About Dr. Timothy Gadson

A resident of Salt Lake City, Timothy Gadson consults the board of education of the city's school district. Dr. Gadson is a conscientious educational leader who focuses on creating pathways for student success through personalized learning, directed support, and targeting district resources to ensure academic, physiological, psychological, and social excellence through equity. He emphasizes the importance of teachers and staff developing strong and lasting relationships with students. Then providing expert instruction via a rigorous, relevant, guaranteed, and viable curriculum where students can see themselves and the possibilities that each of them, through self-determination, can succeed ensures the best outcomes.

Dr. Gadson served as principal in schools that failed to meet state accountability goals and expectations prior to him taking the helm as chief instructional leader. He has garnered results through his proven data-informed, collaborative style that puts building relationships with staff at the forefront of the work and allows team members to share real-time input and feedback. Following a continuous improvement process, including setting measurable goals and frequent progress monitoring, providing common planning time for teachers across grades and content areas, and personalizing professional learning opportunities allowed teachers to address each student's individual needs. This led to the improved accountability status of Dr. Gadson's schools and helped avoid state takeovers.

Dr. Gadson has guided transformation efforts in underperforming schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Providence, Rhode Island, and St. Croix, Virgin Islands. He respected the expertise of school-based leaders and worked to understand their goals and expectations, as well as the hopes and dreams of their staff, students, parents, and communities. This information gathering and the intentional interactions allowed Dr. Gadson to collaborate with school-level teams to develop and implement school improvement plans that resulted in improved student achievement, school culture, and success.

Dr. Gadson served as superintendent of the Salt Lake City School District, overseeing efforts to improve academics and put children and families first. He was the first Black superintendent in Utah, and his position reflected the needs of a diverse urban school district made up of more than 50 percent ethnic minorities.

Dr. Timothy Gadson's professional experience includes past positions with Atlanta Public Schools and Austin Independent School District. With the latter, he boosted attendance rates of economically disadvantaged, Hispanic, and Black students. He also increased the graduation rate in Atlanta to a historical high and started the upward momentum in graduation rates and student achievement still observed in the district.

Dr. Gadson is trained in mediation and managing workplace conflict. Additionally, he is currently completing his national certification in Business, Family, and Divorce mediation from the National Association of Certified Mediators