Interview with Dr. Earlean Smiley, Assistant Superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, FL, Women in Leadership Roles

• Episode 43 (Part 1) Dr. Earlean Smiley (25 min) ~ Click the link to listen
  
• Episode 44 (Part 2) Dr. Earlean Smiley (25 min) ~Click the link to listen
  

*For your convenience, you can click on Part 1 & 2 separately, above.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Smiley shares how Broward County Public Schools has been able to achieve an “A” rating in the state of Florida and become a two time Broad finalist. Dr. Smiley describes the way she and her staff made strategic decisions to put teaching and learning center in the planning and resources process. She also reveeals how she cultivated teacher, parent and community support and provides many examples of instructional and adminsitrative technology adoptions to scale and improve instruction and essential services. Finally Dr. Smiley tackles what it is to be a woman in a leadership role in public education. This interview with Dr. Smiley was stimulating as well as inspiring. She clearly knows what has brought success to the district and captured that success in our 2 part series which comprise a one hour interview. Dr. Smiley is extremely proud of the progress the system has gained throughout the years she has been there.

Biographical Background

Dr. Earlean Smiley is employed as the Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction/Student Support for Broward Public Schools, the sixth largest fully accredited school district in the nation. She supervises all aspects of administration including local, state, and federal programs, with an instructional and non-instructional staff of approximately 800 employees in 29 departments. She manages a budget of $185 million within a district operating budget of approximately $5 billion.

Dr. Smiley grew up in the “free state of Jones County,” in that part of south Mississippi’s “Piney Woods” that lies between the opulent country club elite and the impoverished cotton fields of sharecroppers. Smiley was an active participant in student activities and held a number of leadership positions in school and community organizations throughout high school and then in college. Earlean received financial aid based on her academic record and attended Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she majored in Drama, Speech and English. Graduating with honors early, she married and moved to Fort Lauderdale where she began her career as a special education teacher at Northeast High School in Broward.

In the mid-eighties, Earlean pursued graduate studies in Administration and Supervision at Nova Southeastern University, where she received a Master of Science degree. In 1991 she earned her Doctorate Degree in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. Dr. Smiley’s tenure in education includes serving as an assistant principal; curriculum specialist (North Carolina); a TRIO Talent Search Director (Sioux City, Iowa); principal; and as an adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern University.

Smiley has been highly recognized by the community for her accomplishments. This year she was honored as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Black Women in South Florida; the NAACP presented her with its Advocacy Award; Carrie P. Meek presented her with the Carrie P. Meek Outstanding Leadership Award; she was honored by the Sistrunk Historical Festival Outstanding Achievement Award 2007, and was recognized by the American Association of University Women at its International Women’s Day 2006.

With the experience of an accomplished administrator and the admiration of the community for her leadership, Dr. Earlean Smiley continues to guide Broward County Public Schools in their pursuit of student achievement.

Related Web Links: 

• Broward County Public Schools
  • http://www.browardschools.com/

District Leader’s Podcast is produced and copyrighted by The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2007. All rights reserved.

For more information email us at podcast@districtleaderspodcast.org or phone us at 1-866-435-5337 (toll free) and leave a voice message for our co-hosts.

Interview with Author, Clayton Christensen

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns

In this compelling and intriguing episode, Clayton M. Christensen describes the recent changes in the educational system- both in how it is changing and how it should be changed further. This special interview with our host Arthur Griffin reveals the importance of gaming to the modern student, both for leisure and the benefits that the student gleans from it, as well as discussing many other trends in the modern college student and going into detail about his book Disrupting Class. Join us to learn more about this fascinating author and the ideas he has developed over years of study and experience.

Biographical Background
Clayton M. Christensen, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School since 1992, is the bestselling author of five books, a renowned management consultant, and a seasoned entrepreneur. His research and teaching interests center on managing innovation, creating new growth markets, and making practical the theory of disruption by focusing on problems of strategy, innovation and growth. Through Innosight (www.innosight.com), the Watertown, MA-based consulting firm he co-founded in 2000, Professor Christensen has used his theory of disruptive innovation to shape the management strategies of well-known industry giants, such as Procter & Gamble, General Motors and Credit Suisse.

Of Professor Christensen’s five published books, his seminal work is The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997), which received the Global Business Book Award for the best business book of the year. In 2008, Professor Christensen released Disrupting Class and the Innovator’s Prescription (forthcoming), groundbreaking examinations of two of America’s most important public sectors through the lens of disruption.

Related Web Links:

• Book Information: Disrupting Class

• Book Web site: Disrupting Class

District Leader’s Podcast is produced and copyrighted by The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2007. All rights reserved.

