SHAWN JOSEPH Candidate Dossier

Presented by: Jim Huge and Associates

Contents Candidate Summary......................................................................................... Section 1 Cover Letter ..................................................................................................... Section 2 Candidate Resume ........................................................................................... Section 3 Candidate Questionnaire ................................................................................. Section 4 Notes ............................................................................................................... Section 5

Candidate Summary

SHAWN JOSEPH, Ed.D. Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø

Excellent developer and implementer of strategic plans Strong community engagement around targeted outcomes (i.e., graduation rate) Constant learner Exemplary relator Recognized expert with success in selecting and developing talent, particularly principals

Current situation: Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning (2014-Present) Prince George’s County Public Schools, MD Past leadership positions: Superintendent of Schools (2012 – 2014) Seaford School District, Seaford, DE Director of School Performance (2009 – 2012) Principal, Middle School (2005 – 2009) Montgomery County Public Schools, MD Highest degree attained: Ed.D., Educational Administration and Policy Studies The George Washington University

Evidence of MNPS Leadership Profile COMMUNITY-BUILDING AND VISIONCASTING CAPACITY • Led community-wide strategic planning in two districts. ORGANIZATIONAL/CULTURE CHANGE EXPERTISE • Led Malcolm Baldridge implementation. INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO TALENT AND TURNAROUND • Led measurable student achievement gains – Kindergarten readiness, reading for African American students, algebra for White and African American and Title I students, increased ACT and AP/IB performance, and improved graduation rates. Increased AYP achievement. • Nationally recognized expert in developing principal talent. EXPERTISE WITH SIMILAR STUDENT POPULATIONS

•

Prince George’s County, Montgomery County

DISTRICT COMPARISON (most recent available data) District Prince George’s County, MD Seaford, DE Montgomery County, MD Enrollment 125,136 3,384 151,295 # Schools 209 7 207 % Charter Schools 3.8% 0.0% 0.5% % Econ. Disadvantaged 61.5% 58.9% 34.2% % Minority 95.5% 57.8% 68.0% % ELL 14.2% 11.0% 13.5% % SPED 11.5% 17.3% 11.7% Pupil-Teacher Ratio 15.03 14.46 14.96 Total Budget ($M) $2,138 $64 $2,765 Per-Pupil Expenditure $16,218 $16,904 $16,800

Cover Letter

Candidate Resume

Shawn Joseph, Ed.D.

Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. ~Martin Luther King Jr. EDUCATION: The George Washington University Washington, DC, 2002-2009 Ed.D., Educational Administration and Policy Studies. Dissertation: A Comprehensive Evaluation of a School District’s Grow Your Own Principal Preparation Program. Emphasis Area: Program Evaluation The Johns Hopkins University School of Continuing Studies and Business, Baltimore, MD, 1997-1999 M.S., Ed. Emphasis Area: Reading Education Lincoln University Lincoln University, PA, 1992-1996 B.S., English Education PROFESSIONAL HISTORY: Prince George’s County Public Schools, Upper Marlboro, MD (2014 to present) Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Led efforts to develop PGCPS’ 2016-2020 strategic plan which focuses on improving academic achievement, increasing family engagement, increasing efficiency, ensuring safe school environments, and retaining and training a high quality workforce Led efforts to establish district-wide targets focused in increasing SAT/ACT performance; PARCC performance, increasing graduation rates; increasing dual enrollment, AP performance, and IB performance; and increasing the number of technical licenses students receive to be prepared for the workforce through a collaboration with the University of Maryland College Park Center for Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation Led efforts to expand Pre-K and improve the quality of existing programs by collaborating with community organizations and government agencies within Prince George’s County resulting in a 4% increase in Kindergarten Readiness from the 2015 school year to the 2016 school year as measured by the Maryland Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Led efforts to prioritize literacy training for teams within PGCPS resulting in 87% of the 7,000 8th graders taking the PSAT 8/9 within the district during the 2015-2016 school

