The New Era Story
New Era Superintendents was sparked by a simple, powerful question: What would happen if one superintendent said, “All of the decisions and priorities of our school district will be guided by one principle: We will do whatever it takes to ensure that our students become proficient in math and reading.”
What would happen if…?
What would happen if a growing community of superintendents came together around that principle? How might our approach to leadership change? How might our education decisions change? How might our education communities change? How might our students change?
Driven by these questions and a collaborative spirit of deep learning emerging from deep conversations, New Era Superintendents is on an expedition to deliver academic success to all students.
School district leaders are surrounded by many essential conversations that reverberate and expand around us–conversations about equity, social justice, professional development, budget allocations, program initiatives, and more– and these conversations consume much of our attention. And because all of it is important, we often find it challenging to focus on the one thing that remains paramount in education: academic proficiency that leads to lifelong success and improves a student’s opportunities in all aspects of life.
K-12 education is at a breaking point, and outstanding leadership is needed now more than ever. We don’t have time to wait for politicians to provide the answers. That approach hasn’t worked. It’s up to a new community of leaders to move forward and blaze a new path alongside our teachers, students, families, and communities.
In ways we’ve never seen, K-12 education is a landscape of battlegrounds. Many of these battles are about initiatives bound to fail because although the ideals championed by those initiatives may be good, the most effective ways to achieve those ideals are often deprioritized and sometimes even ignored. And, if we’re honest, we must admit that some educators (and leaders) are accommodating this status quo. This brings us to a critical question: Amidst all this foment and upheaval, what is most important right now? A better way to phrase the question is: What ought to be most important but often appears that it’s not?
We believe that the answer is student success. What if we made student success our battleground? With a battle cry of “Whatever it takes!” what might we achieve for the future of education and the future of our students?
At this moment, amidst our current upheavals, these questions are the catalysts for the emergence of New Era Superintendents.
We believe that whatever may divide us, we can come together in the name of student success. We believe in a new collaborative approach among superintendents. We invite all who have the boldness to take leadership risks and implement innovative strategies to join us. We will work together to ensure every student has the best possible opportunities to achieve academic excellence in core academic areas, beginning with math and reading.
As we all know, the buzzwords and hot topics that captivate (and sometimes consume) the world of K-12 education are like shifting sands. Still, as trends come and go, one bedrock truth remains: Students who achieve academic proficiency in math and reading find lifelong opportunities that are otherwise unavailable. Whatever else might happen, the students who achieve academic success have the best probability of enjoying bright personal futures.
The bottom line: mission of New Era Superintendents is needed more now than ever.
“Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”
The State of Achievement in America
The most recent measurements from The Nation’s Report Card tell the following story:
4th-grade mathematics scores decreased in 43 states and jurisdictions. No states or jurisdictions achieved an increase in scores.
Nationwide, 64% of 4th-grade students scored below grade-level proficiency in math.
8th-grade mathematics scores decreased in 51 out of 53 states and jurisdictions. No states or jurisdictions achieved an increase in scores.
Nationwide, 73% of 8th-grade students scored below grade-level proficiency in math.
4th-grade reading scores decreased in 30 states and jurisdictions. No states or jurisdictions achieved an increase in scores.
Nationwide, 66% of 4th-grade students scored below grade-level proficiency in reading.
8th-grade reading scores declined in three out of four regions and in 33 out of 53 states and jurisdictions. Only one jurisdiction, the Department of Defense Education Activity federal district in Virginia, registered an increase in achievement.
Nationwide, 69% of 8th-grade students scored below grade-level proficiency in reading.
Globally, the United States ranked 31st of 36 nations in reading, math, and science among countries ranked in the most recent assessment of OECD member nations.
It is not an overstatement to conclude that we are in the midst of an education crisis in the United States:
Reading scores for eighth graders have fallen to their lowest level in two decades.
Math scores are at a three-decade low.
Reading scores for fourth graders fell furthest for black, Latino, and Native American students.
Scores on ACT tests hit a 30-year low in 2022. Just 60% of eighth graders are meeting basic levels of knowledge of U.S. history, compared with 71% a decade ago.
Test scores in civics have also declined for the first time since 1998, with only 22% of students showing proficiency.
And the share of 13-year-olds who don’t read in their free time increased from 22% in 2012 to 31% in 2023. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)
New Era Superintendents exists to be a community of leaders determined to address this crisis so that all students can enjoy lives of success and meaning.