About Us

Dr. Arnold Hillman had been associated with Bright Futures Unlimited, a consulting and advocacy firm devoted to bringing schools and communities together to solve local problems. As with all his efforts on behalf of schools and the communities they serve, Dr. Hillman brings a particular “can-do” approach to his work. He has been successful over the past forty years in marshalling the forces of rural communities in an intense effort at bootstrapping. Bright Futures helped to create the McKelvey and Lenfest Foundations. Each of these foundations is/was engaged in providing  scholarships to poor rural students. The McKelvey Foundation operated in three states; New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Dr. Hillman is presently plying his trade in South Carolina. He has co-founded, along with his wife Carol and Dr. Vashti Washington, SCORS- South Carolina Organization of Rural Schools. Hel is also mentoring young men at a local rural high school.

“I have grown to know and respect Arnold Hillman since arriving in South Carolina in 2016.  His purpose and passion for transforming the lives of children, families, schools and the communities in which they live and learn is without match.  His constant vigilance and efforts to ensure that children in South Carolina have an exceptional education regardless of zip code are moving the needle towards excellence for all.  His understanding of the rural, urban and suburban school experience comes from decades of work across the country and has yielded innovation, collaboration and transformative action.”

Dr. Jon Pedersen, Dean

College of Education

University of South Carolina

“ When you mention Arnie Hillman’s name in any part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, people know that he stands for fairness to rural people.”

 Senator James J. Rhoades, former Chairman.
 Senate Education Committee PA
 

“What began as a conversation about hosting a meeting in Columbia has led to a much valued and appreciated partnership. Arnold's passion and commitment to supporting the educational opportunities and enriching experiences for young people who need us the most is demonstrated in his great work.  He brings people and resources together to impact the lives of children and their families, as well as the teachers and schools that serve them. He converts his words to action and helps get things done.”       

Marc Drews
Vice President of Mission and Partnerships
EdVenture Children’s Museum, Columbia, SC

“Arnold Hillman has done more for our Pennsylvania rural schools than any person I know.  His dedication to our children is exceptional and he provides a voice to those school districts who need it the most.  He is dedicated, hard working, and compassionate about his mission for education.”

Representative Donna Oberlander
Majority whip, House of  Represenatives, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania       

“I have known and worked with Arnold and Carol Hillman for well over 30 years, primarily while I was the chief lobbyist and later executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. Their commitment to public education – and, in particular their advocacy for rural schools and the children who attend them – has been extraordinary.”

Tom Gentzel Executive Director and CEO(ret)
National School Boards Association

“You have kept me informed about all kinds of issues in education on an almost daily basis.You are the most current well read man on the island.You understand government, school issues, helping the unnoticed, honoring students who would probably not get recognized,unafraid of the status quo, and until recently informed, used to eat chicken nuggets.You are aware of the dutie s and role of  a superintendent and can mentor others in the areas of everything on the planet.”

Dr. Thelma Sojourner, Superintendent
Bamberg School District 2 SC
 

“Dr. Arnold Hillman is, as you might say, the “real deal”.   Having retired from a career in education in Pennsylvania, he and his wife, Carol, moved to South Carolina several years ago.  Instead of golfing or fishing,  Dr. Hillman took one look at the state of rural education here and rolled up his sleeves.  With Carol and Dr. Vashti Washington as his partners, Dr. Hillman founded SCORS---the South Carolina Organization of Rural Schools- in 2016. 

Since its formation, SCORS has grown in size and in influence.  Today, in addition to its Founders, SCORS has a Steering Committee that consists of sixteen educators, community leaders, and attorneys, including myself.  SCORS is an all-volunteer organization and it is the leadership, dedication and passion of Dr. Hillman that drives SCORS forward. 

While I am certainly proud of SCORS,  I am particularly proud to call Dr. Hillman my friend.  Every day, he gets up and tries to improve the quality of education in rural South Carolina.  And in his “spare time,”  he mentors high school students and tirelessly leads them to brighter futures.  Simply stated, Dr. Arnold Hillman is a man who is making a real difference in South Carolina”

Attorney Marguerite Willis

Former Gubernatorial Candidate

“I have known Dr. Hillman for the past several years and have been a part of SCORS sinceits inception. Dr. Hillman has been a tireless advocate for public education during his professional life and even more so now in retirement in South Carolina. I find him a passionate and a well-reasoned voice of experience and a compassionate servant leader.