year meeting the College Board benchmark for College and Career Readiness in the Evidence Based Reading Section of the exam. Improved African American (AA) students’ reading performance for students in PGCPS from being 23 out of 24 school districts on the Maryland State Assessment to the following rankings on the Reading PARCC assessment through targeted K-12 Reading focus and critical thinking support: 3rd grade AA 12 out of 24, 4th grade AA 12 out of 24, 5th grade AA 12 out of 24, 6th grade AA 4 out of 24, 7th grade AA 6 out of 24, 8th grade AA 10 out of 24, and 10th grade AA 7 out of 24 Led academic efforts which resulted in White students and African American students’ Algebra and Algebra II performance at levels 4 and 5 on the PARCC Assessments exceeding the overall Maryland State average of students achieving levels 4 and 5 on the Algebra and Algebra II PARCC Assessments Supported efforts which resulted in 40.1 % of Title I students taking the Algebra PARCC assessment achieving a 4 or 5 compared to the Title I Maryland State average of 9.1% Improved ACT performance of students as measured by students achieving the College and Career Readiness Benchmark from 33.4% in 2014-2015 to 38.5% in 2014-2015 Co-led efforts to improve graduation rates increasing graduation by over 4% in two years from 74.12% to 78.8% Increased the number of AP/IB tests administered from 3,512 in 2013-2014 to 3,754 in 2014-2015 Monitored school level supports to achieve a 92% attendance rate during the 2014-2015 school year with 77% of high school students attending 90% of the time Created cross-functional teams to improve special education LRE designations by 2% for students age 6-21 and 14% for students aged 3-5 resulting in PGCPS being removed from Maryland State intensive support status from 2013-2014 to 2014-2015 Re-organized the Division of Teaching and Learning to target resources to increase literacy achievement within the district and closed a 12 million dollar budget shortfall within the Division Re-designed professional development delivery to focus on improved literacy achievement by establishing monthly “Leading Literacy” meetings comprised of school teams for 214 schools Led efforts to develop a comprehensive literacy plan focusing on improving reading, writing, and reasoning across all content areas K-12 modeled after the Brockton High School turnaround model in Massachusetts Established a Saturday School partnership with the George B. Thomas Sr. Learning Academy Inc. to increase academic achievement for 200 students in a high needs high school feeder pattern Responsible for a 200+ million dollar budget focused upon improving student achievement within Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) Seaford School District, Seaford, Delaware (2012-2014) Superintendent of Schools Developed a 5 year strategic plan in collaboration with the Board of Education and the Rodel Foundation focused on eliminating achievement gaps, expanding program options, increasing human capacity, and increasing family involvement Led efforts to improve achievement within the school district resulting in Seaford High School achieving Adequate Yearly Progress for the first time in its history as it increased

Reading and Math performance by 10% on the Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System Increased graduation rates by 2% Engaged 50 community organizations to designate Seaford as a “Promise Community” with America’s Promise to ensure that at least 90% of students graduate on time from high school by 2016 Established community school model in the lowest performing schools resulting in coordinated services to students and families for 1100 students and their families Responsible for an $80,000,000 budget which prioritized funding for raising rigorous instructional opportunities, building human capacity, and ensuring safe, modernized buildings Collaborated with Teach for America Delaware to target Corp members’ efforts at Seaford High School in high needs areas such as math, special education, and foreign languages and developed summer leadership opportunities for Corp members to increase student achievement Implemented a staff development teacher and reading specialist initiative in all schools prioritizing staffing to support quality instruction Implemented new reading and math curricula K-5 which resulted in academic increases in elementary schools Developed a principal and assistant principal training program for all administrators to build administrators’ instructional capacity and to support administrators in their quest to focus on instructional improvement Established language immersion programs at the elementary level and an MYP IB program at the middle school Supported Seaford High School to become an IB World School Fully implemented a high school New Tech Academy which was the first program in the state of Delaware resulting in students cultivating 21st century skills Expanded the Family Partnership Unit to include 6 parent coordinators and a full-time director Implemented the Malcolm Baldrige process for school improvement planning in all schools Increased communication and collaboration with state and county legislature, the chamber of commerce, faith-based organizations, non-profit organizations, and PTOs Reorganized central office to provide more direct supports to schools and principals Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD (2009-2012) Director of School Performance Co-led 34 schools with a community superintendent and provided input into strategic goals and continuous improvement efforts Led efforts that enabled 9 out of 10 elementary schools that did not make AYP during the 2009-2010 school year to achieve AYP during the 2010-2011 school year Monitored 12 enhanced school improvement processes to support schools that did not make adequately yearly progress during the 2009-2010 school year Monitored 14 enhanced school improvement processes to support schools that did not make adequately yearly progress during the 2010-2011 school year Served on a team established by the Montgomery County Executive to address poverty within Montgomery County in collaboration with faith-based organizations, non-profit organizations, and business leaders

