Community Support Coordinator

Sheila Cruse Johnston is a community support coordinator for the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.  She has been the executive director for the Kentucky Association for Gifted Education, the staff development coordinator for a Jacob K. Javits Project at Western Kentucky University, a teacher of the gifted, and an elementary classroom teacher.

Mrs. Johnston graduated from Murray State University with a B.S. in elementary education.  She received a Masters degree in education and gifted education certification from Murray State University.  She also earned a graduate degree in educational administration from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. 

Mrs. Johnston has served on various boards and committees related to Kentucky standards-based education system.  She served on the Kentucky Council for School Performance Standards Task Force, the Kentucky Advisory Council of Gifted and Talented Education, and was a delegate to the National Education Goals Pane.  She was a technical assistance and professional development trainer for the Kentucky Department of Education.  She currently serves on the board of Easter Seals Western Kentucky and the Kentucky Council on Economic Education. 

She lives in Paducah with her husband Dr. Dennis Johnston.  They have two grown children that attended Kentucky public schools.