A former superintendent in Washington and San Francisco - who earned national recognition for her work but left the California job in 2006 after conflicts with the school board - was interviewed this week for the chief executive officer's job in the Philadelphia School District, sources said.

Arlene Ackerman, now an education professor at Columbia University and the superintendent-in-residence of a California group that trains nontraditional candidates such as military leaders for positions as school superintendents, is among a group of candidates that the School Reform Commission is considering for the job.

Reached by phone yesterday, Ackerman said she was in a meeting with staff and couldn't talk.

The commission declined to return calls for comment on Ackerman.

Ackerman's name emerges as the commission hones a list of finalists for the district's job, which currently pays $275,000 a year.

Kent McGuire, dean of the College of Education at Temple University, also is among those being closely considered, the source said. McGuire did not return a call for comment yesterday, but he previously acknowledged that he had submitted his resume.

The commission on Jan. 23 plans to present a list of finalists to a 40-member citizens advisory committee. Commission Chairwoman Sandra Dungee Glenn said finalists' names likely would be made public then.

"We are finalizing our short list," Dungee Glenn said yesterday afternoon after the commission's regular monthly meeting. "I am very optimistic about having someone emerge whom we would all be very confident in as the next CEO of this school district."

Dungee Glenn said that the commission had interviewed "more than three" candidates and that "between three and more than three" were currently under consideration.

The commission expects to pick a CEO by or near the end of the month, Dungee Glenn said.

Dungee Glenn said both Mayor Nutter and Gov. Rendell had been given the names of the top contenders.

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo declined to comment yesterday evening. So did Nutter.

Among other candidates whose names have emerged over the last several months are Shirl E. Gilbert II, a regional superintendent in Philadelphia who previously headed the Indianapolis public schools, and Joseph J. Wise, a former superintendent of the Christina School District in New Castle County, Del., who was fired as the superintendent in Jacksonville, Fla. Anthony Amato, superintendent of schools in Kansas City, Mo., also was named as a candidate, but a spokeswoman for Amato said in November that he had not applied for the job and was not interested.

Ackerman, who started her career as an elementary and middle school teacher, left the San Francisco Unified School District in 2006 after a six-year tenure during which she butted heads with school board members. The board and Ackerman declared they were incompatible in announcing her departure, according to news reports.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that her tenure saw a rise in student achievement and better financial health, but that it was "marred by charges that she was autocratic and excluded parents and teachers from important decisions."

She did not shy away from controversy. Soon after her arrival in San Francisco, she uncovered "widespread corruption in the district's facilities department," according to the Chronicle.

For her work, she drew distinction. She was named superintendent of the year for 2004-05 by the National Association of Black School Educators.

Before San Francisco, she ran the Washington public schools for about two years. There, she made progress on some significant reforms, including creating a fairer funding formula for the schools.

Ackerman has a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's in educational administration and policy. She also has a master's and a doctorate in education administration, planning and social policy from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

In her role at the Los Angeles-based Broad Superintendents Academy, Ackerman coaches military, business, nonprofit, government and other nontraditional candidates for superintendent's posts.