Outliers in Education from CEE
Co-hosted by Erich Bolz and Eric Price, “Outliers in Education” from CEE, delves into the stories of school leaders who have found uncommon success in meeting the common challenges facing educators across America. Guest educators share how they’ve overcome everything from dwindling graduation rates, disenfranchised students and staff, angry school boards and underfunded mandates in their quest to deliver an equitable, top-quality education to the young people upon whom our shared future depends. Supported by cutting edge research from CEE, this podcast is a great listen for anyone interested in changing America’s educational systems for the better.Produced by Jamie Howell, Howell at the Moon Productions (www.howellatthemoon.com)
Outliers in Education from CEE
Leadership Masterclass with Washington's Superintendent of the Year, Dr. Laurie Dent
Discover the strategies and the heart that drives exceptional educational leadership with Dr. Laurie Dent, the 2024 Washington State Superintendent of the Year. Dr. Dent unveils her playbook for guiding the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District to new heights, and how she's hit the home runs she has, including her steadfast commitment to the pursuit of a 100% graduation rate.
Dr. Dent delves into the meticulous use of student data as a compass for policy creation and underscores the value of empowering students' voices in shaping their own educational journey.
Finally, we explore the ripple effect of encouragement and the pivotal role of today's educational leaders in nurturing the leaders of the future. Who might you ignite with that spark of inspiration? Don't miss this enriching exploration into the ever-evolving landscape of educational leadership.
"Outliers in Education" is a project of CEE, The Center for Educational Effectiveness. Find out more at effectiveness.org.
Produced by Jamie Howell at Howell at the Moon Productions.
Thank you. What does it take to be the best in education? Well, that's been our entire focus here since episode one on Outliers in Education, and today we're talking to a leader who knows firsthand. Stay tuned, and we'll ask that question of the 2024 Washington State Superintendent of the Year herself.
Ad:I think we really need to change how we look at what we do in schools. Everything that we do as educators, it just comes back to people.
Dr. Laurie Dent:I love it, even when it's hard, especially when it's hard.
Ad:Ultimately. I mean, this is about what's best for kids.
Eric Price:Hey everybody, Eric Price here, along with my friend Eric Bowles from the Center for Educational Effectiveness, and we are going for gold today. You know, Bowlesy, it's nice when you're a hardworking, bordering on overwhelmed educator, just to get a little pat on the back every now and then, isn't it? Do you have any trophies in your trophy case that you remember really?
Erich Bolz:stoked your fires Not too many since third grade EP, but I was named about a decade ago as my university's alumni of the year and you know, given I think all of us have a bit of imposter syndrome, just to be considered and then reading all the other people on the list, it was, it was really quite an enormous honor. Wow, that's impressive.
Eric Price:It's a little known fact. Well, now it's going to be largely known. I think one of my like, I've got some educational awards, but one of my memorable awards I think I was in the sixth grade and I got a best of batting average trophy. It was the first trophy I ever got. That's all I've got Bowles. Seriously, that's really impressive.
Erich Bolz:Well, you peaked in sixth grade. I think that's nothing to write home about.
Eric Price:Well, today on the show we've got a leader who took down one of the highest awards in the land when it comes to education. She's been at the helm of the Sumner-Bonnie Lake School District for seven now going on eight years but she's worked in just about every other role in the district over the past 25 years. She recently spearheaded a hugely successful 100% graduation campaign and is widely recognized as a transformative leader. These are just a few of the things that led to her being named the 2024 Washington State Superintendent of the Year, and, on top of that, she somehow managed to complete the Boston Marathon, not once, but twice. Dr Lori Dent, welcome to the show.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Oh, I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
Eric Price:Well, that's impressive, like seriously the marathon, I think Bolsey and I barely make it up like an escalator that's powered. So kudos to you.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Yeah, thanks, that was quite an accomplishment.
Eric Price:Well, congratulations on Soup of the Year. That's a huge deal. They singled you out of 295 other soups across the state and it says here that you're only the 10th female superintendent to be so honored. What's that been like for you?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Well, so here's the best thing about winning that award I work with the most incredible people you will ever meet and talk about baseball. I feel like I'm a World Series coach, just kind of hanging out in the dugout watching my team hit home runs like one after another. And I'm a like a World Series coach, just kind of hanging out in the dugout watching my team hit home runs like one after another. And I'm telling you I know what it's like to strike out. So when you hit those home runs it feels pretty good and you know they. They are just like these well-seasoned, well-tuned athletes that don't back down from a challenge. Well-tuned athletes that don't back down from a challenge. They take a fast pitch like you wouldn't believe, and I'm telling you it is paying off dividends for kids. I love the work that we do and I love serving this community, but I'm telling you, this team that I'm on is just incredible.
