Dr. Michael N. Riley

               Previous Superintendent

               Bellevue School District

               1996-2007 

Since his arrival in Bellevue in July of 1996, Dr. Riley maintained one central focus of increasing the academic achievement expectations for all students.  His goal for the Bellevue School District was to provide an authentically high level, rigorous education for every Bellevue student—an education that will serve the student well in a post high school academic setting.  His plan to reach this goal included several interdependent efforts.  One such effort was the creation of a uniform curriculum based on recent student data from internal and external assessments, on pertinent academic research, and on partnerships within and beyond the academic community.  A second ongoing effort was to provide continuous support for teachers through curriculum workshops, through easy access to a valuable supply of student data, and by providing readily available, up-to-date technology for classroom use.  A final and extremely important piece of this path toward achievement for all students was to incorporate an abundance of early and individualized support for struggling students so they will have a solid foundation upon which to build.  This became a realistic goal under 11 years of Mike Riley’s leadership.