School superintendency is a family business for the Prusators. Todd Prusator leads Community Consolidated School District 231 in a small community 70 miles west of Chicago. His two brothers, Bob and Jeff, also are Illinois superintendents, all within about 30 miles of each other in the northwest corner of the state. The three brothers, who […]
Superintendent Yolanda Valdez takes messaging seriously. Not emoji-filled texts or IMs, but messages that convey a goal for 4,000-plus students at Cutler-Orosi Joint USD in rural California: That they will attend college. Superintendent Yolanda Valdez takes messaging seriously. Not emoji-filled texts or IMs, but messages that convey a goal for 4,000-plus students at Cutler-Orosi Joint […]
It's no secret teachers are jumping ship in record numbers, and the dwindling numbers of incoming grads don't even come close to patching the gap as the demand for teachers rises. The Learning Policy Institute reported in 2016 that enrollment in teaching programs is down 35 percent nationwide (and has been for years), and the […]
An Ohio student's overdose in 2015 proved to be the final straw for Belpre School District Superintendent Tony Dunn. The communities surrounding the district had seen a high rate of opiate abuse over the past decade. As use trickled into schools, district leadership concluded that drug testing was necessary. Belpre High School enacted a mandatory […]
In many school districts today, hiring practices for administrative leaders often consist of "replacement filling" waiting for a position to open up before searching for candidates, according to a 2014 report on K12 education titled "Best Practices in Succession Planning" created by Hanover Research, a market research and survey analysis company based in Washington, D.C. […]
Pat Skorkowsky, superintendent of Clark County School District in Nevada, has expanded a franchise principal concept in which successful principals take over management of multiple schools, replicating the same educational approach in each. Following a successful pilot last year with two principals, the initiative involves training a core of administrative leaders who can continue to […]
Schools still feel the effects of post-recession budget cuts eight years after the economic crisis reached its zenith. A study by the Center on Budget and Policy Studies showed that 25 states in 2014 were spending less per student than before the recession, adjusted for inflation. Budget cuts in seven states exceeded 10 percent, according […]
For decades, the J. Sterling Morton High School District in the Chicago suburbs was in bad shape. It had a gang problem. Some students underperformed on state tests and were no longer accepted to their first-choice colleges. And the district faced a deficit of millions of dollars. In 2008, when Michael Kuzniewski became superintendent, he […]
When only 13 percent of sophomores at the Grandview School District in Washington passed the state math exams six years ago, administrators decided to develop their own curriculum. For instance, leaders had concluded the textbooks they purchased didn't adequately teach fractions and integers, leading to gaps in student learning. Grandview spent about $200,000 to hire […]
When the next president takes office in January, he or she will preside over major shifts in the K12 education landscape—from implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act and Common Core, to the rollout of nationwide STEM initiatives, to the simmering battles over charters, school choice and teachers unions. When the next president takes office […]
