The Connection Between Policy and Practice, Lessons Learned by an Urban Superintendent on the Road to the Broad Prize for Urban Education
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Free and open to the public.
Abstract
In 2006, with the goal of increasing student achievement, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Board of Education passed policies related to effective teachers and school administrators. The leadership of the District put the Board's work in action and made increasing staff effectiveness the focus of their work. In the process, staff worked to establish new benchmarks in measuring effective performance including how to:
- Define it: Clearly define and measure effectiveness
- Hire it: Base recruitment on effectiveness
- Develop it: Provide access to training
- Instill it: Make it part of the culture
- Manage it: Provide readily available, accurate and timely data
- Pay for it: Revise compensation structure to reflect a focus on performance
The path was often controversial and difficult, but student achievement increased substantially more than other U.S. urban school districts. CMS was selected as the 2011 winner of the Broad Prize for Urban Education. The $1 million Broad Prize, established in 2002, is the largest education award in the country given to school districts. The Broad Prize is awarded each year to honor urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among low-income and minority students.
Peter C. Gorman brings more than two decades of experience in education to his role as Senior Vice President of Education Services for News Corporation. He began his career as a second-grade teacher in Orlando, Florida. He worked as a teacher, principal and district-level administrator in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties in Florida before becoming superintendent of schools in Tustin, California. In 2006, he became superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina. Under his leadership, the district won the 2011 Broad Prize in Urban Education, which recognizes increases in student achievement and closing of achievement gaps. Gorman graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education. He also holds a master's in business administration from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and a master's and doctorate in education leadership from the University of Central Florida.
Sponsored by: the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), the School of Education, and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
EPI is a program of coordinated activities designed to bring the latest academic knowledge to issues of education policy.
Generous support provided by Charles H. and Susan Gessner.