Superintendent Melinda Young has seen preschoolers who enter the Steubenville school district graduate from high school ready for college. This shows the power of schools to, in her words, change the path of poverty. Steubenville has long prized education as a path out of poverty, and long-time residents and students describe what that looks and feels like. Listen to the […]

Superintendent Ash refocused Lexington school district on helping not the bussed-in Boston students but any student who needed extra help. He brought in nationally known trainers who helped teachers learn to collaborate and make better instructional de...

Once the educators in Lexington got a handle on how badly some of their students were doing, they threw themselves into fixing the problem. But some parents were surprised that there had never before been a system to identify students who needed help a...

Most wealthy, high-performing school districts have huge achievement gaps. And 10 years ago, Lexington, Massachusetts, did too. The students doing the worst? Mostly African American and Hispanic students who were traveling for hours — part of a long-ru...

Anyone who wants to identify “extraordinary districts” has a daunting challenge: The United States has more than 14,000 school districts and they vary widely. Some have hundreds of students; some have hundreds of thousands.

Anyone who wants to identify “extraordinary districts” has a daunting challenge: The United States has more than 14,000 school districts and they vary widely. Some have hundreds of students; some have hundreds of thousands. And they have a dizzying array of demographics, assessments, and funding structures. How can you reasonably compare one against another? In this episode, you’ll hear how […]

Most wealthy, high-performing school districts have huge achievement gaps. And 10 years ago, Lexington, Massachusetts, did too. The students doing the worst? Mostly African American and Hispanic students who were traveling for hours — part of a long-running desegregation program that has been in place since the 1960s. Hear how Lexington superintendent Paul Ash learned that some of his students […]

Once the educators in Lexington got a handle on how badly some of their students were doing, they threw themselves into fixing the problem. But some parents were surprised that there had never before been a system to identify students who needed help and how to get them help. And the superintendent worried that parents of resident students would begin […]

Superintendent Ash refocused Lexington school district on helping not the bussed-in Boston students but any student who needed extra help. He brought in nationally known trainers who helped teachers learn to collaborate and make better instructional decisions. As the collaboration took hold, not only did Lexington’s students coming in from Boston do better but all groups of students and Lexington […]

Across the nation, many school districts are asking themselves, “What can we do to better serve our students of color and those from low-income communities?” In Ed Trust’s new podcast, ExtraOrdinary Districts, writer-in-residence  Karin Chenoweth explores that question by visiting ordinary school districts that are getting extraordinary results for historically underserved youth. Whether you’re a principal or parent, a superintendent or […]