Education Policy, Business and Technology

Inside a School District's 'Transformation Zone'

Education Week: Just a few years ago, Indiana's department of education was breathing down the neck of administrators in the Evansville Vanderburgh district for repeatedly landing at the bottom of the state's accountability system. So, rather than follow many school turnaround approaches across the country that focus heavily on principals and teachers, Superintendent David Smith in 2012 reorganized his tidy central-office staff that oversaw this 241-square-mile district of 23,000 students tucked into the southwest corner of Indiana.

"We spend too much effort on improving individual schools, whereas districts are the ones in need of help," said Smith, who was born and raised in Evansville and took over the district after 29 years there as a teacher and district administrator. "We cannot improve schools in isolation."

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