Turning an Oil Tanker

Case Study: Excelsior Springs School District (Excelsior Springs, Missouri)

How the pace of thoughtful change turned an entire school district, and a high school in particular, from indifference to innovation.

When a number of new leaders joined the Excelsior Springs School District in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, they found a system stalled in compliance and complacency. Across all five of the district’s schools, there was a palpable malaise. For the majority of their 2,800 students, they were not seeing the student outcomes they wanted or felt students needed—and deserved—for bright futures.

The district’s leadership confronted a team of educators who’d for years been discouraged to innovate to improve student achievement. They inherited broad disenchantment with leadership and a generally fatigued staff.

What would it take to turn the culture and attitudes around such that all leaders and educators felt empowered and encouraged to try a different way? What did it take for the high school to begin to dramatically change how students learn and how students view themselves?