Philadelphia has always been a community filled with partnership and innovation, and in the last few years the city has built a burgeoning tech hub and an entrepreneurial-minded district that has enhanced innovative partnerships in scope and scale. But what does social innovation mean for the operation and management of schools?  In order to ensure that social innovations are being optimized, it is critical for the school to foster an environment that is amicable to change and open to new ways of operating. Innovative thinking first happens internally at the school level, which in turn leads to opportunities to partner with groups that are socially entrepreneurial.  If the school is the innovation hub then it must take on a leadership role when engaging with partners. For this to be true, I believe 3 things are necessary for innovation and social entrepreneurship to truly thrive within schools. 

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“I give her two more years—tops,” I said to a colleague after School District of Philadelphia then-Superintendent Arlene Ackerman met with me and a diverse group of around 50 other Philadelphia charter school leaders in the spring of 2009.

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The job of a superintendent is that of a leader, teacher, principal, parent and student. Their goal is to understand the workings of their district and how to best support the community’s children. Today, all superintendents are required to increase student success while addressing serious operational issues due to budget cuts and reductions in workforce. The key to being a successful superintendent depends on their relationship with the central administration staff. The administration staff are the employees that put the superintendent’s policies into practice and are the gatekeepers to all outside parties looking for information, support or access. Creating a system where information flows openly and all individuals are valued for their contribution is critical to increasing morale and efficiency. Recognizing the critical nature of this relationship, I have provided my list of core requirements that will ensure that employees support and advocate for their superintendent through thick and thin.

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This fall our colleagues in the School District of Philadelphia are faced with some significant challenges, including the important task of conducting a search for a new superintendent. While there is much being written and spoken about this abstract idea of “leadership,” I wonder if enough thought is being given to the specific qualities and behaviors that comprise effective leadership.

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Since Ackerman’s departure, there have been a flurry of editorials on the next superintendent and the direction of Philadelphia education. Here are three:

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Earlier this summer, I watched four short about as part of the . They showed two well-educated Philadelphians either struggling to survive in a global marketplace that had left Philadelphia behind (making us in 2026 what India was a decade ago: a provider of basic tech solutions feeding a richer, distant economy), fighting entrepreneurially in a highly competitive global economy, or riding high on a wave of American economic supremacy.  In every one of these scenarios, the key to individual and regional survival and success was postsecondary education. Especially in the most dire scenario, in which many Americans lived in abject poverty, postsecondary education was the competitive edge that allowed this couple to survive.

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The challenges that face urban education are as great today as ever. Inner-city school districts across the nation are confronting dropout rates that run (in terms of failure to graduate from high school) , and even those students who make it to graduation suffer serious achievement disparities.

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As the founder and current Chair of Pan American Academy Charter School, I’ve struggled with how to move beyond politics and focus on student results. As leaders, at some point we can all expect to be challenged on our decisions on who we hire and support. This came true this past year when I was questioned on the leadership of the Pan American Academy’s CEO. After providing anecdotal evidence that we had indeed selected the right leader, I realized that the argument could NOT be won as politics and individual perceptions were sabotaging any possible positive result. 

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When making everyday decisions, people adhere to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, meaning they satisfy their most basic and pressing needs first before moving on to secondary needs. In a family, for example, immediate health and safety must take priority over education and employment. Only once the most pressing needs are met can secondary, but still very important, needs be addressed.

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President Barack Obama has wisely challenged the nation to increase the college graduation rate, and his challenge has particular resonance for Philadelphia, which ranks in the bottom quarter of the nation’s 100 largest cities, when it comes to percentage of college graduates. As a nation, our rate of 39 percent (of adults with an associate degree or higher) is far short of Canada’s 55 percent and Japan’s 54 percent, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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