Eric Price:Well, you can just keep going with those baseball analogies. When you got this award, did that open up any doors for you at all? The soup of the year.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Well, so let's see, it happened in November and, hey, it opened this door.
Eric Price:Drop the mic right there. Yes, done, yeah, exactly, that's all we need, right? Exactly, podcast over yes.
Dr. Laurie Dent:But it's opened doors for me to continue to tell our story of what's happening in this school district, because I'm telling you it's hard being a superintendent right now. I've told people it's not a walk in the park, it's like a marathon through a maze and you are navigating things constantly. You know, to tell the story of the great work that happens in this district every day for kids has been the best door opened possible.
Eric Price:Very cool.
Erich Bolz:I want to piggyback on something you just said there, because I think it really needs to be sussed out a bit. When you said it's hard being a superintendent right now, I don't think it matters whether you're in Pasco, where I'm coming to you from today, or in Sumner-Bonnie Lake. I would say the same thing probably applies across the board to principals what do you see as our path back to maybe a little bit more palatable, normal, predictable role for educational leaders?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Oh, that's a great question because, you're right, it's challenging being an educator. The kids that came back to us post-pandemic are different than the kids that left us, and what's been exciting and challenging in the same vein is how to respond to that. And what we've done is we've just decided to take this future-focused approach where we've embraced what's different and we lead differently. We're leading for a future that is exciting and unknown, I mean. But getting back to normal is just. It's like what we do Educators are.
Dr. Laurie Dent:They're just, they are superheroes, right, they can have a fire drill one minute, they can go to lunch recess and teach a lesson in math, all in, like you know, the span of a couple hours. But really getting back to normal for us was just building back in those routines for kids, responding to all sorts of issues ranging from mental health to a skill deficit. You know, we we just wanted to be really attentive and cultivate great relationships again with with our kids. So, you know, I wish I had something like marvelous and like this secret recipe, but truly it starts with relationships and connecting with students and really getting to know who they are again.
Eric Price:When you take a look at change and you look at there's like systems change. But you talked about some of that relationship piece. So when you look at the culture and then you look at that, systems change, there's a lot of things that go on. That's a very complicated process. What things go through your head when you say, okay, like if I'm going to really change a system or a culture? These are the things that I think about. What goes through your head?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Well, so you know, I've been in this district. I started in 98 as a teacher and then poof, here I am, right, voila, I'm superintendent. So I've seen a lot of change throughout the district and just over time, man, those big boulders boy, they sure come at you and sometimes you don't even expect it right, like our demographics. We had to respond to our demographics. That sort of snuck up on us. They were invisible to us for a while because when you get comfortable, sometimes you don't see what's right in front of you. Sometimes you don't see what's right in front of you.
Dr. Laurie Dent:And we had some real issues with equity and had to respond to those in a pretty critical way where we had to change a lot of our systems, instructionally, how we respond to students, culturally. And in this district, all of a sudden, it's like we woke up one morning and you know we weren't 93% white anymore, we were 60, like 68, 67% white. And we had to be really responsive to that and elevate students, I mean like maintain high expectations and standards and add on to what was already working. But we did so in a way that really built in that why and we put faces to stories and meaning behind issues and I mean really gave it a purpose, so that people didn't think that it was like some random act of brilliance. It was truly what this culture needed to change in a positive way, so that students wouldn't feel invisible in our classrooms, where they were honored and celebrated and valued for who they were. I mean, that's probably like that wasn't just a boulder, that was like a what's bigger than a boulder.
Erich Bolz:A big boulder, a big boulder.
Dr. Laurie Dent:But it's been amazing to see the transformation since we like just launched that. I mean it, it's been awesome. I mean our Hispanic students are graduating like crazy. I mean just knocking it off the charts, like and it's just been fun to to see students who once really felt marginalized like take ownership of their schools and yeah, it's been awesome.
