Interview with Dr. Bruce Cooper, Professor of Educational Leadership, and Policy,  Fordham University.  Solutions for School Finance and Policy Issues

Solutions for School Finance and Policy Issues

Dr. Bruce S. Cooper, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy,  Fordham University, prolific author, well-known expert in school policy and finance and former President of the Politics of Education Society (PEA) is our guest for this special interview with District Leader’s Podcast joining our guest host Dr. Kathleen P. King.  In the field of educational administration, policy, and finance, Dr. Cooper is a trend setter and prolific author, research and mentor of school leaders and superintendents around the globe. In 2009, he also received the Scribner Award for Mentoring from UCEA. Join us for this vibrant discussion as Cooper and King share how school superintendents strategize to succeed during a time of decreased funding and increased demands.

Specific topics include the following hot topic issues in policy and finance related to stimulus funding:

• How can the stimulus funding money be allocated and distributed equitably to your schools?
• How can superintendents efficiently distribute monies across schools, children and special needs?
• Is there a proven method that will help school leaders?
• Why is school effectiveness demanded, and is there anything new about how it can be measured?

District Leaders Podcast is always Leading Today for Success Tomorrow!

Biographical Background
Bruce S. Cooper, Ph.D. is Professor in the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy (ELAP) in the Graduate School of Education at Fordham University. A graduate of the University of Chicago (Ph.D. ’74 and M.S. ’72), Dr. Cooper has done extensive research on school finance, organization, policy, and reform, working at Coopers & Lybrand in the development of the In$ite finance model, with Mayor Guiliani on analysis on school-site funding in NYC public schools, and the decentralization of governance in the nation’s most centralized school system (no local districts, boards, or superintendents).

Drs. Ouchi and Cooper received a $1 million grant to analyze organization and funding in six North American districts (NYC, Chicago, LA, Edmonton, and Houston), looking at the relationship between funding, management, and student achievement. He has served on the editorial boards of The Educational Administration Quarterly, Journal of School Leadership, and Policy and Leadership in Schools. He has authored and coauthored 22 books, and over 275 articles, chapters and papers, and serves these last years as national president of the Politics of Education Association.

Cooper co-edited Better Policies, Better Schools with (Allyn & Bacon, 2004) and Handbook on Education Politics and Politics for Lawrence Erlbaum (Drs. Lance Fusarelli and Jim Cibulka). His newest work is The Rising State: How State Authority is Changing our Schools Albany, NY: SUNY Press with Bonnie Fusarelli (2009).

Other recent books and very relevant include

• Better Policies, Better Schools (2004, Allyn and Bacon) with L.Fusarelli;
• Promises and Perils Facing Today’s School Superintendents (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003) with L.Fusarelli;
• Truancy Revisited (Scarecrow Press, 2003) with R. Guare;
• Optimizing Educational Resources (Greenwood Press, 1999); and
• Career Crisis in the School Superintendency? The Results of a National Survey , with L. Fusarelli, & V. Carella (Arlington, VA: National Association of School Administrators, 2000),
• Home Schooling in Full View (Information Age Publishing, 2006) was one of the first books on this new form of private education.

His consulting has included a national survey for Pres. Nixon for the President’s Commission on School Finance, work with Coopers & Lybrand LLP and SchoolNet, and with Mayor Guiliani in NYC on school finance and student achievement and high school to college transition. He’s currently an expert witness in a NY State equity/adequacy case.

Related Web Links:

• Fordham University, Graduate School of Education
  • http://www.fordham.edu
• UCEA, University Council for Educational Administration
  • http://www.ucea.org/

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 Dr. Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia Putting Children First in Every School Decision

Categories: Parents and Community · Change Process · Stimulus Funding · Economic Recovery Act · Leadership · Making the Tough Decisions · Improving Student Performance · Trends in Education · Urban Education · ARCHIVE

Join us for an intriguing interview with Dr. Arlene C. Ackerman as she discusses her experiences as a lifelong urban educator in schools in and around Philadelphia. Dr. Ackerman discusses the importance of putting the children first in every decision that comes up in a school system with host Arthur Griffin of District Leaders Podcast. The engaging interview discusses diverse topics, from the opportunity gap to the high birth rates of 2007, from universal health care to the impact of President Obama’s Stimulus package. Join us and listen in as this distinguished district leader shares some of her hard-earned wisdom and insight.

