Alan Burke, Ed.D, is the executive director of the Washington State School Retirees’ Association. Before coming to WSSRA, he served (2014-16) as the executive director of the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA), the organization that supports and advocates for the 1477 elected school board members in the state.
From 2009-2014 he was deputy superintendent for K-12 education at OSPI, with line supervisory responsibility for numerous agency divisions including teaching and learning, school improvement, assessment and student records, career and technical education, student support, and federal programs. He was a member of Superintendent Randy Dorn’s executive cabinet and spent considerable time on legislative matters and advocacy.
Prior to OSPI, Alan was superintendent of schools in Yelm (1998-2009), a district with 5,300 students and ten schools. While there, he also was deputy superintendent and principal of two buildings. Before coming to Yelm in 1991, he held principalships in the Orting and Central Kitsap School Districts. He taught for nine years (mostly social studies at the middle school level) and coached extensively. He earned in Ed.D from the University of Washington in 1990, focusing his research work on identifying effective programs and practices at the middle level.
Alan lives in Olympia with his wife Pam (a retired elementary school principal) and has several family members who are active in the K-12 system. He enjoys hiking, mountain climbing, baseball, foreign travel and spending time with his granddaughters.