Joseph Williams is the Assistant Superintendent of Innovation and Technology Services for the Perris Union High School District located in Riverside County, California. Prior to his current position, he was a high school English teacher primarily working with struggling readers and writers. As an education innovator, he took what he learned in the classroom as he worked as a literacy coach, academic coach, technology coach, Teacher on Special Assignment, and now as Director of Instructional and Information Technology. Mr. Williams, along with a team of PUHSD educators (certificated and classified) and administrators, developed, planned, and implemented the Scholar✚ teaching and learning initiative. Scholar✚ provides Chromebooks to all students, Google Apps for Education (GAFE), laptops and iPads to teachers, and the use of a Learning Management System for teachers to post course content and for students to learn, interact, collaborate, submit work, take assessments, and create innovative projects. In addition, he works with district Educational Planning and curriculum committees. As the Vice Chair on the district Educational Planning Council he ensures all district courses and curriculum are reviewed prior to Governing Board approval. Mr. Williams has played an active role at the site, district, regional, state, and national level in organizations that work to collaboratively transform education. Some of those groups include National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), California Technology Assistance Project Region 10 (CTAP) , Computer Using Educators (CUE), and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Mr. Williams was a 2008 nominee for California League of High Schools Educator of the Year, became a Google Certified Teacher in 2008 and is the 2015 Technology Administrator of the Year for the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region XIX.
