District Leaders Podcast

Arthur Griffin

Senior Vice President
Urban Advisory Resource
McGraw-Hill Education

Arthur Griffin is senior vice president of Urban Advisory Resource for McGraw-Hill Education, the premier provider of teaching and learning materials for the pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, higher education and professional markets. In his role, Arthur works closely with sales teams, school administrators and school board members in identifying solutions and strategies to achieve their number one priority – student achievement.

Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors of the National Drop Out Prevention Network, national board aimed at student success.

Arthur has over 21 years experience in public education. Prior to joining McGraw-Hill Education, he served 17 years on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Board of Education. Arthur distinguished himself as chair of the school board from 1997 to 2002. He recently received the Richard R. Green award, as National Educator of the Year, sponsored by the Council of the Great City Schools. Mr. Griffin has been a guest lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, the Broad Superintendents Academy, University of Virginia’s Partnership for Leaders in Education, member of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Advisory Committee and a resident faculty member of the Broad and Texas Institute for School Board Members. Mr. Griffin is registered with the Texas Education Agency as a school board trainer. He is a nationally recognized resource in the area of public school governance. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Council of the Great City Schools and Steering Committee of the Council of Urban Boards of Education.

He earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from the University of the State of New York at Albany. Mr. Griffin served as an infantry platoon leader in Vietnam and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army.

The Center for Comprehensive School Improvement (CCSI)

CCSI brings together all of McGraw-Hill’s educational expertise and resources to help states and school districts drive student achievement. This valuable initiative works hand-in-hand with states and districts to implement flexible, innovative and customized solutions designed to:

* Develop great teachers and leaders
* Enhance curriculum with research-based instructional programs that align with Common Core Standards
* Build data systems to track student progress
* Respond to the needs of the lowest performing schools
* Equip all students for success in college and the workforce

Picture Success in Your School

Imagine what your school can achieve with the help of CCSI (http://www.mheccsi.com/).

Read about CCSI’s success in District Administration, and be sure to download our brochure.

Click to Download the PDF

Pathways for High Performance,

A White Paper

By Arthur Griffin & Dr. James L. Pughsley

Arthur Griffin and Dr. James L. Pughsley wrote this key white paper on the topic of Pathways for High Performance.

“With the federal government focused on dramatically improving the nation’s lowest-performing schools and the recent approval of both School Improvement Grants and Race to the Top implementations, states and districts need strategies to raise student performance,” said Arthur Griffin, senior vice president of the Urban Advisory Resource for McGraw-Hill Education. “Our goal is to work with these school districts on developing a holistic approach to reform that they can implement in their schools today.”

During the Second Annual Intervention Summit Series sponsored by McGraw-Hill, Griffin presented alongside Mary Russick, vice president and executive director of CCSI (http://www.mheccsi.com/), in a session devoted to specific strategies for improving student performance using federal funds. Griffin discusses these strategies and his experience successfully turning around the low-performing Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in the 1990s in a this  white paper.

Click to Download the PDF

Response to Intervention (RtI)

A White Paper

by Arthur Griffin

With the topic which has taken national attention on everyone’s mind, Arthur Griffin has written an insightful white paper to provide perspective on the need and strategies for solution.

Arthur Griffin is senior vice president of Urban Advisory Resource for McGraw-Hill Education, the premier provider of teaching and learning materials for the pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, higher education and professional markets. In his role, Arthur works closely with sales teams, school administrators and school board members in identifying solutions and strategies to achieve their number one priority – student achievement.

CEO of Harlem’s Children’s Zone, Geoffrey Canada,

Speaks with McGraw Hill’s Arthur Griffin

In this video, Geoffrey Canada, CEO of Harlem’s Children’s Zone, and Arthur Griffin of McGraw-Hill Education discuss the problems facing many of our nation’s schools and strategies for promoting student success.

About Geoffrey Canada and Harlem’s Children’s Zone

In his 20-plus years with Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc., Geoffrey Canada has become nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as a passionate advocate for education reform.