Monitored SAT participation and performance, Maryland State Assessment performance, Terra Nova 2 performance, advanced math performance, unit assessment data for elementary and middle school students in reading and math, early childhood literacy rates, and suspension rates for all schools Trained 22 new assistant principals and 5 new principals Evaluated school improvement plans for 34 schools to focus on achieving strategic targets Supervised and observed principals in their evaluation year and monitored the professional growth of principals in non-evaluation years Led the Office of School Performance’s strategic planning team which led to districtwide changes to improve the school improvement process for all 202 schools during the 2010-2011 school year Led the office of school performance’s equity team which built the capacity of community superintendents and directors of school performance’s ability to evaluate the degree in which school leaders led for equity and supported school leaders Collaborated with multiple government agencies to provide mental health services, social services, and resources to families to support students’ achievement in a cluster of schools Served as an advisory board member to the Montgomery County Public Schools/George Washington University Bi-lingual Special Education partnership Collaborated with district-wide parent association leaders to support budget initiatives and to support school improvement efforts Partnered with the Montgomery County Collaboration Council to provide additional after school activities in middle schools within Montgomery County’s Down County Consortia of schools Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD (2005-2009) Principal, Roberto Clemente Middle School Increased the amount of students successfully completing Algebra by grade 8 from 49% in 2005 to 89% in 2008 Increased the amount of students successfully completing foreign language from 41% in 2005 to 62% in 2008 Decreased ineligibility from 25% to 9% Reduced suspensions in 2006 by 50%, by 62% in 2007, and by 58% in 2008 by implementing the PBIS program Participated in multiple study circles to engage parents and teaching staff in a dialogue and action program that addressed racial and ethnic barriers to student achievement and parent involvement Collaborated with PTSA leadership and the teacher’s union to jointly develop an application to participate in the middle school reform effort in Montgomery County which resulted in implementing innovative curricula, utilizing new technology, and refining teacher planning efforts Developed a vision focused on personal responsibility, respectful interactions, intelligence is effort based, diversity is celebrated, and ensuring a safe learning environment

Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD (2002-2005) Assistant Principal, Redland Middle School Increased the amount of students successfully completing Algebra from 64% in 2004 to 80% in 2005 Designed a truancy process to reduce truancy by 80% Developed a Saturday Academy to support enrolling 60 African American and Hispanic students in Honors English and Algebra in 8th grade Coached the Maryland State Black Saga African American History Competition championship team Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD (1996-2002) English Teacher/Reading Specialist/Team Leader, Roberto Clemente Middle School Led curriculum implementation efforts Tested students in need of reading support Coordinated grade level efforts to support student achievement Served on district level negotiating team for the Montgomery County Education Association Wrote English/Reading curriculum over the summer for the Reading office Led school literacy team to share literacy best practices across content areas PUBLICATIONS: Refereed journal articles Joseph, S. & Davis, M. (2016). Becoming a data champion in 6 steps: How a suburban Maryland district uses its data to motivate staff and improve instruction. School Administrator. Alexandria, VA: American Association of School Administrators. Joseph, S. (April, 2010). School district grow your own principal preparation programs: Effective elements and implications for graduate schools of education. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 2(1). Joseph, S. (2009). Planning grow your own principal preparation programs: Cultivating excellence in tough economic times. International Journal of Educational Planning. Refereed chapters in book Joseph, S. & Roach, V. (2014). Principal succession planning: How one school district successfully improves the quantity and quality of principal candidates. In Danzing, A. & Hollingworth, L. (Eds,), Research in learning and teaching in educational leadership. New York: Information Age Publishing Inc.

