The Various Networking Options at AASA

Executive Perspective

The new AASA is all about member engagement. In the last three years we have seen a significant increase in member activity. And why is that? Because superintendents seek opportunities where they can come together with colleagues to discuss challenges, share ideas and come away with solutions to problems.

Last November, our Large County Consortium met in Virginia Beach, Va., hosted by Aaron Spence, Virginia Beach’s superintendent. The group learned about the assessment and career credentials programs used by the school district and visited the Advanced Technical Center where they saw a robot putting a golf ball, and a class where students were viewing a screen that showed real-time attempts from around the world to hack into U.S. computer installations.

On the following day, the group participated in a consultancy experience where each superintendent had the opportunity to bring a problem of practice to three colleagues and listen to potential solutions to the problem. The Large County Consortium includes some of the largest school systems in the country, so the group’s meetings give superintendents opportunities to exchange ideas with leaders in similar-sized districts.

A Joint Digital Leap

Another growing group within AASA is the Personalized Learning Collaborative. More than 50 superintendents recently met in Salt Lake City, Utah, to discuss this growing movement and to view the process in practice at Innovations Early College High School. Many of the superintendents involved with this group are well into the digital leap and the uses of blended learning. They recognize that technology without a focus on instruction will not realize the achievement gains that a personalized learning approach can bring.

Ken Grover, principal at Innovations High, has implemented a program that is truly transformative. He’s taken advantage of the technology but also brought about the huge cultural shift that encompasses student-directed learning and continuous progress with competency-based assessments and teachers functioning as mentors and tutors.

Members of this group recognize that significant changes to rules and regulations must be made to such areas as seat time requirements, the school calendar, grade-level structures and many other remnants of the 19th century.

Another group of superintendents has been meeting with presidents of community colleges that serve their districts. College and career readiness has been the focus of this group, all of whom agree we need to be thinking in terms of a K-14 and perhaps a K-16 continuum rather than the two isolated institutions that prevail.

The participating school systems see the importance of requiring four years of math for high school graduation as a way to ensure a successful transition to college while the colleges see the importance of exposing high school students to their campuses and college-level courses while still in high school.

The early-college experience seems to be growing, and more and more students are graduating from high school with associate degrees. In addition, there is a need to clarify exactly what is meant by college readiness, with perhaps a broader definition of the term to include the many pathways available besides a bachelor of arts or science degree.

Engagement Options

The AASA Collaborative is yet another group of 30 superintendents who have been meeting regularly and using a critical friends approach while exploring the thinking of notable scholars such as Yong Zhao and considering alternative systems of assessment and accountability.

Significant engagement is also taking place among superintendents who are part of the three National Superintendent Certification cohorts. Newly launched this school year are the Howard University and the University of Southern California programs that focus on the needs of system leaders in urban environments and the Minnesota Aspiring Superintendents program, a joint effort with the Minnesota Association of School Administrators and the National Joint Power Alliance to grow a new breed of system leaders in that state.

Add to this the many superintendents involved with our public policy advocacy efforts and our children’s programs, such as the classroom breakfast initiative, the nutrition and health programs, professional development activities and, most recently, the women in leadership initiative, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

If you are not part of any of these activities, we invite you to contact us with your preference and we will be sure to invite you to the next meeting.