IN THIS ISSUE:

Message from The Broad Residency's
Director of Recruitment and Selection: Chaka Booker

One of the things I enjoy about recruiting for The Broad Residency in Urban Education is the opportunity to travel and see America as the seasons change. I live in Los Angeles and we don't have seasons. We have clear days and gray days. Recruiting allows me to witness the red and purple autumns of Hanover and Charlottesville as well as the white blanket winters of Boston and Philadelphia. As I've traveled these past few months I've noticed another change — more people than ever want their work to have meaning.

Passionate people have always attended our campus visits and networking events. However, this year, attendance at many presentations doubled and people are more adamant than ever that they need to positively influence the world. A comment from a graduate student I met in Berkeley sums up what I often hear now, "If I spend most of my waking hours working, it better make an impact. That's why I'm in grad school — to find that career." A professional I met in Michigan represents the mood as well, "I've been in corporate America for nine years and I don't think I matter. I need to matter. I want to point to someone and say their life is better because of me."

Our fragile economy and historic election have highlighted the importance of purposeful work and created an increased desire to actively participate in shaping our country. When Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old investment bank, collapsed and took with it countless careers, people began to question the true worth of their work. In the same period, our country elected its first African-American president which sparked a renewed sense of possibility, transformation and commitment to service.

A testament to this has been the record number of resumes we have received for the 2009-2011 Broad Residency program. This is also partially due to our new broader degree requirement which now allows candidates with master's degrees from any discipline to apply. As a result, we already have over 500 more resumes than the total number we received last year. Our Feb. 2nd resume deadline is approaching and we anticipate this momentum to continue.

This is a unique time in our country and we must prepare our students for whatever the future holds. We are looking for people to join the growing movement of Broad Residents and alumni working to strengthen school systems across America to ensure that our communities and country can prosper.

Finding the next class of Broad Residents is the work our recruitment and selection team does. That is why I enjoy recruiting. Every year I travel and meet people who will change our country. And along the way... I get to see the country change.

Networking Events in January

Are you seeking a management career in the education industry? Or are you beginning to explore a career transition into the education sector? The Broad Residency, Net Impact and several education organizations are hosting a series of networking events in select cities across the country this January to connect business professionals with education organizations. Superintendents and senior leaders will provide keynote remarks about the district's reform initiatives. This is a great opportunity to mingle with representatives from several education organizations and learn about opportunities for professionals with your expertise to improve education.

Visit our website for details on events in the following cities:

Boston: January 22, 2009

RSVP to: boston-info@broadcenter.org

Chicago: January 21, 2009

Keynote Speaker: Hill Hammock, Chief Administrative Officer, Chicago Public Schools
RSVP to: chicago-info@broadcenter.org

Denver: January 26, 2009

Keynote Speaker: Michael Bennet, Superintendent, Denver Public Schools
RSVP to: denver-info@broadcenter.org

Houston: January 22, 2009

Keynote Speaker: Mike Feinberg, Co-Founder, KIPP Foundation and Superintendent, KIPP Houston
RSVP to: houston-info@broadcenter.org

Los Angeles: January 26, 2009

Keynote Speaker: Marshall Tuck, CEO, Partnership for Los Angeles Schools
RSVP to: la-info@broadcenter.org

New York City: January 21, 2009

Keynote Speaker: Chris Cerf, Deputy Chancellor, NYC Department of Education
RSVP to: nyc-info@broadcenter.org

San Francisco: January 22, 2009

Keynote Speaker: Don Shalvey, CEO, Aspire Public Schools
RSVP to: sf-info@broadcenter.org

Washington, DC January 23, 2009

Keynote Speaker: Michelle Rhee, Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools
RSVP to: dc-info@broadcenter.org

New Orleans Public Schools' Turnaround: Join a Dream Team of Executives, Including Broad Residents and Alumni, Leading the Charge

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005 and severely damaged what many observers believed was an under-performing school system. But in the storm's wake came significant resources and motivation to reform the system.

The opportunity to help New Orleans' children by building a new public education system from the ground up has attracted many top executives from across the country. These leaders have embraced the challenge to contribute to the formation of the new model for public education that is emerging.

Reformer Paul Vallas Leads the Recovery School District
While the former school district still serves 14 campuses, the state of Louisiana has taken responsibility for over 102 under-performing public schools in New Orleans and assigned them to the Recovery School District (RSD).

