Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Critics target growing army of Broad Academy leadersCATALYST CHICAGO :: News

CATALYST CHICAGO :: News
Ed Week: Critics target growing army of Broad Academy leadersThe nation’s three biggest districts have Broad-trained executives in top leadership positions.

Billionaire businessman Eli Broad, one of the country’s most active philanthropists, founded the Broad Superintendents Academy in 2002 with an extraordinarily optimistic goal: Find leaders from both inside and outside education, train them, and have them occupying the superintendencies in a third of the 75 largest school districts—all in just two years.

Now hosting its 10th class, the Los Angeles-based program hasn’t quite reached that goal, but it’s close. The nation’s three biggest districts have Broad-trained executives in top leadership positions: Shael Polakow-Suransky, the chief academic officer in New York City; John E. Deasy, the superintendent of Los Angeles Unified; and Jean-Claude Brizard, who became the chief executive officer of the Chicago schools last month.

In all, 21 of the nation’s 75 largest districts now have superintendents or other highly