Thaddeus Scott Lott Sr. (May 30, 1934 – October 22, 2015) was a

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

ian educator. Lott gained national attention from

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

PrimeTime Live in 1991 for the results of his implementation of direct instruction at Mabel B. Wesley Elementary School of the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

Early life and education

Lott was born and raised in

Acres Homes Acres Homes is a neighborhood located in northwest Houston, Texas. The mile area is loosely bounded by the city limits and West Gulf Bank Road to the north; Pinemont Drive to the south; North Shepherd Drive to the east; and Alabonson Drive to t ...

. He earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

and a

master's degree in education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum a ...

from

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,00 ...

. He also received honorary

doctoral degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

from

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia ( Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Lib ...

and

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

Career

Lott began his career with the

in 1959 at Highland Heights Elementary School. As Wesley Elementary's principal by 1975, test scores in reading comprehension improved to 85% from 18% in 1980 and 100% of third graders passed the reading portion of the

Texas Assessment of Academic Skills The TAAS, or Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, was the third standardized test used in Texas between 1991 and 2002, when it was replaced by the TAKS test from 2003 to 2013. It was used from grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. Passing the Grade 11 level ...

by 1996. In 1994,

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

announced his then Texas gubernatorial campaign focus on education from Wesley, later conferring with Lott in the 1996 formation of the Texas Reading Initiative.

Rod Paige Roderick Raynor Paige (born June 17, 1933) served as the 7th United States Secretary of Education from 2001 to 2005. Paige, who grew up in Mississippi, moved from college football coach and classroom teacher to college dean and school superinten ...

, HISD superintendent in 1994, supported Lott by creating the first

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

system in Texas (Wesley, Highland Heights, and Osborne Elementary) under Lott's supervision. Lott retired from HISD in 2002.

Controversy

In 1991, increasing test scores at Wesley received accusations of cheating from HISD and national attention from PrimeTime Live as well as the

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. A 2005 HISD investigation into schools including Wesley Elementary, prompted by a report on abnormal

TAKS The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) was the fourth Texas state standardized test previously used in primary education, grade 3-8 and secondary education, grade 9-11 to assess students' attainment of reading (activity), reading, wr ...

test scores by the Dallas Morning News, returned no confirmation of cheating.

Legacy

Lott was given the

Jefferson Award for Public Service The Jefferson Awards Foundation was created in 1972 by the American Institute for Public Service. The Jefferson Awards are given at both national and local levels. Local winners are ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation ...

in 1998. Lott’s methods and achievements at Wesley motivated Baker Mitchell to found The Roger Bacon Academy in North Carolina. The Academy manages schools that replicate Lott’s model as embedded in an expression of classical traditions.

References

External links