Paul Vallas, nationally-renowned education reform leader with experience transforming Chicago and Philadelphia schools, was tapped to serve as superintendent of the RSD in 2007. Among the long list of reforms, Vallas immediately began converting the school system to a decentralized "district of choice schools," which granted staffing, budgeting and other critical business control to executives at each school.

"We are embarking on the most radical public school reform in the country," Superintendent Vallas said. "We're creating an environment where drive, creativity and vision will result in extraordinary improvement in schools." Charter school operators were allowed to step in and help manage some of these underperforming schools. RSD campuses operate independently with oversight from state officials and already have seen academic gains in nearly every grade in every subject, but there is still much progress to be made.

Broad Resident Directs Operations for KIPP New Orleans Schools
The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) network of schools operates five charter schools in New Orleans, including two with the highest test scores in the RSD. KIPP officials are entrusted with the care and education of 1,000 students in five schools. Broad Resident J. DeLano Ford is the director of operations for KIPP New Orleans Schools and is applying his prior business experience as a change management consultant for major corporations to expand the number of quality schools of choice for families.

"I used to help companies improve the way they did business every day, and now I create aggressive goals and procedures to plan and operate a growing number of schools," Ford said.

But the stakes are much higher in the education industry, and building a school system from scratch is not for the faint-hearted.

"We're no longer dealing with widgets and process maps. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, and someone's future will be affected by what I do every day," Ford said.

As in any company, Ford works to make the schools' important business of education as effective, efficient and sustainable as possible. The North Carolina native earned degrees in business administration from Morehouse College and Cornell University. "I never thought I would need my statistics, finance, marketing and other business school textbooks and apply my business background as much as I do every day," Ford said.

Ford is among the individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit working with a sense of urgency to drive the reform of public schools.

"My office is in a school, and I work with amazing people who support me. It's exciting to be trusted and allowed to do the things that I think need to be done every day to push ahead in the direction we need to get to long-term," he said. "This work is mentally and emotionally challenging, but we already are seeing academic growth and celebrating each step. It's an opportunity to make a lasting impact."

Broad Residency Alumnus Returns to Hometown to Recruit and Train Principals
This impact is personal for Broad Residency alumnus Tyra Newell, the executive director of New Leaders for New Schools in New Orleans. The organization recruits, trains and supports principals to excel in New Orleans schools.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Newell left her position as the budget director for the Chicago Public Schools to help rebuild her hometown by improving the public school system.

"With the disaster came an amazing network to help make a difference in New Orleans schools and ultimately change children's lives," Newell said. "We're not the saviors. There are so many people working together to create a model of success for children. It's exciting to be a part of those taking on the challenge."

A graduate of Howard University and Stanford University, the challenge is one Newell never imagined her business career would lead her to undertake. She worked as a management consultant before turning to The Broad Residency to gain experience and explore opportunities in education.

"I was standing on a loading dock and stood there thinking, "There's got to be more to life, something more fulfilling than just helping meet the bottom line. There will always be people to do that,'" Newell recalled vividly.

"When your parents say, "Wow! What you're doing is incredible,' you know what you're doing is right."

Broad Superintendents and Residents Leading Bold
Teacher Performance Pay Efforts Across America

For more than a hundred years, educators in America have been paid essentially the same way — based on their number of years on the job, not the quality of their work in the classroom. Broad Academy and Residency participants and alumni are leading the way, however, in a seismic shakeup of the old foundations of teacher compensation.

In cities like Washington, D.C., Houston and Denver, Broad Center leaders and alumni are rattling the bureaucratic and political cages that have kept teacher pay trapped in the last century, leading closely watched efforts to tie compensation to performance in the classroom.

Performance Pay in Houston Independent School District
In Houston, Broad Superintendents Academy graduate Abelardo Saavedra, head of America's seventh largest school district for the past four years, worked with his reform-minded board to enact a teacher performance pay system that gives large cash bonuses to teachers who help students make the most academic progress. Over the past two years, Houston Independent School District teachers and staff earned nearly $40 million in performance bonuses, and school district officials believe the new pay system is one factor in strong academic gains in classrooms around the city.

