District Administration - April 2008 - (Page 36)

CORPORATIONS & SCHOOL POLICIES The Broad Way Billionaire Eli Broad shares his take on schools in America with contributing writer Kevin Butler. N THE WORLD OF CORPO rate philanthropy, there are those who give to educational causes. And then there is Eli Broad. He is in a category unto himself not only because of the amount of money he has given—more than $280 million since 1999—but also for his unique educational philosophy. Broad approaches his philanthropy with the same business mentality he used to start two Fortune 500 companies: Kaufman & Broad (now KB Home) and SunAmerica. “We want a return on our investment. The return we want is greater student achievement,” he says of the Broad Foundation, which he founded and runs from Los Angeles, where he lives. The grant-making Broad Foundation’s mission is to dramatically improve K12 urban public education through better governance, management and labor relations. Broad, 74, is not a philanthropist who just cuts checks. He not only wants to support public education but to transform it—to bring into the world of urban public education the best practices of management and governance used in business. Broad (which rhymes with “load”) says the current urban public education system is failing inner-city kids due to short-sighted school board members, ill-prepared superintendents, and a lack of knowledge of sound business practices. “Top-down decision-making,” which is emphasized in 36 April 2008 I corporate structures, is part of the solution to the country’s educational woes, he says. When the Broad Foundation began, “no one was looking from the top down,” Broad says. “Everyone was looking at what’s happening in the classroom—which is very important—to try to ﬁnd the silver bullet to change things,” he says. “I say let’s look at governance.” In the Beginning After studying school boards and superintendents across America, Broad says he and his team of experts were “rather disappointed.” Most superintendents start as teachers or coaches and, by exercising their political skills, rise to the top without studying the business areas modern CEOs need to master to succeed, such as human resources, communications, ﬁnance, and labor relations, he says. “They have got to have all those skills that I mentioned to succeed in some of these school districts that are far larger than Fortune 500 companies,” he says. “And you would think that they would go out and ﬁnd people that have expertise in these areas, but more often they will appoint people that they grew up with in education that don’t have the background in those areas, either.” To remedy that, the foundation started the Broad Superintendents Academy, a 10-month executive management program designed to recruit and prepare CEOs and senior executives from business, nonproﬁt, military, government and education to lead urban school systems. The Broad Residency in Education places graduates from top-ranked business, law and public policy schools into two-year district positions in which they work with superintendents and other administrators to get ﬁrsthand experience. The participants often get high-level administrative jobs at those districts. The aim is to recruit people not only for superintendent positions but also for highlevel jobs in district departments that have counterparts in corporations, such as human resources. Some people might think that highlevel administrators who interface with instruction, such as superintendents, must have classroom teaching experience. Broad disagrees. He thinks nontraditional superintendents—those from business, military or nonproﬁts—should ﬁnd and rely on team members with experience and knowledge in instruction. “You do need people to have classroom experience,” he says. “But if you look at what’s happened in American public education classrooms, you would rarely feel that these people with all that experience have succeeded.” Flawed School Boards Broad, whose foundation staﬀ members regularly attend school board meetings District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2008

District Administration - April 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology
Facilities & Construction
Curriculum
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Profit and Loss in School-Business Partnerships
The Broad Way
Big Macs for Big Grades
Hometown Success
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Speaking Out
Crisis Response
New Products
Problem/Solution
Computer Literature
Research Center
Calendar of Events
Products Showcase
Understanding the Times

District Administration - April 2008