Boundaries, Boards, and Battles

Perhaps unlike any moment in the history of American public education, superintendents have been drawn into a culture war whose battleground has included local school districts.

Already contending with the challenges of leading a complex organization, district leaders are now expected to balance this work within a volatile political environment and an urgency to prepare a future citizenry to deal with unprecedented megatrends, such as the acceleration of artificial intelligence with its unknown capabilities and consequences.

Today’s students—tomorrow’s adults— must be prepared for shifting environmental, geo-political, and economic challenges that will require an evidence-based understanding of the issues and their root causes. To survive and thrive they will need to use an empirical problem-solving process.

Our future citizens will also need to understand historical abuses of power to guard against emerging forms of authoritarianism that today threaten democracy across the globe.