Impatience Leading to Prudent Results

Profile

Barbara Jenkins knows some people call her “the data queen.”

But the superintendent in Orange County, Fla. doesn’t take offense. Jenkins says hard facts give her a true assessment of progress in the sprawling Central Florida district. It’s only when she is sure of where the district is, that she can decide how to move ahead.

“I don’t need to know what your gut tells you or what your favorite intervention is,” she says. “Show me the data.”

As the quarterback on the district’s playing field, Jenkins carries with her an impatience over slow-motion improvements and a drive to propel the ball downfield. After becoming superintendent of the 203,000-student district in 2012, the school board set what school board chair Bill Sublette called “reach for the stars” performance goals, including winning the prestigious Broad Prize for Urban Education (2014) and the Florida’s governor’s Sterling Award for exemplary operational management (2014 and 2015). She accomplished both ahead of schedule.

Jenkins also was a finalist for 2017 National Superintendent of the Year.

A former Orange County student herself who always had dreams of teaching, Jenkins began her education career there too, rising through the ranks to oversee elementary education districtwide.

After spending seven years in North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Jenkins returned to Orange County. As deputy superintendent, Jenkins helped craft the district’s strategic vision. That led her to tackle achievement gaps in Orange County, where 73 percent of students are minorities and 69 percent are low income.

“We are determined to narrow these gaps,” Jenkins says, “and we’re going after them vigorously.”

The district boosted elementary science instruction for English language learners, funneled talented minority students into challenging classes, and boosted the number of students passing AP courses.

Results have improved for minority students and for the whole district. Middle school student enrollment in high school-level courses increased by 10 percent for black students and 12 percent for Hispanic students.

The district has made PSAT and SAT tests free for many students and developed no-cost SAT prep materials. Graduation rates at the district’s traditional high schools rose from 80 to 90 percent during Jenkins’ tenure.

“I have this sense of urgency on behalf of children, which I know can come across as impatience,” she says. “But I want results.”

As Jenkins watched other large districts launch and sometimes stumble through one-to-one technology initiatives, she took her time. She focused on devices only “as tools to enhance instruction,” she says, and ran pilot projects until she felt the tech initiatives were ready. Currently, all 19 high schools in the district have gone one-to-one, and the program is expanding.

The community has given Jenkins and the district, with its $3.9 billion operating budget, a vote of confidence. In 2014, voters approved a half-penny sales tax extension to fund school construction. That same year, voters approved a tax millage renewal for academic, artistic and athletic programs.

Jenkins supported putting both out for public vote, though some board members thought taxpayers would balk, according to Frankie Elliott, vice president of governmental affairs for the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.

“Watching her maneuver through what could have created huge political fallout,” Elliott says, “was eye-opening.”