CEO Update: May 2007
Following is a letter that Chief Executive Officer Terry Stecz recently sent to the Edison Schools family regarding his experiences thus far as a Broad Fellow.
Click here to learn more about the Broad Superintendents Academy, an elite national school management program.
SETTING THE PACE:
Edison Schools at the Broad Academy
May 22, 2007
Dear Edison Schools Colleagues,
As I reach the mid-point in my ongoing exploration and information-gathering as a Broad Fellow, I thought I’d share with you some preliminary reflections and observations about the experience.
The Broad Superintendents Academy has been a challenging, but joyfully intensive and rewarding experience. Just in the last few months, I have met prominent national education leaders like Dr. Rudolph F. “Rudy” Crew, Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Ramon C. Cortines, deputy mayor for education, youth, and families in the city of Los Angeles; Dr. Carl A. Cohn, Superintendent of San Diego Unified School District and Dr. Abelardo “Abe” Saavedra, Superintendent of Houston Independent School District.
In the course of our discussions, they shared with me the challenges all of us face in common. As education leaders, we express a common urgency--a compelling desire to fundamentally improve the way we do things; that we must choose to innovate, else we will fail our children; that education in America must, as a system, get significantly better; and that we must do all of these things with greater efficiency and effectiveness.
To date, we have reviewed and studied several major areas including curriculum and instruction, and, the history of education reform spanning the period from the turn of the century until the present. Surprisingly, we hear that relatively little has changed over the last 100 or so years.
We learn that fads and trends in education come and go. What invariably rises to the top, throughout history, are certain basic fundamentals, which have long been chiseled into our own organizational DNA--that to produce superior learning outcomes we must ensure sustainable quality in leadership and instruction.
We learn that we should not lose focus by investing in the latest bells and whistles. What is more important is that we continue to put total faith and trust in the time-honored pillars of our craft and vocation--great principals, outstanding teachers, rigorous standards-based curriculum, data-driven decision-making and high performing, value-based, school cultures.
In the weeks and months that have passed since I began my fellowship, I have personally visited school districts across the U.S, including L.A. Unified, Garden Grove, New Orleans and Houston as well as some KIPP schools. My study group colleagues and I were present for the Region Four meetings held in Houston recently (54 school districts in South East Texas, representing one million children).
At the conference, I shared a table with some rather proud Texans, who, when Edison Schools was introduced as partners in public education, were surprised to hear that we’re now considered true partners with public schools! This, of course, is not news to us.
As I spoke with each one of them, I relayed in detail the Edison Schools’ story – the story you and I already know so well: that, today, Edison Schools is poised to grow dramatically and that, more than ever before, we deliver results with an even greater urgency. Specifically:
· We are rapidly developing and improving the systems for delivery of our products, and inviting the top talent in the country to join our exceptional team and help us accomplish this goal.
· We are on the cusp of releasing E2, our new school design, engineered to drive better outcomes, and, in so doing, we are preparing students for a track that can lead them to higher education -- a goal for every child enrolled in an Edison School.
· What is most important is that the new Edison Schools is both vigilant and respectful of its heritage but also forward-looking to be notably relevant as a change-leader in a dynamic profession.
The Broad fellows recognize that there have been advances for many in this country. But the "American Dream" remains, for a great number of children, an elusive aspiration. Many of our children suffer injustice. Every time we can move one of them to a superior learning environment, we are contributing meaningfully to their lives, and ultimately to what has made this country great.
Looking to the future, the Broad fellows will continue to focus on high quality instruction, on the development of a framework for new systems of reform and on becoming leaders in our profession. We will learn new ways to better understand and fulfill our evolving relationships with our clients.
What buoys my enthusiasm is my confidence in Edison Schools. We will never lose sight of that which has brought us here. Today, I know that we stand more firmly on those pillars of our craft, as we constantly renew our vision to deliver a world-class education for every child.
Sincerely,
Terry Stecz
President and CEO
Please take a moment to read past CEO Updates:
April 2007
March 2007
January 2007