The Chief Academic Officer's Evolving Role
Powering Big-Picture Learning Goals
March 18, 2015
This special report, “The Chief Academic Officer’s Evolving Role: Powering Big-Picture Learning Goals,” examines the challenges CAOs are facing in school districts across the country and how they are working to improve academics in the age of common standards and digital teaching and learning. It features findings from an exclusive survey of district leaders.
School & District Management From Our Research Center Survey Data: Chief Academic Officers Wear Many HatsIn addition to overseeing curriculum and instruction, district officials indicated that they also have other leadership duties.
School & District Management From Our Research Center Survey Data: The Chief Academic Officer's Chain of CommandMost district officials who serve as chief academic officers answer directly to their school systems’ superintendents, a survey shows.School & District Management Vickie Murillo: Rebuilding Academics in a Struggling DistrictThe CAO and accountability officer for the Kansas City, Mo., schools talks about setting goals and monitoring progress for a district that lost its accreditation in 2012.School & District Management Michelle N. Pierre-Farid: Working to Turn Students Into ScholarsThe CAO of the Cleveland public schools is trying to set higher academic expectations for a district with a high school graduation rate of 64 percent.School & District Management John Youngquist: Getting the Right Resources Into ClassroomsThe CAO of the Aurora, Colo., public schools describes how a change in the district's organizational structure has had a positive impact on student achievement and teacher effectiveness.School & District Management Chief Academic Officers: A Comparison of District OversightOrganizational charts for the Albuquerque, N.M., public school system and the District of Columbia public schools highlight differences in the lines of authority over assessment for those districts.School & District Management Connecting Principals to School Districts' Top Academic PrioritiesThe link between a school system's chief academic officer and school-based leaders must be strong if districts want to turn lofty visions into achievement gains.School & District Management Regardless of Their Titles, CAOs Set Tone for AcademicsWhether they're called assistant superintendents for teaching and learning, chief innovation officers, or curriculum coordinators, chief academic officers have one mission: academics.School & District Management Assessment Authority for Chief Academic Officers Varies by DistrictKnitting assessment thoughtfully into any work on curriculum is crucial, experts say, so it's important to have oversight models that ensure that it happens.
School & District Management Superintendents Want Chief Academic Officers They Can TrustThe CAO is seen as an interpreter and oracle, someone the district chief relies on to shape and communicate a vision for improving teaching and learning.
School & District Management Turning District Academic Visions Into Classroom RealitiesCurrent and former chief academic officers talk about the evolving role of the CAO, and the strategies they have used to try to improve teaching and learning.
IT Infrastructure & Management Chief Technology Officers Play Key Role in Curricular IssuesSome school districts are testing new approaches to address a common challenge: how to get academic and technology departments to work more closely together.Education Chief Academic Officers Talk About Big-Picture ChallengesListen to audio interviews with administrators from three school districts on a range of issues from classroom resources to academic expectations.
Coverage of personalized learning and systems leadership in Education Week and its special reports is supported in part by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.