14 Military, Government and School District Leaders Chosen for National School Superintendent Training Program

News provided by

The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems

Feb 04, 2010, 08:00 ET

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fourteen prominent leaders from across the country, including high-ranking military officers, government officials and education executives, have been selected to participate in the 2010 Broad Superintendents Academy, The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems announced today.

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The Broad (rhymes with "road") Superintendents Academy is a 10-month executive management training program run by The Broad Center to prepare prominent leaders from education, military, business, nonprofit and government sectors to lead urban public school systems. The Broad Superintendents Academy is the only program in the country that recruits and trains non-traditional superintendent candidates as well as stand-out career educators.

To date, Broad Superintendents Academy graduates have filled 68 superintendent positions and 88 senior school district executive positions nationwide, including 43 percent of all external superintendent openings in large urban American school districts last year, more than double the percent filled in previous years. Broad Superintendents Academy graduates who have served as superintendents for three or more years are outperforming comparison groups in raising student achievement on state reading and math exams, closing achievement gaps and raising graduation rates.

"We are delighted that these talented men and women will join more than 100 other leaders across the country who are working tirelessly to create new, effective urban public school systems that dramatically improve results for millions of students," said Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which funds The Broad Center.

This year's class includes a nationally recognized California school district superintendent, a national Teach For America executive who previously led Louisiana's Hurricane Katrina and Rita recovery efforts, a Texas state commissioner and an Ohio regional transit CEO.

This year's class also includes high-ranking Army and Air Force leaders, including a major general who oversaw 45,000 combat soldiers in Iraq and led officers of 26 nations to coordinate efforts in Afghanistan, a brigadier general who led the Army to create and deploy a 4,000 man organization into combat anywhere in the world within 96 hours, and a colonel who created nationally recognized business practices to better utilize the skills and talents of 60,000 Army officers.

A full list of participants and complete biographies can be found at http://www.broadacademy.org/fellows/2010.html, and photos are available upon request.

Following a rigorous review and selection process, only 2 percent of this year's applicants were accepted into the program.

Participants in The Broad Superintendents Academy keep their current jobs and attend extended-weekend training sessions covering CEO-level skills in education, finance, management, operations and organizational systems. This year's sessions will be held in Aldine, Texas, Denver, Garden Grove, Calif., Long Beach, Calif., New York City, and Washington, D.C. The Broad Center covers tuition, travel and all program expenses. At the conclusion of the program, The Broad Center will help place participants in urban school districts as superintendents and senior executives.

The 2010 class is the ninth to be trained by The Broad Superintendents Academy. Nearly 73 percent of the graduates of the first six classes have been hired around the country as superintendents or as school district executives or have been promoted into those positions. Seventy percent of them are still working in the same, similar, or higher positions.

The Broad Superintendents Academy has trained more working superintendents in large urban school districts than any other national training program. Graduates of the program currently work as superintendents in 38 cities across 25 states. For a list of cities, please visit http://www.broadacademy.org/fellows/map.html.

The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems is funded by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a national venture philanthropy established by entrepreneur and philanthropist Eli Broad to advance entrepreneurship for the public good in education, science and the arts. The Broad Foundation's education work is focused on dramatically improving urban K-12 public education through better governance, management, labor relations and competition. Eli Broad is a renowned business leader who founded two Fortune 500 companies, SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home. For more information, please visit www.broadcenter.org or www.broadfoundation.org.

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SOURCE The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems