BOSTON – Boston Public Schools (BPS) High School Academic Superintendent Irvin Scott has been selected to participate in the 2010 Broad Superintendents Academy.
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. Mr. Scott was among 14 individuals from across the country selected for the 2010 cohort.
“This is an incredible opportunity for Mr. Scott and we congratulate him on his acceptance to this highly competitive program,” said Superintendent Carol R. Johnson. “Mr. Scott’s leadership over the past few years has been critical to the district’s efforts to increase rigor and support at the high school level, including expanding credit recovery programs, increasing Advanced Placement (AP) opportunities, offering online SAT preparation programs, and strengthening work with partner organizations to help ensure that all students gradate Boston Public Schools prepared for success in college and beyond.”
Mr. Scott currently oversees nearly 30 high schools and alternative schools in Boston Public Schools. He also co-chairs Harvard University’s Urban School Leaders’ Summer Institute. Earlier in his career, as a high school principal in Lancaster, Penn., Mr. Scott led a team of teachers and administrators to reform a 3,200 student high school into eight small learning communities and to develop a core curriculum for all students.
“We are delighted that these talented men and women will join more than 100 other leaders across the country who are working tirelessly to create new, effective urban public school systems that dramatically improve results for millions of students,” said Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which funds The Broad Center.
Broad Superintendents Academy graduates have filled 68 superintendent positions and 88 senior school district executive positions nationwide. Last year, 43 percent of all large urban American school districts that conducted external searches for new superintendents filled their positions with graduates of the academy.
Following a rigorous review and selection process, only two percent of this year’s applicants were accepted into the program.
Participants in The Broad Superintendents Academy keep their current jobs and attend extended-weekend training sessions covering CEO-level skills in education, finance, management, operations and organizational systems. This year’s sessions will be held in Aldine, Texas, Denver, Garden Grove, Calif., Long Beach, Calif., New York City, 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 2010 class is the ninth to be trained by The Broad Superintendents Academy. Nearly 73 percent of the graduates of the first six classes have been hired around the country as superintendents or as school district executives or have been promoted into those positions. Seventy percent of them are still working in the same, similar, or higher positions.
The Broad Superintendents Academy has trained more working superintendents in large urban school districts than any other national training program. Graduates of the program currently work as superintendents in 38 cities across 25 states. Broad Superintendents Academy graduates who have served as superintendents for three or more testing cycles are outperforming comparison groups on state reading and math exams, achievement gap closures and graduation rates.
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.