BOOK Joseph, S. (2012). The principal’s guide to the first 100 days of the school year: Creating instructional momentum. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. PRESENTATIONS Refereed presentation Joseph, S. (2010). How schools of education and school districts partner to create exemplary principals? Paper presented at the 2010 National Council of Professors of Educational Administration Conference, Washington, D.C., Aug 3, 2010. Invited presentations Joseph, S. (2014). Becoming a Data Champion. Orlando, FL: Performance Matters National Conference. Joseph, S. (2013). The First 100 Days of the School Board/Superintendent Relationship: Creating Community Momentum. Alexandria, VA: National School Board Association. Joseph, S. (2008). Leading for Equity. Towson, MD: Maryland Instructional Leadership Institute at Towson University. Joseph, S. (2008). Creating Adaptive Leaders. Washington, DC: National Staff Development Association. Joseph, S. (2008). Ensuring equity and excellence in schools. Stony Brook, NY: National Conference of People of Colour. PRINCIPAL AND ASPIRING LEADER’S TRAINING 1. Supported Mr. Kevin Hobbs, former Associate Superintendent for Organizational Development in Houston Independent School District, to conceptualize and develop a district-run principal training program during the 2009-2010 school year. Specific duties included supporting the conceptual design of the program, training executive staff on the implementation of the program, and providing technical support to program staff. 2. Supported Dr. Dallas Dance, Superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, to conceptualize and develop a district-run principal training program. Specific duties included training 50 aspiring leaders to assume principal positions within Baltimore County Public Schools. 3. Supported Dr. Sharon Contreras and The Syracuse City School District to ensure a strong assistant principal and principal pipeline by working with the Office of Human Resources to train 150 aspiring principals and assistant principals resulting in 80% of candidates filling open assistant principal and principal vacancies during from 2013-2016. The training was conducted during a weekend cohort format.

UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE: EDUC 276: School Community (George Washington University Master’s program) EDUC 387: Internship Supervisor (George Washington University Master’s program) ADM 505: Educational Leadership for the 21st Century (McDaniel College Master’s program) ADM 504: The Supervision and Evaluation of School Personnel (McDaniel College Master’s program) EDU 550: Introduction to Research Methodology (McDaniel College Master’s program)

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP AND SERVICE Organized and co-led the transition team for Dr. Kevin M. Maxwell, CEO of Prince George’s County Public Schools, during the 2013-2014 school year. Member of the transition team for Dr. Dallas Dance, Superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, during the 2012-2013 school year Member of the American Association of School Administrators (2012-Present) Served as a board member for the Maryland Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development from 2007 to 2009. Achievement Week Chairperson for Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., Mu Nu Graduate Chapter, from 2012-Present

AWARDS Ambassador Andrew Young Certificate of Distinguished Service (2016) American Educational Research Association’s Outstanding Dissertation Award in the area of Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership (LTEL) SIG (2010) Maryland Association of Secondary School Principal’s Met/Life Middle Level Principal of the Year (2009)

GALLUP SURVEY TOP FIVE STRENGTHS 1. Maximizer 2. Learner 3. Intellection 4. Harmonizer 5. Relator

