School & District Management

Boston District to Groom Central-Office Talent

September 22, 2009 1 min read
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Executive coaches, such ubiquitous figures in the corporate world, are about to show up in Boston to help turn central-office employees into high-performing managers.

The new effort, called the Boston Public Schools Management Institute, will start this fall for 25 senior and mid-level employees with training that is designed to bring out their “inner manager.” Working with executive coaches, these district employees will set specific performance goals that they’ll pursue during their three-month stint in the management institute. Their goals have to be tied specifically to strategic goals of the district.

It sounds like Boston, which has been a long-time user of executive talent supplied by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation’s residency in urban education, is looking to grow more of its own central-office talent with this new initiative. The district is partnering with the District Management Council, a national network of public school managers.

Many school districts are focused now on “human capital” strategies, particularly recruiting, training, evaluating, compensating, and retaining top-notch teachers and principals, while efforts to groom central-office talent have been driven, in part, by outside groups like the Broad Foundation. Here’s a story that looks at some of those efforts.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the District Dossier blog.

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