Broad Superintendents Academy Graduates Outperform Their Peers in Raising Student Achievement

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The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems

Aug 30, 2010, 08:00 ET

Broad Foundation commits another $20 million to develop school district leaders

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- School districts led by Broad Superintendents Academy graduates who have served as superintendents for three or more years are outpacing other school districts in their states in academic gains, according to results of a new data analysis announced today by The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems. On the heels of these results, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation announced it has awarded The Broad Center an additional $20 million to continue recruiting, training, placing and supporting school district leaders nationwide.

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Based on an analysis of publicly available student achievement data conducted by The Broad Foundation, Broad Superintendents Academy graduates who have served as superintendents for three or more years have outpaced other districts in their states in generating academic gains. The following data indicates that the longer these superintendents serve in a district, the more likely they are to outpace their peers in raising student achievement:

Sixty-seven percent of Broad Superintendent Academy graduates who have served as superintendents for three years – such as Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt, Broad Academy Class of '03 – have improved student achievement faster than other districts in their states.
Eighty percent of Broad Superintendent Academy graduates who served as superintendents for four years – such as former Charleston County Public Schools, S.C. Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, Class of '03 – improved student achievement faster than other districts in their states. The Houston Independent School District, for example, narrowed 83 percent of income and ethnic achievement gaps faster than other Texas districts after four years under the leadership of former Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, Class of '02.
While districts led by Broad Academy superintendents have outpaced their peers in improving student achievement, graduates' districts, which are primarily urban districts serving significant percentages of low-income students, still lag behind higher income suburban districts in overall performance on average.

"We started the Broad Academy because we believed that strong leadership and management would lead to student achievement gains, and we are pleased to see our graduates making progress," said Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which funds The Broad Superintendents Academy. "Leading a school district is the toughest job in America, but these dedicated individuals from diverse backgrounds are demonstrating that with a singular focus on students, it is possible to transform entire school districts into effective public institutions that show results."

The data analysis compared student achievement the year prior to a Broad Superintendents Academy superintendent joining a district to student results two or more years into their term, and examined 26 school districts across 16 states. The analysis compared student achievement growth within these districts against other districts statewide, as well as against other demographically similar districts in their state.

The analysis examined several measures of student performance and improvement including:

State assessments in reading and math: a) overall growth in proficiency, b) movement of students across performance levels (e.g. from "below proficient" to "proficient" or from "proficient" to "advanced proficient"), c) closure in income and ethnic achievement gaps and d) whether students performed above or below expectations given the district's poverty level.
Graduation rates based on state-reported figures.

"The Broad Center is pleased to receive an additional $20 million to enable many more urban American school districts facing resource, operational and instructional challenges to benefit from new leaders with viable solutions," said Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education and chairman of the board of The Broad Center.

As part of its comprehensive evaluation of The Broad Superintendents Academy, The Broad Foundation also noted the following:

Recruitment: Since The Broad Superintendents Academy began in 2002, half of all graduates have had backgrounds outside the K-12 sector, 54 percent have been people of color, and 43 percent were women.
Selection: The 2010 academy class, which attracted more than 600 resumes nationwide, had a 2 percent selectivity rate.
Placement: Since 2002, academy graduates have filled 71 superintendent positions and 87 senior school district executive positions. Graduates of the program currently work as superintendents or school district executives in 53 cities across 28 states. In 2009, 43 percent of all large urban superintendent openings were filled by Broad Academy graduates.
Retention: Sixty-eight percent of academy graduates work in K-12 education leadership roles today.

"Effective, stable leadership in America's school districts is critical to ensure that all schools across a school district, not just a handful of high performing schools, successfully educate children," said Becca Bracy Knight, executive director of The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, which operates The Broad Superintendents Academy. "We plan to use these results to improve the academy's curriculum and training efforts to better meet student needs on the ground."

The Broad Superintendents Academy is a 10-month executive management training program 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, such as military generals and executives from business, government and non-profit organizations, as well as stand-out career educators. The academy is funded by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a national venture philanthropy advancing entrepreneurship for the public good in education, science and the arts. For more information, please visit www.broadacademy.org.

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Becca Bracy Knight

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Dr. Tim Quinn

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SOURCE The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems