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Dr. Steven Webb's Bio
STEVEN WEBB, Ed.D.
Retired Superintendent of Vancouver Public Schools, Vancouver, Washington;
K-12; 24,000 students; doctoral degree from Seattle University
Learning 2025 National Senior Consultant, AASA and Successful Practices Network
Dr. Steven Webb served as superintendent of Vancouver (Wash.) Public Schools from 2008-2021. He has a distinguished 36-year career in public education in Washington and California, serving as superintendent, deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent for secondary learning and technology, principal and associate principal, high school teacher and coach.
While serving as VPS superintendent, the district achieved the following:
- Passage of five operating levies and two technology levies with voter approval ranging from 60% to 71%—generating more than $650.6 million in local funds;
- School facility investments—totaling $563 million from a voter-approved bond measure, a state smaller class-size grant and the state construction assistance program;
- Early learning partnerships and jump start kindergarten programs— 62.5% of students entered kindergarten ready in all six areas of development and learning, a 6% increase in all students demonstrating readiness skills from 18-19 school year and a 7% increase in the percentage of free and reduced students demonstrating readiness is all six domains;
- A 1:1 technology initiative—providing digital learning devices to all students and teachers in grades K-12 along with a wireless network infrastructure to connect them;
- Family-Community Resource Centers—mobilizing partner services and financial assistance to support poverty-affected children in 20 schools—partnerships have grown from 22 to over 200 in the last decade mobilizing $7 million in community based resources;
- New innovative educational choices—including Vancouver Innovation, Technology and Arts (VITA) Elementary, Vancouver iTech Preparatory, Fort Vancouver Center for International Studies and Spanish and Mandarin language learning programs; and
- A dramatic increase in the on-time graduation rate—improving from 64% in 2010 to nearly 90% in 2020—and an extended graduation rate of 92% with African American and Latino students making the greatest gains.
National-level work
At the national level, Dr. Webb has been a member of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), Urban Superintendent’s Association of America, the Horace Mann League, Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, AASA’s Digital Consortium, Western States Benchmarking Consortium, AASA’s National Learning 2025 Commission, Educational Research Development Institute (ERDI), National Coalition of Community Schools, and the National Consortium of School Networking. Dr. Webb served as chair of the superintendent’s advisory council for Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools and for the National Coalition of Community Schools. Dr. Webb has been invited to numerous White House and United States Department of Education symposia focused on public education innovation. In 2016, Dr. Webb was extended a presidential invitation to the White House as part of a national event recognizing exceptional educators in America.
Dr. Webb has received numerous national and state awards during his career for exceptional educational leadership including AASA’s and National School Public Relations Association’s (NSPRA) Leadership Through Communication Award, 2011; Washington Association of School Administrators’ Robert J. Handy Most Effective Administrator Award, 2011; eSchool News Tech-Savvy Superintendent Award, 2014; Horace Mann League Ambassador Award, 2015; ERDI’s Mike Kneale Educational Excellence in Leadership Award, 2016; AASA’s and Institute for Education Leadership’s Superintendent Leadership Award, 2016; NSPRA’s Bob Grossman Leadership in Communication Award, 2018; and AASA’s Dr. Effie H. Jones Humanitarian Award, 2020. Dr. Webb was named 2016 Washington State Superintendent of the Year and was a finalist for AASA’s 2016 National Superintendent of the Year. In 2015, the US Department of Education named Dr. Webb a “Future Ready Leader” featuring Vancouver Public Schools digital transformation initiative nationally. In 2016, Education Week, named Dr. Webb as a “Leader to Learn From.”
Dr. Webb has fulfilled leadership and advisory roles for the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, professional organizations, and regional networks, including serving on Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Superintendents’ Advisory Council, Washington State Board of Education Superintendents’ Advisory Panel, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Superintendent Advisory Council, Southwest Washington STEM Learning Network Advisory Council, and Washington Association of School Administrators’ (WASA) Executive Board. In 2017-18, Dr. Webb served as WASA president, a professional organization representing nearly 1500 school administrators in Washington State.
Dr. Webb has been a frequent presenter at state, regional and national conferences and a published author in numerous professional journals, including Education Week and The School Administrator, two leading national K-12 education trade publications.
Vancouver Public Schools and Dr. Webb have been prominently featured in several published books, including:
The Governance Core: School Boards, Superintendents, and Schools Working Together by Davis Campbell and Michael Fullan (Corwin, 2019)
Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty by Elaine Weiss and Paul Reville (Harvard Education Press, 2019)
Every Child, Every Day: A Digital Conversion Model for Student Achievement by Mark Edwards (Pearson, 2013)