The Best Week of the Year

EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE

Around the time this issue of School Administrator hits your mailboxes, I, along with more than 4,000 of our colleagues and friends, are gathering in New Orleans for AASA’s 2025 National Conference on Education for learning, sharing progress and challenges, and soaking in the possibilities suggested by the event’s theme, future-driven leadership.

This will be my 21st year attending AASA’s annual conference, and one thing remains true: NCE is hands-down my favorite week of the year. That’s because of you. Each of you is part of a talented, joyful, transformative and dedicated community of school district leaders and learners. I know your individual and collective work in service to our country’s youngest minds, day in and day out, is making a difference. Your commitment is nothing short of heroic.

Gathering in person with our amazing community of education leaders is important because we all can use the annual reminder about why we’re committed to this important work: to serve our communities and our country by educating, nurturing, inspiring and motivating our youngest minds.

Children First

Our children deserve nothing less than our absolute best. We must put our most ambitious foot forward for their one shot at a K-12 education that prepares them for the rest of their lives. Being a school system leader is without a doubt one of the best jobs in the country. It’s also one of the most challenging.

To build learning environments and partnerships with families, businesses and philanthropic organizations, we will innovate, learn and support one another. The school community and partnerships will make education not just a school system but an innovative, vibrant and practical pipeline for new workforce development.

Public education is a public good — the backbone of our democracy, a core thread in the social fabric of our society and often the economic engine of communities. We, as school leaders, are tasked with the awesome privilege and responsibility of preparing America’s K-12 students for bright futures we cannot yet even imagine. What an incredible opportunity and responsibility.

Exploring Possibilities

Change requires reflection. What more can we do to serve all children in every community so each child is well-prepared for real life in the real world? What essential skills do they need — from critical thinking to financial and digital literacy — to thrive in the future workforce and in life? How do we measure and assess these needs and support our teachers and schools to deliver on them?

These are some of the big questions that AASA, along with a diverse and distinguished group of district, business, philanthropy and education leaders are asking of ourselves and others as we launch the next iteration of AASA’s Learning 2025 Network later this month.

I’m excited to share more about this work in the months ahead and truly believe our practice-first framework is capable of transforming the future of education and reinforcing the trust and confidence of the American public.

Now, more than ever, a brighter tomorrow for public education requires all of us coming together to model and share what future-driven leadership looks like in action. We need you, our students need you, our school communities need you, and our economy and our country needs you.

AASA Publications

Our task is to elevate, celebrate and scale the work so it becomes the norm. AASA is committed to helping you get there. The March issue of School Administrator magazine illustrates bright spots of inspired leadership, innovation and excellence.

Make sure to check out Conference Daily Online, our award-winning e-publication, for wall-to-wall, multimedia coverage of NCE 2025, including news stories about speakers, award winners, exhibit hall highlights and AASA presidential candidates, as well as photos, brief video clips and daily blog postings by four AASA members. To access Conference Daily Online, download the conference app or visit http://nce.aasa.org/conference-daily-online.

Future-driven leadership means schools preparing all students to graduate not only as good students, but as good employees and good American citizens. That’s no simple task, but there’s no group of leaders I have more faith in than those who run our nation’s public schools. I’m excited about our future work together. And I could not be more proud to serve each and every one of you.

Be well, my colleagues and friends.

David Schuler is AASA executive director. Twitter: @AASA_ED