J.E.B. Stuart High School

Principal Mel Riddile has successfully managed to turn around the poor performance at J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia. Using total-quality-management techniques, including Deming's 14 points, the administrator has turned a high-poverty public school with a diverse student population into a success story with high attendance rates, high test scores, and high graduation rates. One major challenge remains: Can Riddile do the same for the special education students at his high school? Excerpt UVA-OB-0853 Rev. Feb. 6, 2012 J.E.B. Stuart High School I want to thank Mel Riddile for being such a fine principal. He's what I call an educational entrepreneur. You can't have a good school unless you've got a good leader…I appreciate your spirit, I appreciate your vision, and I appreciate your high standards. —President George W. Bush, January 11, 2005 Mel Riddile, principal of J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia, smiled as he recalled the remarks President George W. Bush had made to a packed audience in the school's gymnasium. The president had come to Stuart to announce a $ 1.5 billion plan to raise high-school standards and performance. The plan included $ 200 million in federal funds to support literacy instruction—a key component in the turnaround that Riddile had orchestrated at Stuart. . . .