Eric Price:And was that a difficult movement for adults in your system?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Yeah, I think it was difficult for all of us. It was something we weren't used to. Teachers like routine, educators like routine, and when you interrupt that system that you're talking about and introduce change, that's why it has to be done so delicately and so carefully, so that it sticks and there's sustainability with it. But, yeah, it was tough for all of us. We love kids in this district, like everybody does, but when you're asked to do something differently, you want to do it right, you want to do it well, and I work with a lot of educators that are perfectionists right, they want to be perfect.
Dr. Laurie Dent:So yeah it was like oh boy, okay, Something new that I know is good, but how do I do this?
Erich Bolz:Well, you know, everything you say about your work really resonates with me, lori. I was assistant superintendent for quite a while at Richland School District and we saw the same thing happening there. I think I was fortunate to kind of be out in front of it. It's like whoa, we're rapidly becoming more poor than we're becoming anything else and, given it was a fairly affluent community, a huge shift in what needed to happen. Can you share with us maybe a couple of specific initiatives or tasks that folks took on that you know made that ultimate difference? Yeah absolutely.
Dr. Laurie Dent:First, let me talk about our community partnerships, because sometimes I'm not sure that we always give our community the credit they deserve. When we have an issue in this district, we invite our community in to help us solve it, and they were a critical factor in helping us with all of this work related to equity. You know from our parents who have students with special needs, to families of students with color, you name it. We invited our community in to help us sit at the table, have a conversation and figure it out. What do we need to do as a district to be better for your child, our student? And you know they gave us ideas like and this sounds so simple, but where is my child seen in the hallway? Where are they seen in your libraries? When we send information home, how many languages are we sending it home in? We've purchased or that we're now using? Because of their influence and their input? You know, when we talk about change, it's like involve the people first, who the change directly impacts. And I'm telling you, when we invited our community in, what a fantastic partnership. We even invited in health workers. Are we missing anything in terms of physical or mental health with students? And from there we built just stronger, more robust systems of support for mental health. I mean, equity has so many faces to it, right? I mean, that's probably one of the highest leverage strategies we used was inviting our community in so they also knew what we were doing.
Dr. Laurie Dent:You know, we wanted parents and families to see what was happening behind the curtain when how we build systems to make schools stronger for students. And you know one of our students in particular, I remember a Hispanic female. At the time we were losing our Hispanic females like exponentially faster than other demographics. And you know we we got her connected. Well, first it was through elevating her just as a human being and a person in our schools and then cultivating a relationship with her. And then through innovation, we were offering these new programs to reach more students. And she wanted to be a teacher, had no idea until we got to know her as a person. We connected her with a program. Um, long story short first graduate in her family, wow.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Uh high first high school graduate in her family. And she has two younger siblings in our school, a school district, that are now looking up to her and looking forward to their graduation date, because we are the home of 100% graduation, right, and that's our goal and that's our mission. But to watch her graduate, to watch this family just break down and cry, I mean it actually makes me emotional right now, because I remember that they were so proud of her and I just think that we've not only changed her life but we've changed the trajectory of that entire family. High school diploma I'm telling you it is a powerful piece of paper.
Erich Bolz:I think what gets to all of us as public educators if you're able to stay in and weather. Some of the really difficult aspects of the work are just those stories when you know that you've made an impact on someone's generational trajectory. There's not too many jobs in the world where you get to come home and say you know, gosh, I did that today. Oh yeah. So thank you for sharing that and so many of the things that you talked about challenging the status quo family atmosphere we really saw in our outlier study at CEE. We also know that Sumner Bonney Lake is a great client of CEE. Sumner Bonnie Lake is a great client of CEE and generally I don't like to go the infomercial route, but you know, when you talked about cultural responsiveness, that's one of the 11 characteristics that we we help districts measure. Did you see anything in the data, or did you use the data as a catalyst for change?
Dr. Laurie Dent:We absolutely did. We put our CEE data in front of I call it, the superintendent's advisory student council, where I bring in high school students to help me solve issues at the district level, and we were drafting a new anti-racist policy for the entire district. So I was talking to the school board and I said, hey, why don't I put this in front of some kids and get their input? Because, again, they're the ones that are really the recipients of this policy and who it will help. But before I did that, I used our CEE data to show them hey, here's an issue that we're trying to, at the district level, solve and strengthen a system that really needs some kind of bones behind it. So we use that data with our student council and I'm telling you the information that they could extrapolate from the data that they saw.