For more information email us at podcast@districtleaderspodcast.org or phone us at 1-866-435-5337 (toll free) and leave a voice message for our co-hosts.

Interview with District Superintendent of Schools of Eastern Suffolk BOCES and the First Supervisory District of Suffolk County, NY, Mr. Edward J. Zero

Cost Effective Strategies Striving to Improve Student Performance

Categories: Parents and Community · Online Learning · Coaching School Leaders · Diagnostic Protocols · Retention and Graduation · Career and Technical Education · Improving Student Performance · Trends in Education · Teacher Training · Professional Development · ARCHIVE

In a most insightful discussion, Edward J. Zero, District Superintendent of Eastern Suffolk BOCES, and District Leader’s Podcast host Dr. Ed Milliken reveal the vital role and impact of regional Educational Service Agencies (ESA’s). A regional ESA, such as a New York BOCES, supports student improvement in local school systems and assists in developing cost effective strategies for funding school improvement programs for districts in need.

Listen in for details of this educational model which includes powerful strategies and features such as:

The Medical Model: Through its area-wide structure, an ESA has the power to harness diverse education support initiatives and offer a unified array of programs and services that can be customized for the specific needs of a local school district. Analogous to the medical model of assistance, an ESA can diagnose a problem and prescribe the learning “medicine” that will generate the desired remedy.

Comprehensive Services: An ESA’s efforts are comprehensive. Included programs would involve direct support for classroom instruction, technological support, staff development for effective teaching, training for school learning leadership, and cost reduction approaches. In addition, the regional design of ESA’s permits the creation of unique alternative schooling experiences and can resolve time constraints which affect learning by offering online learning programs.

Level Performance: ESA’s occupy a vital position in supporting school district goals for standards level performance among all pupils.

 and many more.

This is an episode which promises to provide new strategies, perspectives and paradigms for some districts to consider, as well as build upon the success others already use.

 

District Leader’s Podcast provides vibrant interviews with superintendents on topics such as district Leadership, Improving Student Performance, Trends in Education and Making the Tough Decisions.

• We are pleased to have such varied perspectives from people who serve different constituencies and in different settings.

• Enjoy this free rich resource, conveniently via your computer, or  make it mobile on your TREO, MP3 player, or some cell phones..

Biographical Background
Mr. Edward J. Zero serves as District Superintendent/Executive Officer for Eastern Suffolk BOCES as well as the Interim District Superintendent at both Western Suffolk BOCES and Nassau BOCES. Eastern Suffolk BOCES is the largest ESA among New York State’s thirty seven BOCES serving eastern Long Island’s fifty one school districts. Ed works closely with the Commissioner of Education, the New York State Department of Education, and school districts across Long Island to ensure that all students receive a high quality education. His career in education has spanned more than 35 years.

Previously, Ed was the Executive Director of the Long Island Regional School Support Center. The LIRSSC has been the technical strategy of the NY State Education Department for supporting the instructional needs of high poverty, low performing school districts. By marshalling various school support resources, New York’s Regional School Support Centers possess the capability of delivering essential instructional support resources to school districts in need.

Also, Ed served as the Regional Manager of the Effective Schools Consortium Network. His responsibilities encompassed school districts that extended from the lower Hudson Valley (north of New York City) throughout Long Island. The Effective Schools Consortium was committed to advancing school improvement initiatives throughout the region.

Ed spent his early career working in the field of environmental education where the programs he administered earned numerous awards and recognition. During this time, he was appointed to serve as the Chairman of the Governor’s Environmental Education Task Force for Governor Cuomo.

Although Ed remains passionate about environmental issues and solutions through education, his focus of late has been his work on school improvement and student achievement. While serving as the Regional Manager of the Effective Schools Consortium Network for the Metro Region and the Executive Director of the Long Island Regional Support Center, Ed has been a staunch supporter of initiatives and programs that address the region’s high need, low wealth school districts.

Ed received his B.A. in Biology with a minor in marine sciences and secondary education from Long Island University, Southampton College. He earned his Master of Science in Applied Science from Stony Brook University, College of Engineering. Ed also attended New York University, Department of Organizational & Administrative Studies, where he obtained his School District Administration certification.

Related Web Links:

• Eastern Suffolk BOCES

• EMSC-NY State Education Department

District Leader’s Podcast is produced and copyrighted by The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2007. All rights reserved.

For more information email us at podcast@districtleaderspodcast.org or phone us at 1-866-435-5337 (toll free) and leave a voice message for our co-hosts.