A true education innovator, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson has stood up to criticism that would wither less-gritty academics. Her dogged determination to shake up a complacent public education establishment has put her at odds with the very teachers’ union over which she presided as president from 1985 to 1989.

But thanks to her steadfast leadership, the results have begun to materialize. In August, Washington students for the sixth straight year had the highest SAT averages of any state where more than half the eligible students took the test. The test was taken by 12th-graders in the class of 2008.

The SAT, or Standardized Achievement Test, is one of those used by colleges and universities to help evaluate prospective studies in the admissions process.

And as painful as the state’s own Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) has been for many, it has raised the bar for both teachers and students. Bergeson has never backed away from her commitment to make the test a useful tool for student learning.

The teachers’ union, which some think is misnamed as the Washington Education Association, has long opposed the WASL and there are legitimate criticisms of the test. Bergeson herself is constantly working to iron out flaws in the testing process.

Unfortunately, there is a significant group within the teachers’ union that doesn’t like the WASL because it measures not only student performance but their own.

Setting high standards and demanding accountability from the bottom to the top of the state’s education system is something that taxpayers have a right to expect from their superintendent of public instruction.

Bergeson has not backed away from the responsibilities imposed on her nonpartisan office and all educators by the unfunded federal mandate known as No Child Left Behind, a flawed program with the laudable goal of seeing that all children succeed.

But it sets goals for local educators without producing a dime of financial support. That may change with new leadership in the White House in 2009, whomever it turns out to be.

Meanwhile, Sedro-Woolley’s own Evergreen Elementary School is the latest Skagit County school to show the fruits of hard work and high standards. The school was among 98 across the state honored this week by Bergeson as “Schools of Distinction” for showing steady improvement over the past six years in math and reading.

The success of Evergreen and other Skagit schools that have raised their students’ test scores is due in large measure to the trail blazed by Bergeson’s office.

Bergeson shows no sign of burnout at her job after three terms. We see no reason not to return her for a fourth.

• Editorials reflect the consensus opinion of the editorial board and are written by its members: Publisher L. Stedem Wood, Editor Don Nelson and City Editor Dick Clever. Signed columns reflect the authors’ viewpoints.