91心頭istrators who want to make changes, such as creating healthy eating initiatives or discipline reform, can apply for a fellowship designed to give them more effective resources to help eliminate racial and economic disparities across their districts.

The Southern Education Foundation will launch the Racial Equity Leadership Network this year to help boost the skills of seven to 10 cabinet-level leaders, including superintendents, assistant superintendents and chief academic officers. Participants can be from any size district in 13 southern states.

The foundation wants “ambitious leaders who are interested in courting real change” says Autumn Blanchard, director of marketing and communications. The foundation plans to launch networks every 18 months to train new groups of equity-minded leaders.

Some statistics that make this relevant: African-American students are 15 percent less likely to graduate high school than are their white peers, according to the U.S. Department of Education. And economically disadvantaged students are 8 percent less likely to earn a diploma.

Brainstorm, identify team

In a series of two-day events, which are free, participants will gather to identify common equity issues, such as implementing a districtwide health plan or how to audit finances to ensure disadvantaged students are receiving adequate resources.

They will then brainstorm with foundation staff and outside experts, and develop solutions. Leaders also must identify a five- to seven-person support team���including teachers, administrators and community leaders���who will commit to help the district execute its equity initiative.

The foundation also plans to send specialists into districts to provide assistance and to ensure follow-through.

For instance, the foundation could help administrators publicize a healthy eating initiative to reduce the number of students who show up to school hungry and unable to focus.

The program should fill a gap in existing leadership development programs. “There are plenty of administrative boot camps, but our focus on race and equity is unique” Blanchard says.

“And we’ve seen over and over again, when tackling tough equity issues it’s not a question of will for district leaders, it’s a matter of capacity, support, and the time and space to strategize.”

Top-down leader training

These types of networks, which can be scaled and replicated by other organizations, create natural affinity groups for leaders facing similar problems in other districts, says Morton Sherman, associate executive director of leadership and awards at AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

But leadership networks alone won’t solve the most intractable equity problems. Eradicating educational disparities will require top-down district-leader training, combined with bottom-up initiatives such as rigorous teacher training, community engagement initiatives and government-led anti-poverty policies, Sherman says.

“Districts are facing challenges like inner-city poverty, food deserts, tough environmental and social conditions” he says. “These are deep-rooted issues. Obviously schools can’t do it alone.”

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Public support for the Common Core standards is plummeting���but that doesn’t mean much to K12.

Half of the general population approves of the standards���that’s down from 83 percent just three years ago. Support among teachers has fallen to only 44 percent, according to the latest Education Next survey.

���Common Core is here to stay,��� says David Griffith, director of public policy for ASCD. He chalks up the drop in public opinion to a combination of backlash against standardized testing, and continual confusion about what exactly Common Core is.

While Common Core is often associated with federal control over education, it was actually devised at the state level. And while it was incentivized by the Obama administration through grants and waivers, such incentives have since expired.

A few states, including Indiana, South Carolina and Louisiana, first adopted and later repealed the Common Core, but those states now have new learning standards that closely resemble Common Core.

In Louisiana, for example, the legislature moved to overhaul Common Core last summer, but the new state-generated curriculum retained about 80 percent of the Common Core standards.

���What is the real alternative?��� says Noelle M. Ellerson, associate executive director of policy & advocacy at the School Superintendent Association. ���The Common Core has been increasingly politicized, but the reality is it was locally developed, and I haven’t met anyone who’s had a real alternative proposal.���

Standards in ESSA

Over the next year, districts will begin implementing ESSA. The law does require some standards at the state level that align with college and career readiness���but they don’t have to be Common Core.

���If states want to repeal Common Core they are going to need rigorous standards at the ready to replace it,��� Ellerson says. ���I can’t imagine many states are going to want to repeal their Common Core and devise new standards while trying to implement ESSA.���

Then there’s testing. One of the main drivers of dissatisfaction with Common Core, Ellerson and Griffith agree, is that it’s associated with over-testing students.

In New York, for example, nearly one in five students are opting out of standardized tests. But while two standardized tests measure students’ knowledge of the Common Core���PARCC and Smarter Balanced���most of the testing burden is driven by local and state tests.

���The federal government requires only 17 tests between kindergarten and grade 12,��� Ellerson says. ���So most of this testing that’s upsetting people has nothing to do with the Common Core.���

And as ESSA is implemented, measuring accountability will be increasingly decoupled from testing. The law empowers states to devise other ways to measure performance, which could include new metrics such as classroom performance or surveying how excited students are to be at school.

���There’s lots of flexibility in ESSA,��� Griffith says. ���And that may serve as a release valve to relieve some of this pent up anxiety over testing and Common Core.���

Avi Asher-Schapiro is a freelance writer.

