Broad Center for the Management of School Systems Announces Four New Members of Board of Directors

LOS ANGELES, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Four prominent national leaders, including a former Democratic Party leader, former Obama Administration official, former labor leader and former state education chief, have joined the board of directors of The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, the center announced today. 

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The Broad (rhymes with "road") Center for the Management of School Systems is a nonprofit that seeks to prepare leaders to strengthen public school systems.  Through its two primary initiatives, The Broad Superintendents Academy and The Broad Residency in Urban Education, a growing network of school system leaders and managers are working to strengthen public schools by creating environments that enable good teachers to do great work and students of all backgrounds to learn and thrive. 

The four new members of the board of directors, which provides strategic counsel to The Broad Center, are:

• Andy Stern, senior fellow at Columbia University. Previously, during his 15-year tenure as president of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union, the nation's second largest labor union, Stern called for health care reform and the creation of workplace conditions that support, rather than hinder, employees from performing their jobs. 
• Representative Harold Ford, Jr., a former five-term Congressman and chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, who is currently managing director and senior client relationship manager at Morgan Stanley and professor of public policy at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. On the House committee on education and the workforce, Ford sought results-oriented solutions to address issues of American workforce preparedness and social challenges faced by faith and community based groups.
• Lawrence H. Summers, president emeritus of Harvard University, and a top economic advisor during the Obama and Clinton administrations.  As assistant to the president for economic policy under President Obama, director of the National Economic Council, secretary of the U.S. Treasury, and vice president of development economics and chief economist of the World Bank, Summers has for decades been at the forefront of efforts to strengthen the United States economy.
• Paul Pastorek, former Louisiana state superintendent of education and former president of the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. His 20-year career to improve public education in Louisiana began after volunteering in a New Orleans inner city junior high school. During Pastorek's superintendency, Louisiana showed unprecedented increases in graduation rates and standardized test scores. Pastorek is currently chief counsel for the aerospace and defense contractor EADS North America.

"We are very fortunate to have these renowned American leaders, who have spent their careers developing progressive solutions to some of the nation's most pressing social and economic issues, guiding us as we seek to continuously improve our organization," said Becca Bracy Knight, executive director of The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems.  

The four new board members join 12 already serving on The Broad Center board of directors.

The board advises the center on its initiatives, including two flagship programs, The Broad Superintendents Academy, a 1.5-year executive management training program, and The Broad Residency in Urban Education, a two-year management residency program. These programs recruit, prepare and support leaders and managers—who are passionate about public education and the communities in which they work and have educational expertise and experience ensuring organizations run successfully—to transform urban public school systems. 

Graduates of The Broad Center work to create public school systems that allow students of all backgrounds to reach their potential in school and in life, enable teachers to receive the support they need to grow professionally and feel honored for their work, and provide parents of all income levels with access to great public schools.  During the 11 years these programs have been in existence, they have contributed toward improving public schools across America:

• More than 450 participants of Broad Center programs have worked in more than 200 school systems.
• Students in districts led by Academy graduates are making strong academic gains.
  • 75 percent of current superintendents who have been in their posts for 3 years are raising student achievement in their districts faster than comparison groups.
  • 86 percent of current superintendents who have been in their posts for 4 years are raising student achievement in their districts faster than comparison groups.
• Superintendents and other school system officials who have graduated from the Academy – typically career educators themselves – are working to put conditions in place that support students and teachers and meet the needs of their community. Among other things, Academy graduates have:  brought new technology into classrooms to personalize learning for every student, empowered principals with proven track records to assemble teams to turnaround struggling schools, established full day kindergarten and secured millions in new funds to support teachers.
• Ten urban school districts have hired more than one superintendent that has participated in The Broad Superintendents Academy. 
• School system managers who have gone through the Residency are also putting systems in place to support students and teachers:  Residents have reduced dropout rates by creating programs that provide support for at-risk children, improved teacher quality and diversity by increasing candidates and improving hiring timelines, removed unnecessary principal reporting requirements to free up time principals have to help teachers in the classroom, and dramatically increased the number of students getting college scholarships.
• Nearly 90 percent of former Residents, who typically originate outside public education, still work today in public education.

For more information about The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems and these programs, visit www.broadcenter.org.  

SOURCE The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems