Joshua Garcia

Joshua Garcia currently serves the students, staff, and community as the Superintendent of the Tacoma Public Schools. In this role, Joshua’s teams lead a number of groundbreaking reform initiatives. In Tacoma, teams have designed an innovation policy and practice, a nationally recognized Tacoma Whole Child framework and benchmarking system, removed testing fees for AP, IB, PSAT, and SAT and increased student engagement and academic success through community partnerships. Additionally, they have increased graduation rates for 11 consecutive years (91.1%), expanded free preschool to over 1600 students and has been recognized as a district wide zone of innovation by the State of Washington. Garcia’s teams have also redefined school budgeting, school choice and innovation policies, and has developed a nationally recognized Whole Child Education, Multiple Measure Accountability Systems and Data Systems. Joshua received his doctorate degree from Seattle University and his undergraduate degree from Washington State University. He has received numerous national awards and has spoken to audiences around the nation and internationally on assessment, student success, and Whole Child Education and worked as a trusted consultant for education institutions and product development teams.