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In early June, lawmakers approved a $617 million bailout for Detroit Public Schools to restructure nearly $4 billion in crippling debt. The plan will divide the schools into an “old” district���a legal entity which will pay down debt over time���and a new debt-free district known as the Detroit Public Schools Community District, which will be given a $150 million startup loan from the state.

The new district will be responsible for 97 schools, serving nearly 47,000 students. That’s down from 162,000 students, as many have moved to charter schools over the past 16 years.

Former bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes, the district’s emergency manager, warned last April that the school system would run out of money by the summer, and has been pushing the restructuring plan in the state legislature.

The teachers union, meanwhile, staged a sickout last May, temporarily closing 94 schools to pressure the state legislature into funding salaries through the summer period.

The division of the district sets in motion the Nov. 8 election of a new school board, returning a degree of local control to a district that’s been run by emergency managers for the past seven years. The current board has been rendered mostly defunct by Rhodes.

Some parents are breathing a sigh of relief because they believe an emergency manager shouldn’t run a district alone. “Even if you’re qualified from a business perspective to tackle budget problems, running a school district shouldn’t be just about cutting costs” says Ruthann Jaquette, president of the Michigan PTA.

Still, while the new board will direct day-to-day operations, the Community District’s financial decisions will be overseen by a nine-member Financial Review Commission, appointed by the governor.

Creating a controversy

And some cost-saving measures are already generating controversy. For instance, the commission refused to fund PD travel for teachers. And it created a provision that will allow uncertified teachers into Detroit classrooms.

Uncertified teachers would have to be approved by local school leaders. Proponents argue this will allow experts in areas such as engineering and music to work in schools when local principals deem it appropriate. Opponents say allowing uncertified teachers into classrooms turns Detroit students into second-class citizens.

“No other school district would allow that” says state Rep. Brian Banks, a vocal critic of the plan. “I’m concerned quality teachers could leave the district, and there still will not be adequate resources for teachers to do their jobs.”

On top of that, Banks and other critics worry that the new start-up loan from the state will continue to saddle the district with debt���even if it’s at a lower interest rate. Banks points out that much of the worrisome debt was accumulated during the period of emergency manager control. “How do you provide a loan for debt that you ran up?” Banks says.

Meanwhile, more than 70 candidates have signed up to run in the November election for the new board.

Rhodes says he is eager to return some district control to elected representatives. “[The] responsibility to educate students in the new Detroit Public Schools Community District falls upon the residents of the city of Detroit” he wrote in a public statement in early July. “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”

Avi Asher-Schapiro is a freelance writer.

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Last fall, Edwards, the librarian at Fogelsville Elementary School in Parkland School District in Pennsylvania, opened a modest self-publishing center in the library outfitted with an iMac, a printer and a machine to bind books.

She noticed how excited her students were to create their own publishing projects, and decided to expand the publishing center into a “makerspace” a designated area for students to learn technology skills and tinker with electronics.

That winter, the district sent Edwards to a code.org workshop, where she learned how to introduce students to the basics of computer coding.

By the end of the year, the library was outfitted with a 3D printer, virtual reality goggles and robotics equipment. “It’s not a typical library” she says. “I want noise���that means kids are collaborating.”

Follow librarians’ lead

Edwards is the kind of librarian envisioned by the Future Ready Librarians initiative, a partnership launched on June 29 by the Alliance for Excellent Education and the U.S. Department of Education.

The initiative aims to share best practices, provide assessment tools, and encourage librarians from different districts to network and collaborate.

“The goal is to empower librarians to help expand the notion of literacy, from books to technology and to STEM competency” says Tom Murray, digital learning director for the alliance.

Through the initiative, libraries nationwide are being transformed, as librarians take the lead in creating makerspaces in their districts.

School libraries are a unique place where CIOs, administrators and librarians have a “shared strategic interest” to promote technological education goals, says Mark Ray, CIO of Vancouver Public Schools in Washington. “As schools go 1-to-1, the need for students to use the library as merely a source of information goes away” he says. It’s an opportunity to reinvent a “more relevant” library.

Ray sees the Vancouver district’s 35 libraries and full-time librarians as key partners in spreading technological literacy and encouraging creativity.

Over the next year, the district will transform up to six of those libraries into spaces where students will use 3D printers, participate in coding workshops, and take apart keyboards to see how they work.

The makerspace at Fogelsville, meanwhile, has been flourishing. Hundreds of students and their parents flock to after-school coding workshops, its robotics team took seventh place at a national competition, and the district is eager to replicate its success. Parkland plans to roll out similar initiatives across the eight other elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school this fall.

District leaders and CIOs should follow librarians’ lead when it comes to creating successful makerspaces, adds Tracy Smith, Parkland’s assistant superintendent for operations.

“I see myself as an offensive tackle” says Smith, also head of the technology integration program. “My goal is to clear the way for my librarians. Do they need equipment, funding, professional development time? As a district leader I can help make that happen and help them succeed.”

