LEADER OF THE WEEK Dr. Roscoe C. Smith, Ph.D.
The Dallas Post Tribune has selected Dr. Roscoe C. Smith, Ph.D. as Leader of the Week. He is a proven master education administrator, passionate youth advocate, and visionary innovator. His 40-year career as a class-room teacher/principal/youth leader turned senior district administrator undeniably records his soaring success with under-achieving students. He retired in 1998 and has 13 additional active years as a tenacious political operative and education consultant.
His career highlights include his transformative work as Scoutmaster in 1963 when he cultivated Boy Scouts Troop #165 in Dallas from nine unpolished, under-privileged boys to 287 precision scouts in uniforms – officially “the largest troop in the world;” as District Chairman, parlaying Boy Scout’s Comanche District in Texas to the nation’s highest-ranked district; being credited in the Hope Star newspaper as the catalyst that for the first time produced a “juvenile delinquent free city” when he was City Park director in Hope, Arkansas in 1960 and also coached and managed winning athletic teams; being the top-ranked academic student in the Educational Administration Program when he earned his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Minnesota.
He achieved “firsts” and top rankings: Dallas’ first African-American “Outstanding Young Educator” from Classroom Teachers of Dallas and Dallas Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1967; first African-American male promoted from teacher to administrator (Assistant Coordinator of Special Programs) at the Dallas Central Office in 1968; and in 1970, Dallas school district’s first Director of Accountability where he increased annual federal funding from less that $2 million to $22 million, which attracted national attention.
His innovative, visionary programs – heavy with parental/community involvement – were hallmarks of his leadership. He designed and implemented the Dallas school district’s first Central Parent Advisory Council, which the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children recommended to Congress and President Richard Nixon as a national model in 1972. He helped found state and national associations that secured needed program funding for under-served students in the 1970s. In 1981, he founded the Texas Parent Coordinating Council that made the Dallas school district a national leader in parental involvement.
Statistics show how he transformed low-performing schools. Fannie C. Harris Elementary had the Dallas district’s lowest test scores when he became principal in 1985 but by 1989 was in the district’s top 10 percent and the state’s top five percent – and as a corollary, community crime statistics dropped noticeably. Joseph J. Rhoads Elementary (now Learning Center) rose from lowest test scores in 1989 to receive awards for ranking #1 in Texas based on 1992-93 Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) scores. Academically, the Benton Harbor, Michigan school district was the nation’s lowest, but as an assistant superintendent from 1993-98, he guided curriculum/instruction so that mathematics and reading scores significantly rose and elementary science scores were higher than 56 percent of Michigan’s 27 school districts. The Governor recognized those gains and Dr. Smith was inducted into Benton Harbor’s Hall of Fame. Fifteen years later in Dallas, the African American Education Archives and History Program also inducted him into it Educators Hall of Fame in 2011. Dr. Smith was born in Hope, Arkansas and earned degrees from Bishop College in Marshall, Texas, the University of North Texas, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Minnesota. He was a teacher and principal at five schools and held five administrative positions including director of Elementary & Secondary Education Acts’ (ESEA) Chapter 1 Program. From 2006-08, he was Principal Assessor for the Texas Education Agency’s Region 10 and currently is an education consultant.
Outside education, he also was a campaign division manager in the successful state legislative race of former White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty in Hope, Arkansas and later directed Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s District 30 office in Dallas where he received Special Congressional Recognition. Dr. Roscoe Smith, Ph.D and the late Velma Prince Smith, Ph.D., were married 53 years and have two daughters, four grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
His more than two dozen honors and affiliations include lifetime memberships with the NAACP and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Boy Scouts of America’s highest honor – the Silver Beaver Award, and service awards from the Texas Legislative and U. S. Congress.
