Daniel Gohl
Daniel Gohl, a veteran educator with a track record of raising expectations and achievement levels for students in large, urban school districts, has been named Chief Academic Officer for the Houston Independent School District.
Gohl comes to HISD from the New Jersey Department of Education, where he developed and implemented an advanced intervention strategy for low performing schools and drafted state policy related to technology and school choice while serving as Deputy Chief Innovation Officer.
Daniel Gohl has a much-deserved reputation for innovation and a proven ability to design and spearhead initiatives that drive academic achievement upward for students from all backgrounds,” said Superintendent Terry Grier. “We are excited to have him join Team HISD.”
As HISD’s Chief Academic Officer, Gohl will be responsible for the academic growth of nearly 210,000 students and the management and success of nearly 300 schools. Gohl reports for duty on Sept. 23. He is replacing Julie Baker, who left in August for a position with the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation.
“I’m thrilled to be working in HISD, a district that has been continuously recognized for innovation in urban education,” Gohl said. “Creating rigorous academic standards and making sure students are engaged in the classroom and have access to the latest technology; that goes a long way in ensuring all students will be successful.”
As a 24-year educator and administrator, Gohl brings to the district a combination of instructional expertise and technological fluency, as well as a history of successful innovation at the district, state and international level.
Highlights of his career include more than a decade at the Austin Independent School District, where he began his teaching career. While there, he helped close the achievement gap by successfully introducing Advanced Placement physics to a school that had previously been labeled as unable to offer college-level courses because of its high population of immigrant students. He also successfully introduced additional science and technology classes to low-performing students during his tenure.
After working in Austin, Gohl spent almost seven years serving as an administrator — first as Principal and later as Executive Director of Secondary School Transformation — for District of Columbia Public Schools. While there, he designed and opened McKinley Technology High School, which combined college readiness with technology career preparation in bio-technology, broadcast technology and information technology. Literacy and math proficiency rates jumped by 20 points during his tenure at the school.
He also served as Executive Officer for Innovation and Change at Newark Public Schools and Chief Academic Officer for the Future Is Now Schools.
He is married with two sons.
Gohl has received numerous awards and recognitions during his career. They include:
• Texas Excellence Award for Outstanding High School Teaching, University of Texas Ex-Students Association, 1996
• Addison E. Lee Fellowship in Science Education, University of Texas Science Education Program, 1995
• Teaching Research Associate, US Department of Energy, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, 1994
• Teacher of the Year, William B. Travis High School, 1992-93
• Educational Innovation, Big Picture Schools, 2010
• CISCO Award for Vision in Technology Education, 2004
• Brick Mason Award, Building Responsible Intelligent Creative Kids, 2013