Mayor Nutter selected as his education team today the vice president for policies and planning at the Philadelphia Youth Network - the organization pioneering an effort to cut the city's dropout rate - and a Pennsylvania Department of Education adviser.

Lori Shorr, 44, of Chestnut Hill, becomes chief education officer in charge of carrying out Nutter's education goals, including dramatically lowering the dropout rate and raising the number of city residents with college degrees. She will earn $115,000.

Sharon Tucker, 30, adviser to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's deputy secretary of elementary and secondary education and a resident of Mount Airy, will be her deputy. Tucker, who previously worked for the school district's policy and planning support office, will earn $95,000.

Nutter's announcement was made at a City Hall news conference attended by dozens of education advocates, City Council members and other officials.

He called the appointees the "dynamic duo of education."

Shorr, who has a bachelor's from Penn State and a master's and doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, said she will aim to make city offices, such as Social Services, work more closely with the schools.

"I really hope our office will be known for coalition building," added Shorr, who previously was a special assistant to Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak.

Shorr's children attended the Philadelphia public schools, first J.S. Jenks in Chestnut Hill for kindergarten to eighth grade and then Central High - one of the district's prestigious academic magnet schools.

Nutter said he also will nominate Shorr to serve as director of the Office of the Public School Family and Child Advocate, a new position created by a charter change passed by City Council in June. Her nomination to that position is subject to City Council approval. She will not draw a second salary.

Shorr's name surfaced as Nutter's appointee two weeks ago, and she unofficially started her work last week as a member of the citizens advisory committee interviewing finalists for the district's chief executive officer job.

Both Nutter and School Reform Commission Chairwoman Sandra Dungee Glenn, who attended the news conference, said the CEO search continues but declined to give a further update.

Nutter would not comment on either of the two finalists - Arlene Ackerman, a former San Francisco and Washington, D.C., schools superintendent, or Leroy D. Nunery II, a former Edison Schools executive who runs his own consulting company.

Nutter said he has not endorsed any candidate.

"The process is still open," he said.