Arlene Ackerman

[1] Ackerman received her doctorate in Administration, Planning, & Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Urban Superintendents Program.

[citation needed] Ackerman was the superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District from August 1, 2000,[7] to June 30, 2006.

[12] After the implementing the program, 86% of the district's underperforming schools made continued progress, with all student groups demonstrating improved results and scoring above the state and national averages in reading and in math.

Due to her efforts to maintain fiscal discipline in an era of tight finances, Ackerman's relations with the teachers' union, United Educators of San Francisco, became strained.

[15] Ackerman joined Teachers College, Columbia University, where she served as Director of the Urban Education Leaders Program and Chairperson of the Superintendents and Scholars Symposium.

Under her leadership, half of all Philadelphia school children met standards on state exams, a first for the district since federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 had been enacted.

After three years, she reached an agreement with the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to resign her post in return for $905,000 plus $86,000 in unused vacation pay.

[25] She held the Christian A. Johnson Endowed Chair in Outstanding Educational Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University.

[9] Ackerman and her team earned praise from President Barack Obama and United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for an intervention approach aimed at turning around the District of Columbia's struggling schools under the Empowerment, Renaissance and Promise Academy initiatives.