Biographical Background
School District of Philadelphia Superintendent, Dr. Arlene C. Ackerman, has more than 30 years of experience in leading large, diverse urban public school systems.

Dr. Ackerman, who assumed her duties in Philadelphia in June 2008, came to the School District from the Teachers College of Columbia University, where she served as Director of the Urban Education Leaders Program and Chairperson of the Superintendents and Scholars Symposium. The Urban Leaders Education Program is the College’s largest doctoral program for public-school leaders. She joined Teachers College’s Education Leadership faculty as the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Outstanding Educational Practice in 2006.

Dr. Ackerman also is Superintendent in Residence of Los Angeles-based Broad Center, where she facilitates and directs the Broad Superintendents Academy. The Academy is a ten-month executive management program designed to prepare CEOs and senior executives from business, government, and education backgrounds to lead urban public school systems.

Prior to 2006, Dr. Ackerman was Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District and the District of Columbia Public Schools. During her tenure in San Francisco, the city’s public schools–with, 62,000 students and 117 schools–attained five consecutive years of improved achievement for all groups of students while also holding the distinction as the highest-performing large urban school district in the state of California during the last two years of her superintendency.

Related Web Links:

• Messages from Dr. Alene C. Ackerman 

• The School District of Philadelphia

• School District of Philadelphia’s Leadership Team Web Page
  

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.

Description

The District Leaders Podcast is proud to present a two part series on – The Stimulus Funding and Economic Recovery Act, RTI and the New Administration. This valuable podcast is brought to you by a distinguished panel of educational leaders:

• Michael Casserly, Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools,
• Daniel A. Domenech, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators and
• Arthur Griffin, District Leader’s Podcast host and Senior Vice President of The Urban Advisory Resource for McGraw-Hill Education.

These experts bring district level application to recent announcements from the White House and Department of Education. Listen as these key leaders who have participated in press conferences with the US President and Secretary of Education share insights about what is happening from teacher incentives to IDEA funding, Title I opportunities and restrictions, NCLB shifts, new assessment indications and governmental not only in word, but backed by resources and funding…..

Topics for Part 2 (District Leaders Podcast Episode 39)

• Insider’s discussion of RTI (Response to Intervention)
• Opportunities for building current RTI programs- short term and long term
• Undeserved communities- filling the gap; teacher incentives; new assessment emphases? professional development?
• How do the different sources connect: IDEA, Title I and Stimulus Funding?
• Demographic changes, population growth and impact on education and funding?
• Possible shift in attention from early childhood (NCLB) to higher education (Obama)?
• Dollars, resources and expectations for teacher professional development
• Trends in school district plans for use of the Stimulus Funds
• Where is there $5 million discretionary funds…listen in to find out….

The panel presentation was recorded at the 2009 Response to Intervention (RTI) Solutions Virtual Conference . You may still visit the conference and hear other sessions online, at your convenience at the RTI Solutions Virtual Conference website.

Biographical Backgrounds of Panelists

See Episode 38 descriptions

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.

Description

The District Leaders Podcast is proud to present a two part series on – The Stimulus Funding and Economic Recovery Act, RTI and the New Administration. This valuable podcast is brought to you by a distinguished panel of educational leaders:

• Michael Casserly, Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools,
• Daniel A. Domenech, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators and
• Arthur Griffin, District Leader’s Podcast host and Senior Vice President of The Urban Advisory Resource for McGraw-Hill Education.