Candidate Questionnaire

The Board of Education unanimously approved a leadership profile that outlined four core competencies intended to drive the recruitment/search process: (a) community-building and vision-casting capacity, (b) organizational/culture change expertise, (c) innovative approaches to talent and turnaround, and (d) expertise with similar student populations. This four-part test of candidate effectiveness came from the work of a 17-member community Search Advisory Committee and included outreach to educators, parents, and others in the development of this profile. Please describe your capabilities and track record in each of the four core areas. 
 Community-Building and Vision Casting Capacity Both in the Seaford (Delaware) School District and in Prince George’s County (Maryland) Public Schools, I led efforts to develop 5-year strategic plans. To develop effective plans, extensive community mapping was conducted, and I gathered substantive input from community and school stakeholders. Once a draft plan was developed, we reengaged the community for feedback to ensure that there was collective agreement on the plan, and adjustments were made based upon feedback that was received. It was also essential to ensure that the political structure that funded schools was actively engaged and supported the vision and direction of the school district. To sustain implementing the vision in the Seaford School District, I established a committee comprised of 50 businesses and community organizations to provide feedback and support to the “Seaford Promise.” I also served on the boards of the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, and the Seaford Economic Committee led by the Mayor, the County Council Chairperson, and President of the City Council. Frequent updates were provided and strong communication protocols were established to ensure that the vision of the school district was understood and executed. In Seaford, I built strong relationships with local pastors and established communication protocols with them to ensure that they were able to communicate school events and activities with their congregations. I also collaborated to strengthen their after school programs. As superintendent of the Seaford School District, I sent a weekly email to all staff and Board of Education members to focus everyone on our vision, inspire staff, and reinforce our vision. In Prince George’s County, I established a monthly bulletin that highlights positive events and accomplishments of all departments that I supervise. This bulletin is sent to board members, the county executive, principals, principal supervisors, and central office staff members. Working with the CEO of Prince George’s County, we established a partnership with the Pan-Hellenic Council and Pastors to increase communication and to strengthen collaboration with the community.

Organizational Culture/Change Expertise In Montgomery County Maryland, I actively led trainings for the Office of School Performance with implementing the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria of Excellence. The Malcolm Baldrige Criteria of Excellence are some of the most rigorous process management criteria in the industries of health care, education, and business. My seven years of experience implementing and leading Malcolm Baldrige Criteria of Excellence have provided me with expertise in organizational culture/change expertise. In 2002, I read a book that changed my leadership paradigm called Leadership and SelfDeception. Reading this book caused me to reflect upon the responsibilities associated with leadership, power, accountability, and moral development. The book describes the epidemiology of self-deception, but more important, it discusses how to cure organizations from this illness. The medicine involves the process of working on improving yourself. In Prince George’s County, over 1,000 employees have been trained on the Arbinger approach. Central office leaders, including the CEO’s cabinet, are learning how their actions contribute to helping us achieve our ambitious goals. The district theory of action, which I helped create, states, “If we focus on culture, data, and performance, with a lens on literacy, we will have outstanding academic achievement.” Leading with an emphasis on assessing culture has been a strength for years. Lastly, as a superintendent of schools, I successfully transitioned into the job implementing an aggressive 100 day plan. In addition, I served on the transition team of Dr. Dallas Dance, Superintendent of Baltimore County, and I organized, developed, and supported the transition team of Dr. Kevin M. Maxwell, CEO of Prince George’s County Public Schools. As a result, I have extensive experience managing change. My book, The Principal’s Guide to the First 100 Days of the School Year, also deals with managing change. Innovative Approaches to Talent and Turnaround My dissertation, which won the American Educational Research Associations Outstanding Dissertation Award in the Area of Educational Leadership, focuses on developing principal pipelines. The dissertation looks at the context, process, inputs, and products of a “grow your own” principal training program. My doctoral work provided

me with invaluable insight on building principal talent within a school district. In Prince George’s County, we partner with Gallup to utilize an Insight survey to effectively match teachers with school needs. In the Seaford School District, we collaborated with Research for Better Teaching to systematically train teachers and build their capacity. All new teachers were required to complete extensive first-year training to support their growth. District level, all day monthly training was provided to all staff focused on district priorities and individual school needs. As it relates to school turnaround, high support and high accountability structures were put in place and a monthly monitoring calendar was given to principals to help them focus on strategic priorities. This process took the guessing out of district expectations for school performance. Expertise with Similar School Populations Montgomery County Public Schools has approximately 152,000 students. The racial make-up of the district is approximately 60% minority and 40% Caucasian. Approximately 30% of students receive free or reduced lunch. Seaford School District has approximately 3,500 students. The racial composition of the district is approximately 44.1% Caucasian, 36.5% African American, 13.6% Hispanic, 1.3% Asian, and .5% American Indian. Approximately 70% of students received free or reduced lunch. Prince George’s County Public Schools has approximately 129,000 students. The racial composition of the district is approximately 61.4% African American, 29.6% Hispanic, 4.2% Caucasian, 2.8% Asian, and .4% American Indian. Approximately 64% of students receive free or reduced lunch. There are over 20,000 English Language Learners within the district (15.8% of students) and 14,350 Special Education students (11.1%).

