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Hopes Riding on Leader for Troubled St. Louis District

Kelvin Adams, who takes over next week as the St. Louis schools’ seventh superintendent since 2003, will arrive already familiar with the dynamics of a district under state supervision. Still, the leadership and management challenges he faces are daunting.

The St. Louis schools have been run since June 2007 by an appointed, three-person Special Administrative Board set up by the state of Missouri after it stripped the district of its accreditation for poor academic performance. The arrangement is similar in some respects to that of the state-run Recovery School District in New Orleans, where Mr. Adams has served since July 2007 as chief of staff to Superintendent Paul G. Vallas.

“This is a state-takeover district, and the focus is on raising student achievement, and that’s the same environment and focus area I’m coming from in New Orleans,” Mr. Adams said of St. Louis, which will be his first superintendency. “Having the SAB in place should ensure that we don’t lose our focus on that critical piece and get distracted by a...