"Performance pay is one of the most important reforms in education in our lifetime," said Dr. Saavedra, a 2002 graduate of The Broad Superintendents Academy. "For more than a hundred years in this country we basically paid teachers the same amount of money, depending on how much seniority they had, not based on actual classroom performance. Now, everything has changed. Teachers can earn huge bonuses based on how much children grow academically from one year to the next."

Houston is leading the nation in performance pay for teachers, just as it has led the nation in so many important education reforms.

"It's taken a lot of hard work, plenty of mistakes, and several do-overs, but we have a system now that rewards with big money those teachers who are getting the most academic growth out of children. That's real reform," Saavedra said.

New Compensation Plan for Teachers in KIPP Houston's Charter Schools
Houston's teacher performance pay revolution isn't just the province of Saavedra and his veteran reform board. At the nationally renowned KIPP charter schools, officials are preparing to roll out next fall a new teacher compensation system based on performance. Bradley Welter, a current Broad Resident, was handed the challenge of his young career five months ago when he arrived at KIPP Houston. He was assigned to work on the new teacher performance pay program.

"This is an amazing opportunity for me," said Welter, who is in The Broad Residency class of 2008-2010 after having been an engineer for a prominent petroleum engineering and construction contractor. "A few months ago, I was designing refineries, and now I'm helping to design a new way to compensate teachers."

Performance Management Initiative in Denver Public Schools
In Denver, school district officials have been a mile high in the teacher compensation reform business for five years with their ProComp system, which rewards teachers financially for their professional accomplishments while also linking pay to student achievement. The Denver program was designed jointly by teachers and administrators and approved by Denver voters.

Two Broad Residents are in top leadership positions at the Denver Public Schools. Shayne Spalten, who is in The Broad Residency class of 2008-2010, is chief human resources officer in Denver, and Connie Casson, class of 2005-07, is deputy strategic officer.

"It has had an incredibly powerful impact on the culture of Denver Public Schools," Casson said of performance pay. She is heavily involved in the school district's new performance management effort, which will include a new performance pay plan for operations staff. "External incentives are part of the culture. It's one of the things that really attracts people to work in Denver Public Schools."

Casson, like all Broad Residents, came to education with experience in other sectors. She has an M.B.A. from the University of Texas. "It's a good time to be in Denver," Casson said. "There's really great leadership here who value the business perspective. This is a great place for someone with a non-traditional background to shine."

Innovative Teacher Contract Proposed in Washington, DC
There's nothing traditional in the way Michelle Rhee is shining as chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools. Rhee, a Broad Center board member, has commanded international attention for her bold effort to shake up the status quo in Washington with a performance pay system for teachers. Her compensation and other reform efforts recently landed her on the cover of Time magazine and, she admits, in the crosshairs of some who don't want public schools to change.

Rhee has proposed a teacher contract that would give big pay raises to teachers who agree to be judged based on how well their students perform in the classroom. She has run into substantial opposition from the teachers union, which didn't surprise her.

"Absolutely," she said when asked if she expected the opposition from the union. The chancellor said she has been in negotiations on her proposals for 15 months, and that she's put in her last, best offer. She offers other leaders advice when taking on an issue as controversial as teacher performance pay.

"You can't get caught up in the compromise of all of this... We can't continue to turn a blind eye to what is happening to kids every day in the name of harmony amongst adults. That is essentially what it boils down to. To make the hard changes, you're going to have some unhappy people."

Rhee said she couldn't have undertaken any of her reforms without the leadership of Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty behind her, and she advised current and future Broad Academy Fellows and Residents to work closely with political leadership.

"You cannot underestimate how important really high quality political leadership in the city" is for educational reform, Rhee said. "Superintendents and different people in the district can have all the right ideas but unless you have somebody with the political capital (supporting the effort), it's all for naught."

Recruitment Begins for the 2010 Broad Superintendents Academy

The Broad Superintendents Academy, an executive training program that identifies and prepares prominent leaders — executives with experience successfully leading large organizations and a passion for public service — then places them in urban school districts to dramatically improve the quality of education for America's students, is now recruiting for the 2010 Academy. If you are interested in learning more, please visit www.broadacademy.org. If you are interested in applying, please submit your resume as an MS Word document to academy@broadcenter.org . If you know of a talented leader who might be interested in the Academy, please provide us with their information by completing this form on our website.