Phone: 919-624-9558
Email: dcoley@wcu.edu

Degrees:

• Doctorate – University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 1987.
• Master’s – University of Iowa, 1979.
• Undergraduate – University of North Carolina-Greensboro, 1974.

Teaches:

• Organizational Development, Administrative Internships.

Research Interests:

• School Leadership, Educational Assessment and Grading Practices, and High School Redesign.

Biography:

Before coming to Western Carolina University, Dave taught in the Master of School Administration Program at Campbell University. In addition to his teaching responsibilities with WCU, Dave serves as Director of the Leadership Institute for Redesigned High Schools with the North Carolina New Schools Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  He also serves as a consultant and facilitator with the Principals’ Executive Program at the University of North Carolina.

Dave has 30 years of experience in public education in Virginia and North Carolina as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal. He has been a high school assistant principal, middle school principal, and high school principal. He served as principal of Cary High School in Wake County from 1999 until 2005. During his tenure at Cary High, the school was awarded the US Department of Education Blue Ribbon, one of only two in North Carolina. In the 2004-05 school year, Cary High School was one of only four high schools in Wake County to make AYP (28 out of 28 subgroups). Cary High School was honored in 2005 with a special award from the N.C. Association of School Administrators.  The school was one of six North Carolina high schools to receive an academic excellence award noting high academic growth over a period of eight years. The school's performance was measured by standards set by the state's ABCs accountability program measuring growth and performance. Cary High was the only Wake County high school to receive this distinction.

Dave is a nationally known speaker on high school change and reform, and in 2004 was asked to present at the National Education Services Annual Institute. He has served on the Principal Advisory Board for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and made presentations at conferences in San Diego, Atlanta, and Washington, DC.