Introduction by  Dr. Dan Domenech, Executive Director of AASA, The School Superintendents Association

Presented by Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D., Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education

Moderated by Dr. Mort Sherman, Associate Executive Director, AASA, The School Superintendents Association

Hosted by AASA, The School Superintendents Association 
AASA’s Leadership Network, providing premier professional learning for educational leaders

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Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.
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In order to advance equity, educational leaders must overcome institutional obstacles and be ready to take the next steps. District procedures to assess ways in which policies, practices, and initiatives undermine racial equity will be shared. Join Dr. Pedro Noguera for a riveting and inspiring presentation. AASA’s Executive Director, Dan Domenech, opens the session, and Mort Sherman, Associate Executive Director, moderates.  The recorded discussion centers on assessing readiness for courageous conversations about best practices to mitigate the effects of racism and poverty while addressing the social-emotional and academic needs of students and staff.

Essential questions include:

• What situational strategies do leaders need to talk about race and equity?
• How do district leaders generate the will to change?
• How do racial equity outcomes get reported routinely in today’s political climate?
• How can district leaders share goals and work with colleagues to develop an equity action plan?
• Why should system leaders view racial inequity as a structural problem rather than a cultural problem attributed to historically marginalized populations?

Viewers will learn about strategies to address systemic disparities and inequities in order to benefit all students.

This recorded presentation will be of particular value to school superintendents, K-12 school and district leaders, and aspiring leaders.                                                                                                                                                                               

About the Presenter

Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D. is the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education.

A sociologist, Noguera’s research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional, and global contexts. He is the author, co-author, and editor of 13 books. His most recent books are The Crisis of Connection: Roots, Consequences and Solutions with Niobe Way, Carol Gilligan and Alisha Ali (New York University Press, 2018) and Race, Equity and Education: Sixty Years From Brown with Jill Pierce and Roey Ahram (Springer, 2015).

He has published over 250 research articles in academic journals, book chapters in edited volumes, research reports, and editorials in major newspapers. He serves on the boards of numerous national and local organizations, including the Economic Policy Institute, the National Equity Project, and The Nation. Noguera appears as a regular commentator on educational issues on several national media outlets, and his editorials on educational issues have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Dallas Morning News, and Los Angeles Times.

Prior to being appointed Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, Noguera served as a Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Before joining the faculty at UCLA he served as a tenured professor and holder of endowed chairs at New York University (2004–2015), Harvard University (2000–2003), and the University of California, Berkeley (1990–2000).

Noguera was recently appointed to serve as a special advisor to the governor of New Mexico on education policy. He also advises the state departments of education in Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. From 2009–2012 he served as a trustee for the State University of New York as an appointee of the governor. In 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Education and Phi Delta Kappa honor society, and in 2020 Noguera was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Noguera has received seven honorary doctorates from American universities, and he recently received awards from the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and from the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at NYU for his research and advocacy efforts aimed at fighting poverty.

About the Hosts

Dr. Daniel A. Domenech has served as Executive Director of AASA, The School Superintendents Association since July 2008. Domenech has more than 36 years of experience in public education, twenty-seven of those years served as a school superintendent.

Prior to joining AASA, Domenech served as senior vice president for National Urban Markets with McGraw-Hill Education. In this role, he was responsible for building strong relationships with large school districts nationwide.

Prior to his position at McGraw-Hill, Domenech served for seven years as superintendent of the Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools, the 12th largest school system in the nation with 168,000 students.

Domenech, an AASA member since 1979, served as president of AASA from July 1998 to June 1999.  He is also a past president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, the Suffolk County Superintendents Association, and the Suffolk County Organization for Promotion of Education. He was the first president and co-founder of the New York State Association for Bilingual Education.

In addition, Domenech has served on the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment Governing Board, the advisory board for the Department of Defense schools, the board of directors of the Association for the Advancement of International Education, the Board of Overseers for the Baldrige Award and the boards of the Institute for Educational Leadership, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Sea Research Foundation, and Education Policy Institute. Currently, he serves on the boards of the Learning First Alliance, National Student Clearinghouse, Center for Naval Analyses, Horace Mann Educators Corporation,  ACT, USAC, and board chair for Communities in Schools of Virginia.  

Dr. Morton Sherman has more than 30 years’ administrative experience in raising academic standards, closing achievement gaps, and uniting stakeholders He has served in public education for over 40 years, 25 as a public school superintendent of schools.

Now serving as the AASA Associate Executive Director for Leadership Network, he is responsible for programs that support aspiring and sitting superintendents. Recent initiatives include the creation of the AASA Collaborative, The Urban Superintendents Academies in cooperation with Howard University and the University of Southern California, Superintendents Consortium on Personalized Learning, and the Aspiring Superintendents Program.

Sherman’s service includes superintendent for eight years in Cherry Hill, N.J., where he was a founding member of the Southern New Jersey Standards Initiative and the Delaware Valley Minority Achievement Consortium. Sherman was superintendent for South Orangetown Central School District in N.Y. for five years; superintendent and principal at the Norwich Free Academy in Conn. for four years; superintendent in Tenafly, N.J.; and assistant superintendent in Westport, Conn. He began his career as a middle and high school English teacher.

As superintendent of the Alexandria City Public Schools in Va., from 2008-2013, Sherman helped implement significant improvements, including academic plans for secondary students, professional learning plans tied to student outcomes and the district strategic plan, an International Academy for English Language Learners, revised professional evaluation systems, the introduction of AVID and IB, the creation of a Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Center, a School-Based Health Clinic, and a pre-K initiative.

Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.

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The AASA Leadership Network drives superintendent success, innovation, and growth, shaping the future of public education while preparing students for what’s next. We are the largest, most diverse network of superintendents in America. Passionate and committed, we connect educational leaders to the professional learning, leadership development, relationships, and partnerships they need to ensure a long career of impact.