I fully endorse and support his efforts to improve educational opportunities throughout South Carolina, but especially in the most rural areas.”

Dr. David C. O’Shields,Supereintendent
Laurens County School District 56
 

Dr. Hillman  earned his B.A. at Queens College, his M.A.s at the New School for Social Research and Temple University and his Doctorate at Lehigh University. He has been a teacher, social worker, employment counselor, manufacturer of storage containers, athletic director, human relations coordinator, assistant high school principal, junior high school principal, superintendent of schools, the executive director of an intermediate unit,  a consultant, arbitrator and advocate. He has done over 20 superintendent searches for rural school districts in Pennsylvania.

His professional accomplishments include; creating an economic development program for rural areas, operating the largest preschool (handicapped) program in the state, creating a distance education program, spearheading the PA equity suit seeking equal funding for poor and rural school districts, organizing and presenting financial seminars for school districts across the state, acting as an advisor to the Pennsylvania Association of Rural And Small Schools, creating scholarship programs for rural students, creating a statewide network to reform school funding. Dr. Hillman is widely recognized as an expert in school finance and as an advocate for rural people. He has been a frequent presenter at national conferences, and has paid his debt to society by being a guest on many radio talk shows, and t.v. programs.  He insists that all children are entitled to a quality education and he believes that local people, when given the chance, can make the right decisions for their schools and communities. 

Carol Hillman is the founder and president of Bright Futures Unlimited, a consulting and advocacy firm devoted to encouraging rural students to attend college. The firm was created in 1986 when Hillman was teaching gifted students in a poor rural school district in Pennsylvania. Having previously taught gifted students in a wealthy Pennsylvania suburb, it became apparent that students from wealthy suburban schools and poor rural schools had very different aspirations.

Students in wealthy districts aspired to becoming engineers, ballerinas, architects and doctors. Even intellectually gifted students in poor rural districts aspired to becoming truck drivers and cosmetologists. 

Hillman has worked with school board members, administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, legislators, the PA Department of Education and foundations in an effort to provide students from poor rural districts with educational resources that would expand their opportunities and thus their aspirations.

The McKelvey Foundation and the Lenfest Foundation hired Bright Futures Unlimited to design and implement scholarships for needy rural students in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia. We were able to send over 1,000 first generation students through college. These graduates are now living and working all around the world.

Hillman has been mentoring girls who are high school juniors and seniors at the Jasper County high school and writing articles about the good things that are happening in the Jasper County schools. These articles are published in the Jasper Sun Times.

When students from poor rural school districts are given equal opportunities for quality education, they are every bit as successful as students from wealthier school districts.

Carol Hillman, who is a co-founder of SCORS, is a passionate advocate for equal education opportunities for all students. 

Dr. Vashti K. Washington is a native of Charleston, SC and has spent more than 37 years serving children and families in public education in rural and urban school districts (Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester 2, Dorchester 4, Charleston and Jasper Counties) in South Carolina.

Her years of early learning began at Sanders-Clyde Elementary and C. A. Brown High Schools. Growing up in the inner city of Charleston prepared Dr. Washington for her future. She was one of several African American students that integrated the Baptist College of Charleston in the early 70s , where she completed a B.A. in Speech Communication with a minor in Vocal Performance. The school changed its name to Charleston Southern in the late 80s. Dr. Washington continued her education and graduated with an M.Ed. in Early childhood Education from the College of Charleston and an advanced degree from The Citadel in School Administration. She received her doctoral degree from Nova Southeastern University in Educational Leadership.

Dr. Washington utilized her love for teaching and music to spark an interest in learning in students from grades K-8, Alternative School and Adult Education. In addition to her fourteen years as a class room teacher, she served as an assistant principal,principal and alternative school director. Dr. Washington continued her role in school leadership and served as an Associate Superintendent in Charleston, SC where she supervised 22 schools that were a combination of inner city, suburban and rural. She is proud of the fact that during her administration, learning communities were established across the county. Prior to the learning communities, schools worked in silos. The learning communities included monthly articulation sessions with schools across the county that served a very diverse population based on race and economics.

Dr. Washington continued her love of teaching and leadership and took the helm of Superintendent of the Jasper County School District, where she served for six years.

