Kate Brown's new 'education innovation officer' is Bethel Superintendent Colt Gill

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Colt Gill, the longtime superintendent of the Bethel School District, is Gov. Kate Brown's choice for education innovation officer, the person charged with running an all-out effort to raise Oregon's graduation rate.

(courtesy of the governor's office)

Colt Gill, the superintendent of the Bethel School District near Eugene, is Gov. Kate Brown's choice to lead the charge on raising Oregon's stubbornly low graduation rates.

While his mission as Oregon's inaugural "education innovation officer" is immense --scour the state and country for proven ways to help more students persist in school and earn diplomas -- Gill's tools will likely be modest.

Without big money or direct authority, he'll need to use can-do persuasion and trust-me expertise to get schools to change their ways and stop letting so many students slip away.

Gill has spent the past decade as superintendent of Bethel, a district with 5,600 students and a single high school, Willamette. The district's graduation rate for the class of 2015 matched broad state averages: 74 percent among all students, 67 percent among low-income students.

The district had only a handful each of blacks, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders in its most recent graduating class. But the class was 15 percent Latino, and Bethel significantly outperformed the state with that group of students, graduating 75 percent of them in four years, compared with just 67 percent of Latino students statewide.

Brown said she picked the seasoned Oregon educator because he consistently improved graduation rates for historically underserved students.

"Colt's experience in the classroom, in the community, and as an administrator give him the perspective and vision to help us improve our dismal graduation rate," Brown said in a statement.

Oregon's on-time graduation rate, for the class of 2015, is 74 percent, one of the lowest rates in the nation.

In an interview, Gill said it's his job to recommend policy changes and budget priorities to Brown and the Legislature, once he determines what short-term and long-term rules and spending stand the best odds of getting Oregon on a better graduation trajectory.

He plans to consult with researchers nationwide and educators and community members around Oregon to figure out what's working. He said the fact that he's well-known in rural and small-town Oregon plus in larger school districts will help him spread successful practices.

Rob Larson, director of the Oregon Leadership Network at the Portland-based education consulting non-profit Education Northwest, called Gill a "perfect" choice. Gill is an expert at using data and research to choose smart approaches in his own district, Larson said.

Gill has also stepped forward time and again to work with leaders from other districts on solving sticky problems, Larson said. He said Gill has been part of a group of superintendents attacking the dropout problem for at least the past four years.

"He is a state leader in this work," Larson said.

Gill said his recommendations to Brown won't spring primarily from approaches used in Bethel but from successes elsewhere.

Two things are working in his district, he said: An intensive approach to early reading instruction, something that began under a previous superintendent but persists to this day. And a newer technique, known as an early warning system, in which students are monitored every year, beginning in first grade, for signs they're likely to drop out.

Research has shown those flags emerge as early as first or second grade, including poor attendance, poor reading skills, behavior problems and poor school performance. Addressing problems early, rather than waiting until 11th or 12th grade, improves graduation rates, Gill said.

Sue Hildick, president of the Chalkboard Project, a Portland-based school advocacy group, said success in getting dramatically more Oregon teens to earn diplomas would open doors for those young people and aid Oregon's economy.

Speaking before Brown revealed her innovation officer, Hildick said, "The single most important thing this person can do is create urgency around improving our situation. We want him or her to set a statewide goal that is achievable but ambitious and get us moving."

Gill will have the backing of the governor and the two key education agencies she oversees, the Oregon Department of Education and the Chief Education Office.

But, crucially, he won't manage staffers, won't have money to hand out and is expected to listen to Oregon school districts and communities, not order them around.

"It's all about collaboration and coming together," said Gill. "We are performing at the lower end among states in the country and we want to make our move back to the top."

He will earn $170,000. He starts on June 1.

-- Betsy Hammond

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