Utterback.jpg

North Clackamas Superintendent Matt Utterback is the National Superintendent of the Year for 2017, chosen largely for the results he has achieved with students.

(courtesy of American Association of School Administrators)

North Clackamas Superintendent Matt Utterback has been named National Superintendent of the Year.

The award, issued Thursday in New Orleans, is given to the school district chief judged to have shown the greatest leadership to promote student learning. The association that gives the annual award hailed him for his focus on helping all students, including low-income, minority and special education students, thrive.

During his nearly five years at the helm of his large Portland-area district, Utterback has helped create big improvements in the high school graduation rate and notched state-leading student growth and achievement levels.

Utterback, who was principal of Clackamas High before he was promoted to superintendent in 2012, is heralded for getting results, for all students and particularly for students who haven't fared well in most Oregon districts: low-income, minority and special education students. He is the first to say the district still needs to improve.

Under his leadership, the district's graduation rate and test scores went from mediocre to near-tops among large Oregon districts, even as tighter-than-average budgetary straits posed huge challenges. At his recommendation, the school board closed schools, cut days off the school year and raised high school class sizes to eye-popping levels to balance budgets.

Clackamas High ranks near top in state-wide English tests 21 Gallery: Clackamas High ranks near top in state-wide English tests

Results achieved during his tenure, particularly at the high school level, have turned heads. The graduation rate surged from 69 percent for the class of 2012 to 83 percent for the class of 2016. Clackamas High wows with its successful attendance-boosting program, high academic gains and graduation rate, both overall and for low-income students. Clackamas and Putnam high schools rank No. 1 and No. 3 in the metro area at graduating low-income students on time. Milwaukie and View Acres elementary schools, which serve a cross-section of families, turned out results as good as the top performing schools in elite Oregon neighborhoods.

The district is known for its strong career-technical course offerings, held at a professional-technical center attended by students from all three of its comprehensive high schools. In the past year, that center received $750,000 to expand and enhance its 16 career-tech programs.

Fellow Oregon superintendents respect him, which is why he was named Oregon's superintendent of the year last fall. "Matt finds ways to create new opportunities for every student to be successful and at the same time always keeps his eye on ensuring that North Clackamas School District continues to improve," Darin Drill, superintendent of Cascade School District, said at the time. "He is above reproach and will always do his best work for the students he serves."

Utterback grew up in Newport and graduated from Newport High. The national superintendents group that crowned Utterback as superintendent of the year will give one Newport High student a $10,000 scholarship in Utterback's name.

Utterback's wife, Nancy, is a longtime North Clackamas teacher, and their daughter, Emma, is also a graduate of the district.

-- Betsy Hammond

@chalkup