On June 17, 2015, Dr. Washington lost her beloved husband Bryan and retired from the Jasper County School District in December, 2015.
During her 37 years of service , Dr. Washington  has received numerous awards, for her work in the field of education. To name a few: Rural Educator of the Year, Paul Harris Fellow Award, recognized by the South Carolina General Assembly, Town of Hardeeville,SC;Jasper County Council, Administrator of the Year for the SC Office Professionals Association. In addition, she loves singing and is a member of the Charleston Symphony Gospel Choir; the choir performs locally, in the US and abroad. She is also a member of the Sanctuary choir at Royal Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, SC. Dr. Washington is also a public speaker and is frequently asked to participate on programs that empower others.
She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Royal Foundation, a non profit charitable organization. During her respite, she enjoys traveling and visiting with her grandchildren. She is the mother of three and the grandmother of three.

Dr. Washington is excited to become a part of an organization like SCORS and desires to make a difference in supporting rural systems in South Carolina. She believes that if rural school systems work together their voices will be heard for the children!

Dr. Wesley L. Boykin most recently served as the Director of Assessment, Research and Evaluation at United Way in Ogden, Utah where he led efforts to determine the impact of the Partnership for Student Success program program funded by the Utah State Legislature. The grant program targeted low performing students in intergenerational poverty households and brought together community agencies to work with the local school district to improve student leaning using collective impact strategies of results-based accountability.   

Previously, Dr. Boykin served as the Executive Director of the Center of Excellence in Rural and Minority Health and Associate Professor of Public Health at Voorhees College. Prior to that short-term position, he led teams of researchers and evaluators at Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory (Denver and Honolulu) that worked to uncover new knowledge and enhanced understanding of relevant policy and the teaching-learning process at state, local and organizational levels to facilitate improved educational practices and learner outcomes.  

 Wesley L. Boykin, Ph.D., M.P.H. has more than 25 years of successful experience as a researcher, program evaluator, strategic planner and administrator in the fields of education and human services in both the public and private sectors. His education, career, and research have focused on critical issues such as instructional reform, instructional technology, effective schools, student achievement, and psycho-social correlates of human learning and conditions of minority populations. Dr. Boykin serves as the Lead Evaluation and Policy Analysis Consultant at Affective Education located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Additionally, he is the lead planner and organizer of the Global Vision International Learning Tours conducted annually in Africa, Asia and South America.  These learning experiences are rooted in the teachings of the late Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard.

Dr. Wesley L. Boykin most recently served as the Executive Director of the Center of Excellence in Rural and Minority Health and Associate Professor of Public Health at Voorhees College. Prior to that short-term position, he led teams of researchers and evaluators at Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory (Denver and Honolulu) that worked to uncover new knowledge and enhanced understanding of relevant policy and the teaching-learning process at state, local and organizational levels to facilitate improved educational practices and learner outcomes.

Dr. Boykin served as Chief Administrator for Strategic Planning and School Support and the Accountability and Assessment Officer at Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland. He served as the Director of Shared Accountability for Montgomery County Public Schools (MD). He served as the Director of the Office of Program Evaluation and Testing in the Dallas Independent School District (TX). Throughout his career, Dr. Boykin has trained staff and parents in the appropriate use of assessment results; managed research on testing issues; conducted research and evaluation studies relating to instructional programs, delivery systems, and special services; and established a consistent, uniform, and precise reporting mechanism for the transmission of information from the schools into a central data base. Additionally, Dr. Boykin served as the Director of Research and Policy at ACT, Inc. in Austin, Texas and as the research, evaluation and assessment officer at both the Institute for Student Achievement in Lake Success, New York and Riverdeep Interactive Learning (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Dr. Boykin began his career in the Milwaukee Public Schools as an English teacher.

Boykin served on several United States Department of Education panels and committees, including seven years as a National Review Panelist for the Blue Ribbon Schools Program. In addition, he has presented at national educational conferences and workshops on such topics as academic accountability, minority student achievement, and parental involvement and responsibility.

Wesley Boykin is a member of the American Educational Research Association, American Evaluation Association, Phi Delta Kappa, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Alliance of Black School Educators for nine years and as the editor of the Journal of the Alliance of Black School Educators. Dr. Boykin is the recipient of the National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators' State Leadership Award for contributions to the education of disadvantaged youth and support of state initiatives in federal education programs.

Dr. Boykin is a magna cum laude graduate of North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. He received an M.S. (human learning and development) and Ph.D. (research, evaluation and statistical analysis) in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, as well as a post-doctoral Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed his mid-management certification requirements at the University of North Texas in Denton. He conducts annual international learning symposia in honor of the late Dr. Asa Hilliard in Africa and Asia, including Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates.