City Schools of Decatur was a high-performing district with an achievement gap when took the helm as superintendent in 2023. When Whitaker dug deeper, less than 40% of the Atlanta-area system’s economically disadvantaged students were reading at grade level.
“That was a challenge for me because I said, ‘I’m about to hand students a diploma and it’s a Decatur High School diploma and I don’t know if they can read it,'” says Whitaker, who previously served as deputy chief academic officer and an area superintendent in Fulton County Schools. “My deep knowledge in how to support all students in their learning is probably my greatest strength.”
Academic improvements over the last three years have been driven by sharp increases in the number of economically disadvantaged students performing at or above grade level across elementary, middle and high school.
“Our achievement gains have happened without regression to the mean,” she explains. “And that’s ultimately what you wantthat rising tide where all ships rise.”
During her tenure in Decatur, Whitaker has made major changes, such as implementing a science of reading curriculum and a universal screening tool. Now, seven in 10 students are meeting or exceeding their growth goals and the district has surpassed pre-pandemic end-of-grade performance benchmarks.
In 2023, City Schools of Decatur was in Georgia’s top three for end-of-grade performance in English language arts, math, social studies and science about one-third of the time. That number has now risen to 78% and the district often lands at No. 1 in metropolitan Atlanta.
“Are we done yet? No,” she continues. “But when you look at what I’m most proud of, we have tackled literacy, we’ve tackled communications, we’ve tackled organizational leadership with measurable results and we’ve set up systems that will outlast personnel shifts.”
Amplifying student voices
Her beliefs that “equity is the vehicle to excellence” and “engagement inspires” are the central tenets of Whitaker’s leadership philosophy, and they’re how she rallies her educators around her academic goals for Decatur’s students.
A key task for her leadership is identifying barriers to providing students with high-quality instruction. She makes data readily available and provides professional development in change management. She says she leads with a combination of “support and pressure.”
“I help leaders see each and every child, and then what their needs are and how we address them,” she notes.
She keeps her educators and students engaged by having them serve on multiple committees, which include a student advisory council that comprises learners from kindergarten through high school. Students learn about everything from artificial intelligence policy to district budgeting.
To further amplify student voice, Decatur worked with city and state officials to become the first district in Georgia to elect a student member to its school board. That student is now lobbying the state legislature to allow other districts to put students on their school boards.
Early learning ambitions
Whitaker’s big goal is to open a new early childhood learning center in 2027-28 that will serve the children of district employees, along with Decatur’s most vulnerable learners. The new facility will expand the district’s full-pay center, and reserve one-third of its spaces for children of employees and another third, at no cost, for students with the greatest financial need.
“Give us your students in kindergarten, and we will get them to be skilled readers by third grade,” Whitaker says. “But if we had access to the students even earlier, potentially at birth … we would not have an achievement gap for me to close once they take that test in third grade.”
Providing space for the children of employees is a retention tool, and the center will also help the district create the next generation of educators. The center will serve as a lab school for high school students seeking credentials and careers in early childhood development.
