12 Military Generals, School District Executives, Entrepreneurs Chosen for National School Superintendent Training Program

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Twelve prominent leaders from across the country, including high-ranking military officers, entrepreneurs and education executives, have been selected to participate in the 2009 Broad Superintendents Academy, The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems announced today.

“These 12 leaders have deep experience leading large, complex organizations and motivating employees to overcome tough challenges”

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, graduates of the program have filled 53 superintendent positions and 70 senior school district executive positions.

Education executives from Chicago Public Schools, the Claremont Unified School District, Calif., Montgomery County Public Schools, Md. and the New York City Department of Education are among this year’s class, which includes a sitting superintendent, a community superintendent and incoming U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s former chief of staff.

This year’s class also includes the highest number in the academy’s eight-year history of high-ranking military generals who want to make a difference in the field of public education. For example, the class includes a general who oversaw worldwide airlift, logistics and communications support for the president, vice president and other senior U.S. leaders and a brigadier general who served as deputy commanding general of the 10^th Mountain Division and the Joint Task Force of 25,000 U.S. military members in Afghanistan.

A full list of participants can be found at http://www.broadacademy.org/fellows/2009.html. Photos are available upon request.

“These 12 leaders have deep experience leading large, complex organizations and motivating employees to overcome tough challenges,” said Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which funds The Broad Center. “There is no better use of their skills than to effectively lead large, urban school districts to improve learning opportunities for all children.”

Following a rigorous review and selection process, only 2 percent of this year’s applicants were accepted into the program, which has grown more selective in recent years.

Participants in The Broad Superintendents Academy keep their current jobs and attend six extended-weekend training sessions covering CEO-level skills in education, finance, management, operations and organizational systems. This year’s sessions will be held in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Calif., Houston, Denver, Aldine, Texas, 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 2009 class is the eighth to be trained by The Broad Superintendents Academy. Nearly 70 percent of the graduates of the first six classes have been hired around the country as superintendents or school district executives or have been promoted into those positions. Three-quarters of them are still working in the same, similar, or higher positions. Of all large urban school districts that conducted external searches for new superintendents between 2005 and 2008, nearly one-fifth filled their positions with graduates of The Broad Superintendents Academy.

The Broad Superintendents Academy has trained more working superintendents in large urban school districts than any other training program. Graduates of the program currently work as superintendents in 37 cities across 23 states. For a list of cities, please visit http://www.broadacademy.org/fellows/map.html.

Based on analysis of publicly available student achievement data for Broad Superintendents Academy graduates who have served as superintendents for three or more testing cycles, 100 percent are outperforming comparison groups in reducing the percentage of students at the lowest proficiency level in reading and math, and 86 percent are meeting or exceeding proficiency standards in reading and math faster than comparison groups.

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.

The Broad Foundation
Erica Lepping, 310-954-5053