.

While we each may have different perspectives on how to best achieve strong student outcomes, we are united in a desire to hire a Director of Schools deeply committed and highly capable of helping the district post significant gains in the academic performance and success of our students. With this in mind, provide at least two concrete examples, with supporting data, of efforts you were involved in that resulted in improved student achievement. Please cite specific data to indicate student growth, including the source of the data, the period of time it covers, the organizational unit that it represents (district-wide, school-wide, grade level, etc.), and explain it in terms that a lay person will understand. Please also describe your specific role in the development, execution or oversight of this effort. Finally, please provide the name and contact information of a person who can verify the information. We will contact this person before April 30. 
 I have been extremely fortunate in my career to have had a significant impact on student achievement at the teacher level, principal level, director level, deputy superintendent level, and superintendent level. For the purpose of this question, I will identify data points related to the two large school districts that I have served: Montgomery County Public Schools, MD and Prince George’s County Public Schools, MD. I was promoted to be a Director of School Performance by Dr. Jerry D. Weast in 2009 as a result dramatically increasing results for all student groups as the principal of Roberto Clemente Middle School. As a Director of School Performance, it was my job to ensure that 34 schools that I worked with executed their school improvement priorities. School improvement priorities were clearly communicated by the school district to all schools. I supported the 34 highest needs schools in Montgomery County. During the 2009-2010 school year, there were a total of 12 elementary and middle schools that had not made adequately yearly progress (AYP) under the old MD State accountability system. My primary responsibility was to support the principal in improving academic performance of those schools. By the 2010 school year, 9 out of 10 elementary schools that did not make AYP during the 2009-2010 school year made AYP during the 2010-2011 school year. In addition, the other 24 schools progressed appropriately. My role in the development, execution, and oversight of this effort included collaborating with school teams to devise research-based school improvement plans. I was directly responsible for reviewing all school improvement plans and providing all school specific feedback on their activities. I visited all underperforming schools weekly, and I participated in school improvement meetings and school improvement planning meetings with the principals and their school improvement teams. I observed principals leading school improvement meetings, and I provided them direct feedback on how to support students’ learning. I conducted a weekly walkthrough of classroom instruction with principals. Each underperforming school was required to participate in a monthly school improvement meeting. I co-planned the meeting with the principals, and I coordinated

supports from academic offices and/or the Title I office to schools. As principals identified barriers to academic performance, it was my role to support them in finding solutions via technical support, allocating additional resources, or collaborating with school personnel across schools and offices. At monthly school improvement meetings, I ensured that we looked at school data that told us whether the school was moving toward better performance for students by student groups. If school-wide data did not suggest that improvements were being made, I worked with the principal and the school team to revise plans, and I worked to secure appropriate resources for the school. This was a high accountability, high support model of supervision. I conducted formal observations of principals and I provided consistent written feedback on their performance. My efforts to keep principals focused on executing school improvement plans, instead of plans being written without any accountability, increased achievement and improved the direct performance of the schools that I supervised. Dr. Jerry D. Weast, former Superintendent of Schools for Montgomery County Maryland, can verify the impact I had in supporting increasing student achievement in the 34 lowest performing schools in Montgomery County. In Prince George’s County, as the Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, I was charged with leading efforts to develop a strategic plan for the school district, and I have been responsible for envisioning and implementing a Pre-K improvement plan and a rigorous literacy plan to increase academic achievement for all students. Within our strategic plan, we identified clear standardized assessment measures that would predict whether students are moving toward being college and career ready. The assessments include the following: Elementary:  MD Kindergarten Readiness Assessment  PARCC Exams in Reading and Math Middle School:  PSAT 8/9 created by College Board  PARCC Exams in Reading and Math High School:  PSAT 10 created by College Board  PARCC Exams in Reading and Math  SAT/ACT Performance Last year, 34% of Kindergarten students entered PGCPS ready for Kindergarten as measured by their performance on the MD Kindergarten Readiness Assessment. This year, we saw a 4% increase in one year to 38% of students ready for Kindergarten. Our goal was to see a 5% increase in one year. As we reviewed our results, we recognized that we needed to make changes. I worked with my Early Learning Team to identify and implement a rigorous literacy curriculum

