Congratulations to Joliet Public Schools District 86 Superintendent Dr. Theresa Rouse who is one of only 20 public education leaders in the country who has been selected to join the Fellowship for Public Education Leadership program at The Broad Center at Yale School of Management (SOM).
The tuition-free program will gather superintendents, chief executive officers, and cabinet-level leaders from urban public school districts, charter school networks, and state-level education agencies for four weeklong sessions starting in June 2021. Through interactive learning sessions with Yale SOM faculty and discussion with education practitioners, these professionals will build networks and develop management and leadership skills for immediate application in their school districts, with the goal of advancing equity in educational outcomes for all students.
The 20 inaugural fellows are from 11 states and the District of Columbia; 12 are leaders in traditional public school districts, 2 at state education agencies, and 6 at public charter school networks. The Fellowship for Public Education Leadership is the successor program to The Broad Academy at the previously independent Broad Center in Los Angeles, California.
“I am very proud to be a member of this partnership between The Board Center and the Yale School of Management,” said Joliet Public Schools District 86 Superintendent Dr. Theresa Rouse, “I look forward to sharing and learning from the other educational leaders in the cohort.”
The fellows met as a group for the first time in a virtual session earlier this month. “We here at SOM could not be more impressed and indeed awed by the work you’re doing in this uncertain time,” Yale School of Management Dean and Professor Kerwin K. Charles told them. “This is a hugely important moment for new thinking, fresh action, and imagination in the spheres of public education and inequality.”
As Superintendent of Joliet Public Schools District 86, the fourth largest elementary school district in Illinois, Dr. Rouse has focused the work of the district on equity and cultural proficiency in order to close the equity gap for all students which leads to a closing of the achievement gap through a focus on literacy for all students. Her emphasis on the whole child is also evident in the continued support and expansion of the fine arts program to include music and art for all students as a compliment to the robust instrumental and vocal music programs at Dirksen, Gompers, Hufford, and Washington Junior High Schools.