These experts bring district level application to recent announcements from the White House and Department of Education. Listen as these key leaders who have participated in press conferences with the US President and Secretary of Education share insights about what is happening from teacher incentives to IDEA funding, Title I opportunities and restrictions, NCLB shifts, new assessment indications and governmental not only in word, but backed by resources and funding…..

Topics for Part 1 (District Leaders Podcast Episode 38)

• Introduction of expert panelists
• Why is the Economic Recovery Act important for our schools?
• How significant could this be for our nation?
• What are possible challenges for implementing the Stimulus Package?
• Why is creativity suggested as being needed at this time of potential additional funding?
• How do the different sources connect: IDEA, Title I and Stimulus Funding?
• Evidence of new administration challenging assumptions of NCLB!
• and more…

The panel presentation was recorded at the 2009 Response to Intervention (RTI) Solutions Virtual Conference . You may still visit the conference and hear other sessions online, at your convenience at the RTI Solutions Virtual Conference website.

Biographical Backgrounds of Panelists

Michael Casserly, Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools. Dr. Casserly has served as Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools (Chicago, IL) since January 1992. Casserly also served as the organization’s Director of Legislation and Research for 15 years before assuming his current position. As head of the urban school group, Casserly unified big city schools nationwide around a vision of reform and improvement; launched an aggressive research program on trends in urban education; convened the first Education Summit of Big City Mayors and Superintendents; led the nation’s largest urban school districts to volunteer for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP); led the first national study of common practices among the nation’s fastest improving urban school districts, and launched national task forces on achievement gaps, leadership and governance, finance, professional development, and bilingual education. He is currently spearheading efforts to boost academic performance in the nation’s big city schools; strengthening management and operations; challenging inequitable state financing systems; and improving the public’s image of urban education. He is a U.S. Army veteran, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and B.A. from Villanova University.

Dan Domenech, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators. Dr. Domenech has served as executive director of the American Association of School Administrators since July 2008. A native of Cuba who moved to the United States at the age of nine, Domenech has more than 36 years of experience in public education. Prior to joining AASA, Domenech served as senior vice president of the Urban Advisory Resource for McGraw-Hill Education. In this role, he was responsible for building strong relationships with large school districts nationwide and increasing awareness of McGraw-Hill’s educational programs and services. Prior to his position at McGraw-Hill, Domenech served for six years as superintendent of the Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools, the 12th largest school system in the nation with 168,000 students. Domenech began his teaching career in New York City, where he taught sixth grade in a predominantly black and Hispanic community in South Jamaica, Queens. He then became program director for the Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which is the largest intermediate school district in the State of New York. Following this, he was first named superintendent of schools for Long Island’s Deer Park Schools and then became superintendent of schools for the ethnically diverse South Huntington School District, also on Long Island — a position he held for 13 years. From 1994 to 1997, he was district superintendent of the Second Supervisory District of Suffolk County and chief executive officer of the Western Suffolk BOCES. Domenech, an AASA member since 1979, served as president of AASA from July 1998 to June 1999. He is also a past president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, the Suffolk County Superintendents Association, and the Suffolk County Organization for Promotion of Education. He was the first president and co-founder of the New York State Association for Bilingual Education. In addition, Domenech has served on the U.S. Department of Education National Assessment Governing Board, on the advisory board for the Department of Defense schools, and on the board of directors of the Association for the Advancement of International Education. He currently serves on the boards of the Institute for Educational Leadership and the Education Policy Institute. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Hunter College in New York City and a Ph.D. from Hofstra University in Uniondale, N.Y.

Arthur Griffin, Jr., Senior Vice President for Urban Advisory Resource, McGraw-Hill Education Mr. 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 DropOut Prevention Center, the Board of Trustees of the National School Board Foundation and the Executive Council of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education- New York University. 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 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 Science – Liberal Studies, 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.

Related Web Links:

• 2009 Response to Intervention (RTI) Solutions Virtual Conference
  • Presentations and conference experience available on- demand until May 2010
    
• Council of the Great City Schools (Chicago, IL)
• American Association of School Administrators
• Urban Advisory Resource

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.