District 299: The Inside Scoop on CPS

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.

The Initiative's goals are Herculean, with the academic progress to match. To date, the district has seen:

• 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.