Press Releases

The Broad Center For Superintendents Announces 2004 Class
Feb. 2, 2004

Los Angeles, CA - The Broad Center for Superintendents announced today the 2004 class selected for the Urban Superintendents Academy. The 2004 class includes 10 outstanding educational leaders and 12 talented executives from outside the education sector, four of whom are senior military officials, who are seeking to make a difference in education. (A complete list is attached.)

The first academy session will take place February 4 - 8, at the Le Merigot Hotel in Santa Monica. Future academy sessions will be held in San Diego, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Houston and Los Angeles over the next ten months.

Established by The Broad Foundation and then Michigan Governor John Engler, The Broad Center for Superintendents is an executive leadership development program designed to prepare future superintendents to meet the unique challenges facing urban public school districts. The 2004 class is the third class to be trained by The Broad Center for Superintendents.

Dan Katzir, Managing Director of The Broad Foundation, said, "Current trends show that many non-traditional superintendents are leading the way in improving student achievement in the United States. The Broad Center for Superintendents is committed to identifying and training leaders from K-12 education, as well as the corporate, military, non-profit and government sectors, to increase the success of school districts across America. Together we can meet the challenge of reinventing public education."

Participants in the academy will attend seven extended weekend training sessions over a ten-month period in locations across the country. Fellowships, including tuition, travel and all program-related expenses, are fully covered by The Broad Center for Superintendents. At the conclusion of the academy, The Broad Center for Superintendents will help place participants in urban school districts as superintendents and senior executives.

With 98 percent of current superintendents trained as teachers, many have little training or background in complex financial, labor, management, personnel and capital resource decision-making. The Urban Superintendents Academy seeks to provide future superintendents with these skills. The academy curriculum includes the following sessions:

• The CEO: Effective organizational leadership in education
• Student achievement and reinventing schools for success
• The politics of urban school system leadership
• Using management and instructional data for decision making
• The governance-management team
• Planning and leading systems change
• Public and community relations
• Securing a job as an urban superintendent

The Urban Superintendents Academy was launched in February 2002. Since then, over 40 accomplished professionals have completed the program and 6 Broad Fellows have been appointed as superintendents in large urban districts. An additional 12 Broad Fellows have been selected as superintendents in smaller districts or have been promoted or hired into senior executive roles in large urban systems.

The Broad Foundation's mission is to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management and labor relations. In addition to The Broad Center, The Foundation has three other national flagship initiatives:

• The $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education, awarded each year to urban school districts making the greatest overall improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps between ethnic and income groups;
• The Broad Institute for School Boards, an annual training program for newly-elected and appointed urban school board members designed to increase student achievement through improved governance; and
• The Broad Residency in Urban Education, an intensive two-year management development program that offers the next generation of leadership the opportunity to assume managerial positions immediately in the central operations of urban school districts.

For more information, visit www.broadfoundation.org.

The Broad Center for Superintendents
2004 Urban Superintendents Academy

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