Seattle Public Schools' next superintendent will come from as far away as South Carolina or Pennsylvania and be an experienced educator.

The top contenders are Maria Goodloe-Johnson, superintendent of the Charleston County (S.C.) Schools, and Gregory Thornton, chief academic officer of the School District of Philadelphia.

The candidates each have more than 25 years of experience in education and were chosen by the School Board out of a group of 39 applicants. Both have experience with large urban school systems and hold a doctorate in education.

Thornton, 52, served as community superintendent for Maryland Public Schools before coming to Philadelphia in 2004. Philadelphia's district is considerably larger than Seattle's, with 189,000 students, 272 schools and a $2.2 billion budget.

Thornton serves on numerous educational and civic organization boards and is also an adjunct professor for the University of Pennsylvania school of education.

Goodloe-Johnson, 49, runs a district in Charleston about the size of Seattle's with a $308 million budget. Prior to that, she served as assistant superintendent in Texas and director of secondary instruction in Colorado where she was also a high school principal.

In Charleston, Goodloe-Johnson has developed districtwide standardized curriculum and a six-year academic plan for Charleston County Schools.

The board hopes to hire a new district chief by the end of the month to replace outgoing superintendent Raj Manhas, who last year during a controversial school closure process announced he'd leave his post this August.

Both of the candidate's districts face many of the same challenges as Seattle; closing the achievement gap between white and minority students and raising test scores, among others.

Both said Seattle is an impressive district but see areas that need improvement.

Thornton said Seattle needs a solid framework of curriculum in every grade level delineating what students should be learning and midcourse evaluations to measure progress.

"I think the challenge we are going to face is rigor," Thornton said. "It shouldn't be left to chance what kids should be able to do. A set of expectations should be imbedded in every grade."

Though he was happy to see energetic staff and students, he was disheartened to see few children of color in advanced classes he visited at Chief Sealth High and other schools last week.

He couldn't say with certainly whether he saw institutional racism in Seattle, but there were "soft signs" of it in those classes, he said, noting that the key to closing the gap is making sure all students have access to rigorous curriculum.

Goodloe-Johnson, however, said she saw no problems when visiting schools.

"Everyone was on task," she said. "I couldn't believe it was the Friday before spring break."

When asked about what she would to do help close the achievement gap, she said quality teachers are integral, but there must also be extended learning opportunities and summer programs for struggling students.

"You have to have all of those things to close the achievement gap...consistent throughout the system," she said.

The candidate's records, however, are not without flaws.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thornton was involved in an ethics controversy last year for approving a $926,000 no-bid contract with an education software firm that had subsidized a 10-day trip to South Africa with Thornton, his wife and another colleague.

The trip had not been declared on an annual financial-disclosure form, a violation of Pennsylvania law, the Inquirer reported. Thornton had said the trip had nothing to do with the bid approval.

He also worked to create charter schools in Philadelphia, but said he had no plans to approach the board about that. Seattleites have been historically opposed to charters, having three times voted them down.

"Charter schools are not part of the forecast in Seattle," he said. "I'm an advocate for good schools, whether it's charters... or a district school."

Goodloe-Johnson was involved in a dispute with Charleston's' downtown constituent school board about a principal hire, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. The newspaper also reports that her tenure in Charleston has been "punctuated by both controversy and success."

She's credited with increasing students' scores on advanced placement exams but criticized for a growing number of poorly performing schools. Her contract, which expires in September next year, was not extended.

She said she has no reservations about leaving her current position for Seattle and denied that her school board was ready for her to move on.

The fact that four of seven Seattle board members are up for re-election this fall doesn't worry her either. Goodloe-Johnson called it simply a "reality for every superintendent."

One her first priorities in Seattle would be to focus on building a consistent core subject curriculum throughout all grade levels, especially math.

"(Math) is a kindergarten through-12th-grade issue not just high school," Goodloe-Johnson said. "It's a continuum - you can't just look at one piece of it."

It's a tact that has worked well for other district's, including her own, she said. Implementing a centralized curriculum in Charleston resulted in the district's highest gains in math and English language arts ever, she said.

And one of her philosophies that she would bring with her to Seattle: "If it's working and it's not broken, then I'm not going to fix it."

School Board member Sally Soriano said people seem to be receiving the candidates enthusiastically.

"The feeling is this direction with this type of person is the right way for this district," she said, noting that Seattle is long overdue for a superintendent with an education background.

Soriano said both are well qualified for the job. Thornton especially impressed her with his "forthrightness" in last week's invitation-only interview sessions with community members. Those sessions replaced public forums held in past superintendent searches.

"I think (Thornton) is somebody who has the experience and is ready to listen to teachers who are on the front line... ." Soriano said.

But Soriano said the decision would be tough, especially with the successes Goodloe-Johnson has had.

"She has such a track record of fixing problems and a districtwide approach on how to get education to work," Soriano said. "Both of them are exceedingly strong with thinking and analysis."

A few board members are scheduled to tour the candidate's districts this week.

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com