Ed.D. in Educational Administration, 2001
School of Education
January 1, 2014
Administrator Builds Leadership Teams to Support Increased Student Achievement
Dr. Heather Williams is currently the Director of Human Resources for the Chino Valley Unified School District. She earned a bachelor’s degree (BA) in Liberal Studies from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona and a master’s degree (MA) in Educational Administration from California State University, San Bernardino.
Dr. Williams received her doctorate from the University of California, Irvine in 2001. Her dissertation, Administrator Evaluations and their Role in Relation to Effective School Leadership, centered on the essential characteristics of effective leadership and how continual, growth-focused evaluations can enhance the skills of all leaders. Dr. Williams has used her research over the last eleven years to build her leadership teams to achieve increased student achievement.
Dr. Williams is in her twenty-fifth year of serving California students. She has served in the roles of teacher, elementary and junior high assistant principal, and elementary principal. While serving as elementary principal, Dr. Williams led the first elementary school in San Bernardino County to reach an Academic Performance Index (API) score of over 900. She then asked to be assigned to a low performing Program Improvement (PI) school.
Working diligently with all community stakeholders, parents, teachers, classified staff, and students, the school successfully exited the status of Program Improvement. This is one of my proudest moments since I always wanted to create a school where all children belonged, received an exceptional education, and reached their potential.
From school site leadership, Dr. Williams went on to become the Director of Special Education because she was seen as a strong advocate for students with special needs. While serving as Director of Special Education, Dr. Williams received the Special Education Teacher Professional Development Grant to support improved reading instruction district-wide.
All teachers received intensive training, coaching, and support, which resulted in increased reading achievement by special education students.
Additionally, Dr. Williams, along with district psychologists and the curriculum department, developed and implemented a Response To Intervention (RTI) model for the district. The district became the front-runner in the West End SELPA (Special Education Local Plan Areas) as the first district to implement an RTI model to increase academic achievement and support behavior modification.
Dr. Williams also worked with a team of teachers to create an Adult Transition Academy for moderately to severely handicapped special education students ages 18 to 22. The program allows these students to learn job and independent living skills.
With the assistance of West End SELPA, Dr. Williams brought the first ever annual career fair for special education students to the district, which still occurs each year. For all of the accomplishments while in her role as Director of Special Education, Dr. Williams received the Special Education Administrator of the Year award in San Bernardino County from the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) in 2010.
While I am honored to receive the award, I credit the entire team that worked alongside me to continually improve the services for special education students.
Currently, Dr. Williams is serving as the Director of Human Resources. As with all of her previous roles, this is an assignment that Dr. Williams absolutely enjoys.
I find it such a privilege to work with classified and certificated staff to create exemplary schools for students.
In addition to her work in K-12 education, Dr. Williams also volunteers and teaches at the collegiate level. Currently she serves on the Point Loma Nazarene University Advisory Committee for their teacher and administrator credential programs. She also teaches courses for the education department at California Baptist University. Dr. Williams feels working with the students at California Baptist University (CBU) is such a blessing to her. She finds the students at CBU to be enthusiastic, intelligent, motivated, and representative of the hope for the future of K-12 education.
Dr. Williams feels most proud of her beautiful family. She enjoys spending time with her three children and four grandchildren camping, going to amusement parks, reading stories, and just hanging out together.
They are my greatest blessing.