Outsiders At 125 S. Clark Street

IN THIS ISSUE:

Message from The Broad Center's Executive Director:
Becca Bracy Knight

Every spring, students across the country graduate from our nation's high schools. It is a time to celebrate accomplishments and look forward to future endeavors. Unfortunately, far too many young people do not take part in this important event. Current graduation rates in many large urban school systems are as low as 50 percent. Over one million students drop out of high school each year. And many students who do cross the graduation stage are still unprepared for college, work, and productive citizenship.

Two years ago, these alarming statistics compelled 27 talented leaders and managers from the private sector to change careers and join the movement to dramatically change these outcomes for students. This spring, these 27 individuals graduate from The Broad Residency in Urban Education, a leadership development program that places participants into paid managerial positions at the top levels of urban school districts and charter management organizations across the nation.

In this issue of Education Quarterly (EQ), you can read about their work over the past two years and what lies ahead as they continue their careers in urban education. You can also read about what Broad Residents and alumni are doing to increase graduation rates for high school students and better prepare them to enter college or the workforce.

If you are interested in learning more about the current crisis in urban education, please visit our website for more information. If you are interested in being a part of the solution, please consider applying to become a Broad Resident.

Residents in Graduating Class of 2007-2009 Made Significant Accomplishments; Will Continue Careers in Urban Education

Last month, a group of educational leaders gathered in Washington, DC and shared presentations on reform initiatives including redesigning high school systems, overhauling magnet programs, improving teacher recruitment, implementing performance management systems, developing dropout prevention programs, and instituting new school district budget planning processes. Given the depth and breadth of their knowledge and the results already achieved, it may be hard to believe that just two years ago, the majority of this group of educational leaders, also known as The Broad Residency Class of 2007-2009, were actually working in the private sector at firms including Bank of America, the Hershey Company, Microsoft Inc., the Walt Disney Company, and Deloitte Consulting. Through their participation in The Broad Residency program, they have gained expertise in the field of public education, accomplished significant results, and built a lasting network of colleagues and friends. All 27 graduates of the Class of 2007-2009 will continue their careers in urban education upon completion of the two-year program.

The graduating class of Broad Residents includes 17 people working in nine urban school districts (Boston; Charlotte; Chicago; Duval County, Fla.; Long Beach, Calif.; New York City; Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; and Prince George's County, Md.) and 10 people working in eight charter management organizations (Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, Aspire Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, Knowledge is Power Program -- KIPP, Partnership to Uplift Communities, Uncommon Schools, Victory Schools, and White Hat Management).

The following are just a few examples of the impressive contributions and impact that Broad Residents in the Class of 2007-2009 have made in their organizations:

Aarti Dhupelia, Chicago Public Schools, led the effort to develop a new 5-7 year strategy for Career & Technical Educationfor the district with the goals of providing more viable pathways to college and careers for Chicago Public Schools students and building a stronger pipeline into the city's workforce.

Carrie McPherson Douglass, Aspire Public Schools, built a Human Resources team from the ground up that now manages human capital needsand has the highest customer service results for the entire organization. She led the development and implementation of an HRIS system, a self-service portal for employees and managers, an online recruiting system, and is implementing an online time and attendance system.

Devy Schonfeld, Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, established several business processes that were required to enable her organization's Home Office to deliver quality services to their schools(i.e. developing a Plant Manager training program and creating a ticket-system to deliver timely and quality ongoing maintenance services for schools) and to support quality growth as they expanded from eight to fifteen schools with plans to open five more schools next year (i.e. assessing the Los Angeles real-estate market for quality facilities options).

Don Mitchell, Prince George's County Public Schools, Md., served as the program manager for implementing a $6M system-wide Performance Management systemto allow the nation's 18th largest district to continuously assess and improve performance and contribution to the goal of student achievement.

Peter Cordero, PUC Schools, led the effort to develop and implement a new comprehensive teacher evaluation systemdesigned to focus on providing clear expectations, frequent check-ins to discuss progress and provide feedback on strengths and areas of opportunity, and provide aligned professional development and training that allows for the development of both strengths and gaps.

The Broad Center congratulates the graduates of the Class of 2007-2009 and looks forward to seeing their impact on public urban education grow as they continue to identify, catalyze and lead the transformation required to ensure that every American child receives a world-class education.

Broad Resident and Alumnus Lead Major Efforts to Graduate More Students Prepared to Tackle College and Future Careers

Like many businesses across the country, public school systems are feeling the financial strain from the nation's economic downturn. California and Pennsylvania were not spared from the recession's effects, but education leaders there are not letting that get in the way of bold efforts to improve the number of college-ready graduates.

Preparing Students for College and the Workforce in Long Beach
Broad Residency Alumnus Robert Tagorda, special assistant to Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) superintendent, is leading the district's movement to boost students' readiness for college and the workforce. California's statewide budget crisis and $70 million reduction in LBUSD's annual budget has done little to slow the progress from the school system's Academic and Career Success Initiative, the "galvanizing force for all academic work in the district."