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“The overall trend is that more and more administrators must become professional problem solvers,” says David Miceli, superintendent of New Providence School District in New Jersey. “We are going to be asked to do more, often with less, and that requires deft leadership.”

In New Jersey, for example, Miceli is stepping into the role of fundraiser, working closely with the district’s nonprofit New Providence Ed Foundation to apply for grants to supplement the district’s budget.

He predicts that in 2015, district leaders around the nation must do the same, lending their leadership to fundraising efforts as budgets fluctuate and districts roll out new assessment tests.

“Districts will be relying more on public fundraising, and we aren’t talking about extra money for field trips,” says Miceli. At New Providence, the money raised will buy tablets required for students to take the newly implemented PARCC assessment tests.

Principal autonomy

Experts also anticipate a shift in administrative hierarchies. The relationship between principals and superintendents will continue to evolve heading into 2015, says Ellen Goldring, the Patricia and Rodes Hart professor and chair of education policy at Vanderbilt University.

Goldring predicts that principals will seek out more autonomy to deploy resources, hire staff and make curriculum decisions.

“In the past, the relationship between superintendents and principals has been formula-driven, meaning it’s not really open to negotiation or change,” says Goldring. “Looking toward 2015, I expect this one-size-fits all model to be rethought.”

Social media grows

Another trend is that district leaders are now embracing social media to communicate directly with parents, students and the community.

Standards and assessments top list of leaders’ 2015 priorities

Improving student outcomes and implementing new learning standards and assessments will be among the highest priorities for school superintendents this year, according to a 91心頭 survey of K12 leaders.

Some 80 percent of respondents said improving student outcomes was a top priority, while more than half of the respondents said improving their faculty’s instructional practice and implementing new learning standards and assessments were major goals.

Controlling health care costs was not as important, with only 22 percent of respondents saying it was a primary concern.

And two-thirds of respondents, 66 percent, said community support of their schools has been strong and will continue to be robust this year.

Another 42 percent said support for public education in the country is stronger than the media portrays it to be. However, 43 percent believe that support is declining now.

The 91心頭 administration and management outlook survey was part of a broader set of trend surveys deployed to readers in late 2014. A total of 537 district leaders participated in the surveys.

“We’ve already seen many leaders take to Twitter and Facebook, and we’re likely to see that grow,” says Becca Bracy Knight, executive director of the Broad Center, a nonprofit that specializes in school system management. “Students are even tweeting directly with their superintendents. It’s a great avenue for leaders to be in touch,” she says.

Talent management

Bracy Knight also predicts a shift in how administrators strategize staffing decisions, as nearly 85 percent of budgets is spent on staff. “The trend looking ahead is that administrators will need to get as much as they can out of human capital,” she says.

That means pivoting away from a traditional HR model that was generally viewed as more of a low-level priority, and toward a “talent-management,” model where the recruitment, retention and training of staff becomes a top district priority. Skilled HR managers will be in high demand this year, says BracyKnight, and district leaders will work closer with HR staff in long-term planning and resource deployment.

Goldring agrees, adding, “Talent management, which hasn’t yet been in high demand in the educational space, will become a more sought-after asset.”

Reduce bullying

As politicians make anti-bullying a public policy priority, district leaders are increasingly being called upon to be more involved in individual discipline decisions. In New Jersey, starting this year, Superintendent Miceli is required by law to personally investigate bullying accusations in the four schools in his district. “Bottom line��this will take a lot of time for district leaders in the coming year,” he says.

Another upcoming trend in discipline is the decline of zero-tolerance and other punitive policies, says Bracy Knight. “In Broward County in Florida, for example, we’ve seen district leaders move away from the juvenile justice system and instead bring on more counseling resources,” she says.

Charters, schools collaborate

Experts also predict an easing of tensions between charters and traditional public schools, as administrators from both realms are called upon to work together. A model for this is the SKY Partnership��a Gates Foundation-funded collaboration between Spring Branch ISD, KIPP Houston Public Schools and YES Prep Public Schools in Texas, Bracy Knight says. The three systems allow students to take classes at multiple campuses.

A similar collaboration is underway at Achievement First’s Residency Program for School Leadership in Connecticut, where leaders from charter and traditional schools share strategies to close achievement gaps. It follows a medical school rotation model and includes workshops and individualized coaching.

Juggling demands

Effective administration will continue to be a juggling act. “Morale in the education space is not the highest right now, and administrators are called upon to generate enthusiasm, improve student outcomes and cope with limited resources at the same time,” Miceli says.

Bracy Knight predicts successful leaders will excel. “Striking the balance between using what you have well and still advocating for your district,” she says, “that’s what really will distinguish managers who are change agents.”

Avi Asher-Schapiro is a freelance writer in California.

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