Outside the classroom, superintendent-school board relationships are surely among the most impactful partnerships when it comes to a school district's success. These leaders share their keys to positive experiences with their own boards.
A new compilation of case studies reveals the challenges districts of all sizes faced when implementing tutoring initiatives. One recommendation: take it slow.
In just two years as superintendent of Ankeny Community School District in Iowa, Erick Pruitt has led his team in producing a five-year strategic plan, a profile of a graduate and a DEI framework.
"Finally, we have a framework, rubric and training designed for education," said Frankie Jackson, project lead for the Cybersecurity Rubric for Education. "Schools can expose risks and create a strategic plan to improve cybersecurity."
Two more school boards in the Deep South fired superintendents last week, but not without a measure of controversy and community pushback. In New Jersey, a district leader was escorted out of his central office.
"Who was I to think that I could tell them what they needed or wanted in their own community?" says Dr. Margaret Crespo, superintendent of Laramie County School District-1 in Wyoming. Using this mindset, she now has a living, adaptable strategic plan.
Our K12 education system has been like a footprint hardened in concrete: durable and lasting but resistant to change despite prolonged exposure to nature's elements.
Montgomery County Public Schools, which has experienced 11 youth overdoses since the beginning of 2022-23, will start with a crackdown on how long and when students can be in the restroom.
When Superintendent Scott Muri took the helm at Ector County ISD in 2019, it had an 18% teacher vacancy rate and was one of the lowest-performing districts in the state. Now, its teachers can make up to $100,000 a year.
"Transformation in education is happening, which is almost a counter-narrative to what we hear," says Amy Dujon, director of the District Administration Leadership Institute and co-author of a new report, "Exploring New Frontiers For K-12 Systems Transformation."