Since 1990, Mr. Canada has been the President and Chief Executive Officer for Harlem Children’s Zone, which The New York Times Magazine called “one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time.” In October 2005, Mr. Canada was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report.

In 1997, the agency launched the Harlem Children’s Zone Project, which targets a specific geographic area in Central Harlem with a comprehensive range of services. The Zone Project today covers 100 blocks and aims to serve over 10,000 children by 2011.

The New York Times Magazine said the Zone Project “combines educational, social and medical services. It starts at birth and follows children to college. It meshes those services into an interlocking web, and then it drops that web over an entire neighborhood….The objective is to create a safety net woven so tightly that children in the neighborhood just can’t slip through.”

The work of Mr. Canada and HCZ has become a national model and has been the subject of many profiles in the media. Their work has been featured on “60 Minutes,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” “CBS This Morning,” “The Charlie Rose Show,” National Public Radio’s “On Point,” as well in articles in The New York Times, The New York Daily News, USA Today and Newsday.

Educational Expert, Arthur Griffin

Recent Media Appearances

Key Topics: Student Performance, Failing Schools, Urban Schools

• Charlotte, WBTV

• Biloxi, WLOX

• Rochester, WHAM

• Orlando, FOX

• Seattle, KCPQ

Center offers range of solutions and services in support of states and school districts across the U.S.

NEW YORK, Aug. 10 — Every year, about 1.2 million U.S. students drop out before graduating from high school, and face limited odds of landing a good-paying job in today’s highly competitive marketplace. Key stakeholders in education, government and the private sectors are all laser-focused on turning around failing schools and providing students with the 21st century skills they need to compete and succeed in a global economy. To partner with districts and help them address their greatest challenges, McGraw-Hill Education has established the Center for Comprehensive School Improvement (CCSI).

“McGraw-Hill has been helping U.S. school districts accelerate student and teacher achievement for more than 100 years,” said Peter C. Davis, president, McGraw-Hill Education. “We have brought together experts with various backgrounds from education to leadership development to technology that will allow us to fully serve all of a district’s needs.”

CCSI brings together all of McGraw-Hill’s educational expertise and resources to develop effective, customized solutions and help drive improvements in school districts. The group’s experts will work with districts to develop flexible solutions that enhance curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, district governance, and the use of digital and data-driven teaching and learning tools.

Heading up CCSI will be Mary Russick, a former classroom teacher with almost 20 years experience in the education market.  She most recently served as a regional vice president of sales for McGraw-Hill’s southeast region.  Mary has extensive knowledge of state and district level education policy and a strong record of partnering with schools to deliver the services and programs they need to succeed.

Teaming up with Mary will be Arthur Griffin, senior vice president of Urban Advisory Resource. Arthur has over 21 years experience in public education. Prior to joining McGraw-Hill Education, he served 17 years on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Board of Education. Arthur distinguished himself as chair of the school board from 1997 to 2002.

CCSI will also provide a variety of McGraw-Hill solutions that districts have used for years to help to enhance academic achievement, improve underperforming schools, and cultivate strong school and district leadership and talent development.  CCSI builds off of the company’s National Urban Advisory Resource Group, which was launched six years ago to work closely with large districts and help address their challenges.

CCSI solutions and services include:

• A broad and complete approach to instruction, curriculum and assessment, aimed at  substantially improving student outcomes,
• Teacher effectiveness and leadership development designed to create high-performing schools,
• Formative assessment and predictive tools and services including CTB/McGraw-Hill’s Acuity, the market-leading formative assessment program
• Capabilities that enhance individualized and personalized instruction, and
• Ongoing support and measurement.

Dedicated to School Improvement with

a Track Record of Success

For any school improvement program to be successful, many moving parts have to work together seamlessly and be executed with precision. The Center for Comprehensive School Improvement can help.

Contact Us for a Free Consultation

We encourage you to schedule a complimentary initial consultation with our team to get answers to your questions and discuss the challenges facing your school.