DPS Board, Superintendent to participate in governance training
May 2, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Michael Yarbrough, Communications Coordinator
Office of Public Affairs, 560-2602
DPS Board, Superintendent to participate in governance training
DURHAM—Durham Public Schools is one of six districts selected by the Center for Reform for School Systems (CRSS) to participate in Reform Governance in Action (RGA), a comprehensive two-year training program for school boards and superintendents.
The goal of the RGA program is to dramatically improve student achievement and eliminate the achievement gap in each participating district by cultivating effective reform leadership. Intensive training uses original case studies, review of best practices, and analytic tools. The $400,000 cost per district will be underwritten by The Broad Foundation through a grant to CRSS.
“This graduate-level program provides a heavy dose of best practices and inspiration to support local leaders in strategically governing to raise student achievement and close ethnic and income achievement gaps,” said Don McAdams, founder and president of CRSS.
Superintendent Carl Harris and DPS Board of Education members will spend more than two weeks in Utah this summer as part of the intensive training.
“The opportunity to experience an indepth study of school governance in the effort to improve student achievement is one that we simply could not afford to pass up,” said Dr. Harris. “The Board and I are very excited about what we will learn as we take on this project, and we plan to apply it to the important work we are doing here.”
“The CRSS training is one that signifies the deep level of commitment that the Durham Public Schools Board of Education has to being the best board for our community that we can possibly be,” said DPS Chairperson Minnie Forte-Brown. “This experience promises to equip our board with rich and meaningful information and a renewed dedication to making good decisions for the young people of our community.”
The Broad Foundation is a Los Angeles-based venture philanthropic organization established in 1999 by Eli and Edythe Broad. Its mission is to improve student achievement in urban public schools through better governance, management, labor relations and competition.
The five additional school districts chosen nationwide for this program are Aldine (TX) Independent School District, Dallas Independent School District, Hartford (CT) Public Schools, Prince George’s County (MD) Public Schools and Providence (RI) Public Schools.
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