Dr. Laurie Dent:You know whether kids of color felt safe. We have critical conversations about race. I'm trying to think of what exactly the questions were and they were like, yeah, we've got a problem, and what they did from that data, from their conversation, is helped us further develop the anti-racist policy that we just passed last year. And like kudos to them, because those aren't easy conversations for adults to have much less kids to have, but when they could sort of anchor themselves to the student data, that student data is. It's fantastic. It gives you so much good information about what kids are thinking. At the time they were like, oh okay, well, this is coming from kids, not adults. So, you know, maybe this, maybe what I'm feeling, is real. So, yeah, we love that data.
Eric Price:Well, it's time for us to take a short break. Stick around, because we've got a lot more to talk about with Washington State. Superintendent of the.
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Eric Price:Welcome back to Outliers in Education. Today, we're joined by the 2024 Washington State Superintendent of the Year herself, Dr Lori Dent. Now, Lori, when you talk about that 100% graduation rate and you talk about some of these anti-racist policies in conjunction with some of that graduation, what part does listening play to that? Like, how do you listen to your folks?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Like, how do you listen to your folks? Because, like, if you would say student voice to me, you know, even five years ago I have such a influence to create change. But you hear stories and you can connect with people in a way that you really can't if you don't listen to what they're saying. It's as easy and as challenging as being intentional about having conversations with people, whether they're students, staff, parents, family members, community partners but it's carving out time to have conversations, to hear the experiences that are happening around you. When you do, it's very honoring to people to just allow them to talk and to share what they've experienced. When you listen to people like Dr Larry Nyland taught me early on listen more, talk less. And when you do, the path of what you need to do as a leader is laid out for you. If you just hear it, do you think most?
Eric Price:leaders listen Laurie.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Well, it's a skill that you have to work at and it's a muscle that you I mean that you really do have to cultivate, because I think leaders, we're solution slayers right, we fix problems Right.
Eric Price:Right.
Dr. Laurie Dent:It has transformed my leadership. When you are present with people and you just listen to what their heart is telling you and you see the tears on their face or the smile, the excitement, and you can be in that moment with them to experience what they're feeling. And then, if you use it to make your systems even stronger, wow, I'm telling you. That's like an ownership that they feel and it resonates with them. It's like, yeah, I value what you're saying and here's how.
Eric Price:And did you do you think that that listening muscle really helped you in that a hundred percent graduation campaign that you have initiated?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Oh for, sure, I'm a big believer in high school diploma. You know, like many of us on this screen, I've got a lot of degrees, a lot of certificates that could probably paper a wall right. But the one that matters the most and actually it's right there on my desk it diploma I have in my office is my high school diploma, because it truly is where it's where potential starts and I mean that's our job, right is to give kids a promising future full of potential. I mean that's the exciting part of what we do. It's kind of like I'm going to give you the tool. Now go do something awesome with your life.
Eric Price:Yeah, how did you frame that in that 100% graduation campaign? How did that work? What were some of the nuts and bolts and stories that went along with that?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Well, we were missing kids. I mean, like I think when we started I was over, like I think I was around 112 kids that didn't graduate in that class.
Eric Price:Out of how many.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Well, that was about 84%. And then, you know, when I talked to the entire staff in August, I'm like, how is that OK with us for one hundred and eleven kids, or one hundred and twelve kids, not to make it to graduation? And here's what I think. I don't think they'd ever been told that, because I think for a lot of them, they teach their classes, they do a fantastic job but it wasn't real until I put a number with it. Classes, they do a fantastic job, but it wasn't real until I put a number with it. And then every year it was the same thing, and then last year I think, we missed it by about 33 kids one classroom. So it's like, take that one classroom. What are we going to do? Well, we're going to try new things, we're going to innovate, right. We cultivate, we elevate, we innovate. I mean, that's what we do right.
Dr. Laurie Dent:It's like it caught fire because everyone in that football stadium that we were with had a high school diploma and they knew. They knew that that's where it started. That's what you need to get a job. Not everybody's going to go to college or the university, but you can do something if you have a high school diploma. And when I told them about the kids we were missing, they were like, oh, like kids don't graduate and we just built in this I mean real meaning behind what it means to have a high school diploma.
