These 13 Lighthouse school districts are modeling innovation for the future

New initiative engages forward-leaning district leaders in collaboratively developing strategies to advance student learning.
Randy Squier
Randy Squier

Other K-12 leaders have been eager to learn more about the college-career-life readiness indicators that let Coxsackie-Athens Central School District students track their growth. The upstate New York district’s dashboard allows students to self-monitor grade-point averages, attendance, career exploration activities and college-level courses taken, among other benchmarks, Superintendent Randy Squier says.

“We’ve taken away generic comments from report cards,” Squier says. “Now teachers are reporting out on whether they’re seeing students demonstrate good communication, collaboration, self-direction and critical thinking. We think those are better indicators of success.”

Squier was able to share this initiative directly with a group of a dozen other superintendents whose districts, along with Coxsackie-Athens, have been designated as Lighthouse School Systems to serve as models and learning labs for K-12 transformation.

The program, launched by AASA, The School Superintendents Association and the Successful Practices Network, engages forward-leaning urban, suburban and rural school district leaders in collaboratively developing education policies to advance student learning, AASA says. Squier’s district was chosen for its emphasis on creating future-ready learners.

Of course, Squier has also learned from his fellow Lighthouse leaders, who, he says, have been particularly helpful in guiding his district in measuring the effectiveness of Coxsackie-Athens’ social-emotional learning efforts. The district now has a better idea of how to use surveys, what questions to ask, and how to use the data to take action.

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“That’s a hurdle we’ve finally gotten over,” Squier says. “It’s like an Applebee’s menu—there are a lot of ways to try to measure SEL. We’ve just got to dive in, do the work, try a measurement and stick with it, tweak as we go, and not worry about being perfect.”

AASA’s goal is to leverage the recovery from COVID to tackle longstanding issues that have hampered education. Along with future-ready learners, the Lighthouse program has recognized districts for their innovative redesign efforts in social-emotional growth, cognitive growth, and learners as co-authors. Within these areas, the districts have demonstrated commitments to diversifying educator pipelines, early learning, technology-enhanced learning, and community alignment.

“As we emerge from the pandemic, it is critical to invoke future-focused best practices for the well-being, self-sufficiency and success of our young learners,” says Daniel A. Domenech, AASA’s executive director.

Here are the 13 districts:

  • Baldwin Union Free School District, Baldwin, N.Y.; Superintendent Shari Camhi
  • Buckeye Elementary School District, Buckeye Ariz.; Superintendent Kristi Wilson
  • Coxsackie-Athens Central School District, Coxsackie, N.Y.; Superintendent Randy Squier
  • Elizabeth Forward School District, Elizabeth, Pa.; Superintendent Todd Keruskin
  • Ephrata Area School District, Ephrata, Pa.; Superintendent Brian Troop
  • Harvard Community Unit School District 50, Harvard, Ill.; Superintendent Corey Tafoya
  • High School District 214, Arlington Heights, Ill.; Superintendent David Schuler
  • Linton-Stockton School Corporation, Linton, Ind.; Superintendent Kathy Goad
  • Naperville Community Unit School District 203, Naperville, Ill.; Superintendent Dan Bridges
  • Val Verde Unified School District, Perris, Calif.; Superintendent Michael McCormick
  • Washougal School District, Washougal, Wash.; Superintendent Mary Templeton
  • West Allegheny School District, Imperial, Pa.; Superintendent Jerri Lynn Lippert
  • West Valley School District 208, Yakima, Wash.; Superintendent Peter Finch

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Kathy Goad
Kathy Goad

Participating in the Lighthouse program has helped the Linton-Stockton School Corporation improve its graduate profile, which focuses on embedding life and career skills—such as adaptability, confidence, creative thinking, collaboration, effective communication and responsibility—into everything educators do, Superintendent Kathy Goad says. The Indiana district, which was recognized for future-ready learning, has also grown enrollment in its early education program from 30 to 90 since 2020.

“Our elementary principal always said our goal is to ‘build good neighbors’ and we are well on our way,” Goad says. “The public acknowledgment of this program will give confidence to our students and staff that what we are doing is what’s right about education.”

Matt Zalaznick
Matt Zalaznick
Matt Zalaznick is a life-long journalist. Prior to writing for District Administration he worked in daily news all over the country, from the NYC suburbs to the Rocky Mountains, Silicon Valley and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He's also in a band.

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