Partnerships with Local Colleges and Universities
This "college promise" to Long Beach's 86,000 students is made possible with a partnership with the Long Beach City College, which has pledged a tuition-free semester, and California State University-Long Beach, which has guaranteed college admission. LBUSD educates students and parents about advanced courses and college and career options starting in elementary school. The school district provides critical educational support from higher academic standards to help accessing college financial aid.

• About a 60 percent increase from 2004 to 2008 in the number of students enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement course, with African Americans and Hispanics growing by 61 percent and 79 percent, respectively;
• An approximately 50 percent spike in the number of students that applied for federal student aid from 2008 to 2009; and
• A more than 35 percent hike in the number of students attending four-year colleges from 2005 to 2007.

"Part of my role in leading the initiative is to identify significant investments that could lead to the greatest gains in academic success," Tagorda said.

Broad Residency Alumnus Robert Tagorda's Background and Approach
A graduate of Harvard's Kennedy School with public sector consulting experience, Tagorda developed the strategy for the major academic effort and is determined to see it through until it is institutionalized across the district.

His long but rewarding work days include different challenges and opportunities to keep important projects on track. Whether it's helping engage board members and union representatives or tackling crisis media issues, every project Tagorda manages is driven by one central priority--student performance.

"Tagorda gets it. He knows what's most important--the achievement of all students," Long Beach USD Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser said. "He understands how to organize staff and motivate students to produce superior gains. Even during these challenging times, he allows nothing -- not the economy, the state budget crisis, the swine flu or other tough challenges -- to deter him. His calm, tenacious, timely actions day after day move our students closer to the goal."

Pittsburgh Promise Guarantees up to $40,000 in Scholarships
The goal at the 27,000-student Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) also is to help children and their families plan, prepare and pay for education after high school. The ambitious plan, the Pittsburgh Promise, guarantees eligible PPS graduates with scholarships of up to $5,000 a year for four years, increasing in 2012 to a maximum of $10,000 a year for four years. In a city with a declining population, the substantial college funds provided by corporate, foundation, and community organizations also serve as a financial incentive to attract families to stay and move into the city.

"If a family is moving to the area, $40,000 on the table for their child's education is a strong incentive to consider," said Eddy Jones, a PPS graduate and Broad Resident leading the bold effort for the school district.

Broad Resident Eddy Jones Leverages Private Sector Skills to Launch Initiative
Jones left a career at Deloitte to help lead the aggressive reforms for the Pittsburgh Promise. He applied his corporate experience in information systems and project management to help launch the Promise program in only a few months. Jones developed information systems and an aggressive timeline of items needed to immediately kick off the program.

His daily work helps drive PPS' higher academic standards and other programs intended to prepare students for college and the increasing number of jobs in and outside of Pittsburgh that require a degree in higher education.

"The scholarship program eliminated money as an obstacle for kids to go off to higher education, but also has been an inspiration to raise expectations for the entire school system, for ourselves, and for our students' performance," Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said.

Already PPS' academic rate of progress on state exams exceeds the state's rate in nearly every area while the achievement gap continues to narrow -- indicators of an unstoppable trend to help every student earn their high school and college diploma.

"It's been a tremendous early success, and Eddy's work ethic and personal commitment to develop a system for this idea and reach kids who may not otherwise have gone off to college is incredible," Superintendent Roosevelt said.

Broad Residents on the Move

Joseph Ferguson
Joseph Ferguson, Broad Residency Class of 2004-2006, was recently appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia. In this role, Ferguson supports a $30 million education management organization employing 150 individuals and operating small public high schools in Philadelphia.
Read more.

Matthew Hill
Matthew Hill, Broad Residency Class of 2005-2007, joined the Los Angeles Unified School District in early January as the districts new Administrative Officer in the Office of the Superintendent. The Los Angeles district is the second largest in the country with over 688,000 students and 885 schools.
Read more.

Carmita P. Vaughan
Carmita P. Vaughan, Broad Residency Class of 2005-2007, has recently been named Chief Strategy Officer of Americas Promise Alliance. In this role, she oversees initiatives to help communities increase high school graduation rates and ensure that all students graduate high school, college and are work-ready.
Read more.

Kathleen Weaver Hytros
Kathleen (Katie) Weaver Hytros, Broad Residency Class of 2007-2009, recently accepted the position of Deputy to the Chief Education Officer for Chicago Public Schools, a district with over 400,000 students. Previously she served as the Director of Accountability for the Office of New Schools in the Chicago district.
Read more.

Find Us on the Web

In addition to our website (www.broadresidency.org), The Broad Residency has a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn. Connect with us to join our network, learn about upcoming events, and stay informed about education reform.