PACE Advisory Board Member Scott Hill Passes (1962–2022)

Scott Hill died on August 20, 2022, after a long career dedicated to bringing equity and opportunity to the California education system and its students.

Hill’s career began at the California School Boards Association; he later served as executive director of the Standards Commission and then as chief deputy superintendent at the California Department of Education as well as undersecretary of education. While living in the Middle East, he directed Qatar’s national education strategy. As a senior program officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he managed the foundation’s Common Core standards and assessments investments. In 2013, Hill became vice president of the College Board, leading the team that supported students, teachers, schools, and higher education institutions in the western region. And in 2015, he became a member of PACE’s advisory board.

Hill was an expert in the technical complexity of standards, assessment, and accountability; he saw them not as technocracy but as the way that big systems could learn whether students had achieved what those systems promised. His work in California informed similar efforts nationwide. He focused on giving California policymakers advice on how to improve public education for all TK–12 students, especially those who had not been well served in the past.

Hill’s drive to seek out what was best for students animated him and inspired those who knew him well. He valued enabling others to be successful. PACE remembers Hill as a tireless and effective advocate for students, and as a board member strong in accomplishments, generosity, goodwill, and humor.

Text adapted from The Sacramento Bee and other sources.