Dr. Nancy Coogan
Increasing Equitable Education Access in Tukwila, Washington
Dr. Nancy Coogan is a well establisherd Washington State school administrator who served as Tukwila School District superintendent until August, 2017. Focused on caring, effective, and standards-aligned instruction, Dr. Nancy Coogan significantly increased equitable access to instruction among students.
In collaboration with the Puget Sound Coalition and local universities, Dr. Coogan also worked to decrease opportunity gaps and boost high school graduation, postsecondary enrollment, and postsecondary completion rates. She achieved a 20 percent increase in overall graduation rates over a four year period and led the district to statewide distinction with the highest graduation rate among homeless scholars.
Dr. Coogan completed her BS in education at Adelphi University in New York and pursued a master’s at City University in Bellevue, Washington. Focusing on special education, her academic work explored the importance of team teaching and other collaborative methodologies. She subsequently undertook doctoral work at Washington State University and completed action research on mindfulness practices and high reliability organizations, with high school principalship as the focus.
Dr. Nancy Coogan is known as coauthor of Research on stress and coping in education. Vol. 8. Mindfulness for educational practice: A path to resilience for challenging work. (Information Age Publishing).