Case Preview
February 6, 2016
Case: Strategic Planning for Equity in Little Rock, AR
ELDEx Case list description: Strategic Planning II
This case experience highlights the leadership challenges involved in carrying out a strategic planning process that promotes equity at all levels in an urban school system within a leadership context of fiscal and academic crisis. The case is set in Little Rock, AR. To set the scene for your task today, please watch the video announcing the state takeover of Little Rock Schools.
VIDEO 1: State Takes Over LRSD [Arkansas Online Link]
State Board of Education Votes to Take Over Little Rock Public Schools
At the end of January 2015, Arkansas took over its largest school district: Little Rock United School District (LRUSD), immediately suspending the school board and naming the sitting superintendent as interim superintendent. Because of poor performance of six schools within LRUSD carrying the “academically distressed” label, the state initiated district takeover in accordance with state statutes. The State Board of Education’s lawyer offered: “The options are set by the statute on academic distress, giving the state the authority to deal with a district in distress in a manner that it sees fit.” The state board of education also noted a lag in performance across the district in regards to middle school and high school student performance on state English exams, an alarmingly low graduation rate of 53% for LRUSD high school students, and complaints by parents with lower socioeconomic status of limited access to the highest quality schools in the district. The state’s commissioner of education asserted: “We must guarantee an equitable school system in Little Rock. Every child must have a school in which their teachers and principal do whatever it takes to get them to the finish line and onto college.”
Despite this lofty rhetoric from the state, Little Rock residents now face deep uncertainty in their school district with the prospect of an indefinite suspension of the school board and possible redrawing of school district lines if the state’s takeover reforms do not prove successful. The following video includes footage from local press coverage of the interim superintendent’s initial response to the state takeover.
VIDEO 2: Superintendent Speaks Out After State Takeover [Nextstar Broadcasting Group Link]
In following video, parents, students, and teachers express their initial impressions of the state takeover to local media.
VIDEO 3: Parents Students and Teachers React to LRSD Takeover Decision [Nextstar Broadcasting Group Link]
From what you have observed in the videos, what are the most important issues at play in Little Rock given the recent state takeover? How might those issues impact district-level strategic planning aimed at promoting equity for children and adults alike?
Urban Superintendent Academy cohort members at Howard University will begin their collaborative multimedia case experience for this case on Saturday, February 6th. The simulation experience takes this real urban district context as the starting point for participants’ learning experiences.
