2017 EdWeek Leaders To Learn From

Patricia Deklotz instills a culture of personalized learning in which students choose how and what they learn and teachers create their own microcredentials to advance their careers.

Dolores Gonzalez, the chief program officer for IDEA Public Schools, has shaped an academic program that focuses on erasing achievement gaps in the earliest grades and putting first-generation college-goers on a firm path to higher education. She is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

Superintendent César Morales leveraged his district’s 1-to-1 tablet initiative to create a massive bilingual-literacy campaign and make tens of thousands of electronic books in English and Spanish accessible to students and their families in Oxnard, Calif. He is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

In Kentucky’s Jefferson County Public Schools, John D. Marshall uses data to unmask racial inequities and demand policy changes and supports for students of color and those who are poor. He is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

Bilal Tawwab, the superintendent of schools in Flint, Mich., refuses to use the city’s lead-water crisis as an excuse from keeping his team of educators focused on improving student achievement in a long-struggling school district. He is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

With his “teach them all” ethos, Superintendent Jim Rollins is on the leading edge of helping immigrant students and their families find a foothold in Arkansas’ Springdale Public Schools and the broader community. He is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

Clyde McBride, the director of career and technical education in Kayenta, Ariz., runs a powerhouse pre-veterinary-sciences program that gives Navajo students hands-on experience that propels them to college, prepares them for the workforce, and puts them at the center of supporting their communities. He is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

Superintendent Chris Coffelt works tirelessly to recruit, retain, and improve the practice of teachers who might otherwise be drawn to bigger cities and bigger salaries outside his small Iowa school district. He is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

Seminole County, Fla., schools Superintendent Walt Griffin, along with school psychologist Jeanette Lukens, are scouting more broadly for talent and bringing more diversity to the district’s gifted student population. They are recognized as 2017 Leaders To Learn From.

In South Carolina's Greenville County Schools, Superintendent W. Burke Royster enlists a wide array of partners to help keep students—especially those in poor communities—engaged in school and on track to graduate. He is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

Sharon Griffin, the chief of schools in Tennessee’s Shelby County Schools, has led an urgent effort to turn around the academic performance of more than 20 low-performing schools in Memphis. She is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

Joseph Williams, the technology director in California’s Perris Union High School District, demands fast responses to IT problems and insists on keeping close connections to teaching and learning by sitting in on lessons and coaching his colleagues. He is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.

As the head of family engagement in Washington state’s Federal Way Public Schools, Trise Moore helps parents navigate a large bureaucracy and puts them at the center of the district’s decisionmaking. She is recognized as a 2017 Leader To Learn From.