he has held since 2002. This large urban district serves nearly 215,000 students, has 11,000 teachers, and has an annual budget in excess of $1.6 billion.In this position, Dr. Williams is directly responsible for 58 high schools, 52 charter schools and a budget in excess of $500 million. In addition to all of the school based staff, there are about 100 individuals who report to him.Among his first actions was the development of a five-year strategic plan for the high schools. The implementation of the plan resulted in a marked increase in the number of high schools reaching Adequate Yearly Progress according to criteria of No Child Left Behind. There were only seven in 2002-2003 to 16 in 2003-2004.This achievement came about from the development of a rigorous standardized curriculum aligned to Pennsylvania state standards for English, math, science and social studies for grades 9-12. He led the alignment of all high school courses with state standards and the creation of a test-preparation program to prepare students for the state standardized assessments.Eleventh grade test scores dipped slightly from 2002 to 2004. However, in 9th and 10th grades – where most of his reforms were focused – scores improved substantially. The percentage of 9th graders at or above the national average improved 13.4 percent, while the percentage of students in bottom quartile was reduced by 19.5 percent. The percentage of 10th graders reading at or above grade level went up 3.7 percent, while the percentage in the bottom quartile went down by 7.6 percent. There were similar improvements for 9th and 10th graders in math and science; the biggest improvements of all were in language arts.Dr. Williams’ focus on data-driven instruction and assessment methodologies, school-improvement processes, and standards-based structured curriculum is considered the major reason for the improved student scores. Staff development and reassignment were also part of the reform agenda.Dr. Williams served as management’s lead negotiator during labor talks with the teachers union, he played the key role in listening to teachers’ concerns and in helping the union adopt collaborative attitude working with the school administration. Dr. Williams received a Ed.D in Educational Administration from Roosevelt University in 1996, a M.A. in Education from the same university in 1990 and a B.A. Applied Behavioral Science from National Louis University in 1987.