Dr. Laurie Dent:I even put out this challenge in the district for people to go dig out their high school diplomas and put them in their office. They sent me pictures with their high school diploma. Like there were times we had district competitions. You know if X amount of high school teachers sent their diplomas in, or maintenance workers, or you know they got donuts or cookies or something, but so we had a lot of fun with it. But we also made it meaningful and impactful and people around here. It's like that's what we stand for. We want every single student to cross that stage and graduate. Yeah, I mean, who are we going to leave behind, right, like who's not going to graduate?
Erich Bolz:Yeah, an 85% graduation rate sounds great, unless your kid's in that 15. That's always been a mantra of mine. Hey, switching gears slightly, we're a little bit north of. One in four superintendents in Washington state identify as female. It's a bit better than the national average. I think it's still a question of is it enough progress and what can we collectively do to facilitate more women leaders reaching the pinnacle of our profession?
Dr. Laurie Dent:It's always great when we can talk about females in leadership positions. I mean, we make up 75% of the educational staff, right? And yet we make up just a fraction of the superintendency. And boy, there's so many layers to that right Of why and how that happens. But I think, honestly, we've got to start educating our school boards. They're the ones that hire superintendents and they tend to hire they tend to hire males, and it's putting female leaders in positions of influence and change, so that they can really show their leadership skills and what it takes to create, you know, systematic change. But, honestly, I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done with school boards to dispel some myths and a narrative that's out there about women leading massive organizations. I mean, I'm one of the largest employers in Pierce County. We're like a major corporation here, right. We're not a schoolhouse. I mean, I got a $200 million operating budget, right.
Eric Price:Laurie, if you were going to give a young woman some advice that was going into that leadership what would you say to her?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Probably one of the first pieces of advice I would give her is to surround herself with the best people possible and really your outside influences become what you portray on the outside to people. You know the people that are around you. They influence you greatly, you know, you internalize it and then all of a sudden you start sounding like it. So be careful and very thoughtful about who you surround yourself with. Find people that are smarter than I am, that have done you know bigger and greater things, so that I can learn from them.
Eric Price:That is not a hard ask for Bowles and me when we get people that are smarter.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Oh my gosh, we just find anybody in the room. You guys are funny, I mean. But seriously right, like smarter people will make you smarter and some people shy away from that. But I'm telling you, you find the smartest person in the room and you go, develop a relationship and you figure out what they're doing. So many talented women in Washington state.
Erich Bolz:I've always said my whole life if I felt like I was the smartest person in the room, I needed to leave the room. I wasn't in the right room. A quick follow-up what other platforms might we lever access to bring more attention to this issue? Recruiting, mentoring, creating the conditions where taking time off to be with little ones isn't a seven-year black mark on a resume? Kai, I mean, you identified their layers. Where would we start and what would be those impact points?
Dr. Laurie Dent:So it's going to start with me, and it's me knowing my staff, knowing teachers in the buildings. Who are you going to tap on the shoulder next? Somebody tapped me on the shoulder and I still remember that person to this day, but they saw something in me that they believed in. So it's going to start with who I am as a leader, and am I looking for potential, not perfection, but am I looking to see who in this district is leading in a way that fits our core values and how we would want our students to learn?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Laurie who was that that gave you the tap? Yeah, her name was Mary Louise Peterson. She was the executive director of HR. I just finished my MBA and thought, hey, I might give the whole corporate thing a shot, you know. And she was like uh-uh. She's like, have you ever thought about being an administrator? I was like, what do you mean Like an administrator, like the principal? And she was like yeah. And I was like, well, no. And she, yeah. She sat me down and we had a long talk and, lo and behold, a few months later I was starting my program at the University of Washington.
Ad:Wow.
Dr. Laurie Dent:And it was really because she knew of my work. She didn't really know me, but she was fantastic at just kind of making you feel seen and I felt honored that she would even like talk to me. Like holy smokes, that's Mary Louise Peterson. And then I saw her do that several times to other women and I thought, yeah, that's. It starts with yourself as a leader, recognizing what's around you and really developing. Asking first, ask a question Some people don't even. You know, like me, I didn't even think about it.
