About EdWeek Leaders To Learn From

  • EdWeek Leaders to Learn From is the only district recognition program run by a news organization.

    The aim: To shine a spotlight on some of the nation’s often overlooked K-12 district leaders—highlighting their innovative strategies, profiling their track records of success, and sharing their insights and road maps with the field at large. In a sea of negativity, these leaders and their impact on students’ academic and social growth often go unnoticed.

    Our annual profiles highlight all levels of district leadership: superintendents, food-service leaders, student services coordinators, budget officers, and transportation and facilities managers, among others.

    Preparing students for an uncertain future

    Our 2025 EdWeek Leaders to Learn From are making core subjects relevant for students through a deep focus on career readiness, navigating the political blowback that come with focusing on equity, harnessing technology to reach students with significant cognitive disabilities, or working with families to ensure that every child can thrive inside and outside of school.

    Evan Abramson, the technology director for Morris Union Juncture Schools in central New Jersey, spearheaded the creation of what appears to be the nation’s first esports arena housed in a school district that is geared towards students with significant cognitive disabilities. Abramson saw how video games helped his own son, who has special needs, develop socially and emotionally. He believed the activity could have a similar impact on the students his specialized school district serves, particularly those on the autism spectrum. Now students from his district play against local law enforcement and general education students from nearby schools—helping to combat the isolation that many students in special education face.

    Lazaro Lopez, an associate superintendent outside Chicago, initially felt lost professionally after barely graduating from high school. As a high school principal, he vowed to ensure that his students received meaningful exposure to careers that interested them before exiting K-12. Beginning as a school leader, and later from the central office, Lopez forged his district’s career pathway driven approach to preparing students for life after high school. The district offers 40 such tracks, including engineering, business, and health services. The high school classes are paired with post-secondary coursework and deep work-based learning experiences.

    Jennifer Norrell, the superintendent of East Aurora schools in Illinois has dramatically expanded access to Advanced Placement courses in her district, where 70 percent of students come from low-income families and just over half are English learners. Nearly 1 in 3 high school students takes at least one AP course. Despite the high participation, pass rates have held steady, with 38 percent of students who took the exams scoring a 3 or higher—the threshold typically required to earn college credit. The district—which ratcheted up the rigor of its 9th and 10th language arts courses to prepare for the push—has also seen a rise in graduation rates

    Naomi Tolentino, the coordinator of student support for Kansas City, Kan., public schools has put research showing that strong relationships with teachers and peers can improve students’ attendance habits at the heart of her plan to combat chronic absenteeism. Her district collects and digs into data to better understand what contributes to poor attendance and has developed a menu of interventions to help schools confront the problem. There’s an emphasis on practical solutions to help families get around attendance obstacles, such as connecting them with resources to pay childcare costs for younger children so that older siblings can focus on school. The district is beginning to see a drop in its rates of chronic absenteeism compared to several years ago.

    What binds this year’s leaders together is their focus on helping their school districts give students the durable skills they need to navigate a rapidly changing economy and increasingly diverse society.

    History

    Our EdWeek Leaders To Learn From honorees have gone on to receive national accolades and have become sought after experts and speakers in their respective fields. They include 2021 honorees Quincy Natay and Valerie Bridges, who have been recognized as the Superintendents of the Year in Arizona and North Carolina, respectively; and Tiffany Anderson, a member of the 2015 class, who is now the Topeka, Kan., superintendent and a leading speaker on educating students experiencing poverty.

    EdWeek Leaders To Learn From

    — The Editors, Alyson Klein & Daniela Franco Brown

    Nominate a Leader

    Do you know a school district leader who has brought fresh, successful ideas to their school community? Tell us about them.