Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore on Wednesday completed his selection of top-level administrators by naming Darian Smith as executive director for elementary leadership and Hope Worsham as executive director of curriculum and instruction.
Smith is a longtime elementary school principal in the district, most recently at Mabelvale Elementary.
Worsham is the Arkansas Department of Education's director of assessment.
Poore's selection of Smith and Worsham now requires approval from Education Commissioner Johnny Key, who acts in lieu of a school board in the state-controlled Little Rock district.
The announcement of Smith and Worsham's selections comes one day after Poore announced that Parkview Magnet High School Principal Randy Rutherford is his choice for executive director for secondary education.
The proposed appointments come at a time when Poore is replacing two deputy superintendent positions and that of the chief academic officer with the three executive director jobs.
Smith has more than than 20 years of experience as a principal, 14 years at Mabelvale and six years at Mitchell Academy before that. His many initiatives at Mabelvale include the securing of a three-year Professional Learning Community grant from the state Education Department, the first school to implement a breakfast-in-the-classroom program, the establishment of a 1-to-1 ratio of students to electronic devices and the addition of a technology specialist and a maker-space lab.
He also has developed and organized youth athletic programs and worked with former NBA star Sidney Moncrief to establish a leadership academy at Mabelvale Elementary that is is now offered at four additional elementary sites.
"The selection of Darian Smith checks multiple boxes, which I was hoping to fill with this newly created position," Poore said Wednesday. "First and foremost, his entire focus is on doing what's best for kids. Not only that, he is the ultimate collaborator, who has the respect of the Little Rock community and within the elementary-principal ranks."
Smith earned bachelor's and master's degrees in education from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
Worsham has served as the state's assessment director since 2014, directing the K-12 education assessment system. In that time, the state has adopted the NWEA, iStation, and Renaissance Learning testing programs for early elementary pupils and moved to online testing, including the ACT Aspire tests, for grades three through 10.
"I have ... facilitated the state's transition through three changes in assessment programs in a three-year period of time resulting in the state of Arkansas assessing 100% of its students online," Worsham said in her resume. "I maintain a deep knowledge of federal Every Student Succeeds Act regulations and participated in writing Arkansas' federal plan. I currently serve on the Education Department's leadership team and am directly involved in Education Department's strategic planning process, which is grounded in a vision for student-focused learning across the state."
Worsham has 14 years of educational experience, having served as a math teacher at Bryant and Cabot high schools and college algebra instructor at Pulaski Tech College and Arkansas State University at Beebe before working at the state agency. She also taught math in the United Kingdom for three years, 2005-2008. She has written and reviewed curriculum and designed small and large-scale assessments.
"Ms. Worsham's plan to enter into the district, her thoughts on how to evaluate where we stand on curriculum delivery, and her previous experience in developing a collaborative approach in a guaranteed and viable curriculum made her the ideal candidate," Poore said in announcing the proposed appointments.
Worsham has a bachelor and master's degrees in secondary math education from the University of Central Arkansas, as well as a master's degree in educational leadership from Harding University, where she is currently pursuing a doctorate of educational leadership.
"I am very encouraged about the process used and the candidates that sought these three executive director positions," Poore said. "We had deep pools from which to select, which included both internal and external candidates vying for these positions."
Smith's principal salary is $96,939 according to contract information on the district's website, and Worsham's salary at the state is $91,212, according to a state website: https://bit.ly/2Y1LRs2
Their new salaries were not immediately available from the district on Wednesday.
Metro on 07/11/2019