for Pre-K students. We ensured that Pre-K teachers were appropriately trained on the new curriculum. We established a community task force which included staff from county government agencies, non-profit agencies, university professors, PGCPS staff from the Early Childhood, Special Education, and English Language Learner offices, Board of Education Members, and owners of private day care centers to begin coordinating training opportunities and collaborating on identifying solutions to ensure more students had access to high quality Pre-K programs. Collaborating with non-school based private day care providers enabled us to ensure more students higher quality experiences, and we were able to train private providers on the rigors expected with the Common Core as it relates to Kindergarten expectations. I met with the Early Childhood office to review their plan of action and monitored quarterly benchmarks. I also ensured that appropriate resources were available for the team to execute the established priorities. I provided specific feedback and ensured that we collaborated and executed on our priorities. Dr. Kevin M. Maxwell, CEO of Prince George’s County Public Schools, can verify my work with the Early Childhood Team.

Why are you uniquely qualified to serve as Nashville’s next Director of Schools? What do you bring to the table others might not offer? Leadership is always about context. In the following paragraphs, I will share a snippet of my personal story, which illustrates what has shaped me as a leader. I will also describe what uniquely qualifies me as the next Director of Schools for Metro Nashville Public Schools. My journey into the life-changing world of public education began when I was a sophmore at Lincoln University. To make a long, emotional story succinct, I met an African American 11th grade student named Gary. Gary was from a high school in Philadelphia. He participated in Lincoln University’s Upward Bound program. I was hired to be a tutor. The first day of classes, I learned that Gary could not read. I will never forget that moment. Tears still form in my eyes, and I still get emotional discussing it. To say that I was angry would be an understatement. I was enraged. I thought to myself, “How can we call ourselves a great nation if we allow kids to go through our school systems without teaching them a basic skill like reading? Who will fight for Gary and students like him; they will be thrusted to the bottom of a ‘caste like’capitalistic system forced to be an outsider within their own native land as a result of not having the skills necessary to compete and ensure equality, equity, and enlightenment?” I entered my junior year switching my major from Biology to become an English teacher, and I have never regretted my decision. My mother, thinking she would have a medical doctor in the family, had a momentary reaction of sadness, but upon my earning of a doctorate in educational administration and policy studies and receiving the Maryland State Middle Level Principal of the Year Award, she realized that I simply followed the call to duty that was placed upon my heart. It is a lesson that I share with all children: Follow your passion, and you will be successful with whatever you pursue in life. What makes me uniquely qualified to be the Director of Schools in Metro Nashville Public Schools is the fact that I wake up thinking about Gary every day as I do my work and I walk around with a chip on my shoulder angry at an American schooling structure that has been allowed to not work for all children. I have the unique abilty to push without pushing staff over the edge. I can uniquely establish a culture of high expectations and high support. I believe that true reform does not cost more money. It requires a different way of thinking. Someone once told me that a picture is worth a thousand words. The following is a picture of me on the Montgomery County Public Schools strategic plan: 2010-2015 Our Call to Action: Pursuit of Excellence:

On behalf of the children, staff, and communities that I serve, I strive for personal excellence, and I strive to support excellence. In December of 2011, I published my first book, The Principal’s Guide to the First 100 Days of the School Year: Creating Instructional Momentum that has been read by thousands of educators. I have published in top, peer-reviewed journals of education on the topics of strategic planning and principal development. I have taught at one of the best graduate schools of education in America. I have supported school districts, including Houston Independent Public School district, Baltimore County Public Schools, and Syracuse City Public Schools, to name a few large urban school districts, to support building aspiring principal/principal capacity. As a result, I can support the development of a premier aspiring principal/principal development program in Metro Nashville Public Schools. In addition, I have served in high-level positions in two large, diverse, school districts. Lastly, and most important, I have served as a successful superintendent of schools in a high-poverty, diverse, rural school district, so I understand what it takes to be a successful Director of Schools. I would be honored to lead Metro Nashville Public Schools to the world-class status its children and community deserve.

Notes