Last weekend, two dozen accomplished men and women-mid-career professionals from outside the education establishment-spent a weekend in boot camp training to become superintendents of urban school districts in a program aimed at funneling highly talented people into those key roles. Funded by Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad, the program is built on the belief that leadership skills translate from one field to another, and also that outsiders have not bought into "the dense web of understandings and accommodations that make it so difficult to change any large organization," writes reporter Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times. ("Ailing School Systems Prescribed an Injection of Leadership," by Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2002) In Chicago, the school district is actively seeking former soldiers for teaching positions, with the goal of quickly moving them into jobs as principals. The district is advertising in military magazines and visiting bases to recruit members of the military for special programs that place applicants into full-time teaching positions while they earn certification as teachers and administrators. ("Chicago Seeks Soldiers for Schools," by Nicole Ziegler Dizon, Washingtonpost.com, June 21, 2002)