Dr. Laurie Dent:And then you know you go from there, but it means I don't lead from behind my desk, that I'm out and about and I'm talking to principals and then I'll ask them who are you tapping? Who are you tapping on the shoulder to? You know continue this sort of legacy of excellence that I inherited from Dr.
Eric Price:Eisenman.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Wow, wow yeah.
Eric Price:Wow, Lori, there is so much there, like some of these themes about asking, listening, being seen, relationships and our good friend Bolzy. Now his job is to wrap this a masterclass in leadership. So I think, if I were to synthesize right off the bat, I would say wow, there were some pretty incredible leadership notions dropped.
Erich Bolz:I'll extrapolate a little bit. It's hard being a superintendent right now. I think it's hard. Being a classroom teacher right now it's hard. I think any station that you occupy in public education is just really hard. Right now Things are different post-pandemic.
Erich Bolz:It requires a future-focused approach. It requires leading and learning differently. Relationships with kids there aren't any secret recipes. It starts with relationships. We know that from our work in the Outlier Study. We also help you measure that at CEE.
Erich Bolz:I loved what Lori had to say about really noticing the issues with equity. As your demographics change, you continue to operate in the same way. We're leaving folks behind. I loved what she had to say about community leaders inviting the community in to help solve the issue. We know from Heifetz's work in particular, our role as adaptive leaders is to facilitate change. You know there is no. Even though Lori, in her office full of disclosure, has a Wonder Woman costume hanging off of her door, we don't put that mantle on as our work mantra. We facilitate the genius that's in our collective communities to excellence those of us who do the work well. Relationships precede innovation. I don't know how many times we've heard derivatives on that theme.
Erich Bolz:Elevating student voice to contribute to anti-racist policy. We absolutely believe that what we collect at CEE on the student side provides those opportunities in spades and it was great to hear Lori line that out the same way I might with another client. So lots of connections to former podcast guests, the anti-racist work, the DEI work. I thought a lot about what Aaron Jones has had to say on earlier episodes. I thought about what Randy Russell and his students from Freeman had to say about elevating student voice and Aaron Christopher and our good friend Eric Sabota, the superintendent up in Reardon School District, on how they're using deep listening to elevate student voice. So again, lots and lots of common threads.
Erich Bolz:Leadership is a conversation again taken right out of the Chuck Salina and Suzanne Gertz Powerless to Powerful framework. We talk a lot about the power of one-on-ones. Again, some of our favorite podcast guests and colleagues, chuck Salina and Suzanne Gertz, really doing remarkable work with their tried and true transformation framework Listen more, talk less. I'm not necessarily modeling that right now, but the path for leaders is laid out if you hear it. Just love the cultivate, elevate, innovate mantra. And high school diploma. The high school diploma is where potential starts, man. I think if we could craft a bumper sticker from this episode and get that in front of every single educator, that might make a difference. School boards need to be educated because, after all, they are the folks who make the decision to hire the leader that they hire. So getting over some potential aversions or biases around leaders of color, female leaders, that starts with who we elect. So get out there and vote people, and who are you going to tap on the shoulder next?
Erich Bolz:I thought a lot about my own principal mentor, rick Linehan. I became a principal because of Rick's belief in me as a 20-something-year-old guy in 1997. If he liked you, he called you coach. He said, coach, you need to be a principal. Really, I need to be a principal and it was just a great reminder that we all stand on the shoulders of those giants that just make that time for us. I love what Lori had to say about leaders making people feel seen and the whole thing really underscored for me what we encounter every single time we wrap one of these episodes. There are a few things that matter in the transformative process. We measure those 11 domains at CEE and we study those 23 characteristics and conditions inside of our outlier study. So, lori, while you covered a lot of profound and important ground, I think this is going to be a real winner for our guests.
Dr. Laurie Dent:Wow, you make what I sound way better than how I said it.
Erich Bolz:So no, I don't.
Dr. Laurie Dent:I just need to take you with me wherever I go.
Erich Bolz:That could probably be arranged. That would be, yeah, cause.
Dr. Laurie Dent:I'm listening to you speak. I'm like holy cow, that sounds fantastic, but uh, yeah. So thank you, Thanks for letting me be here. I mean, talking about this school district is like one of my favorite things. I love this place.
Eric Price:Well, congratulations again on being the 2024, you know, soup of the year. Is there a next step for you? What do you do from here?
Dr. Laurie Dent:Gosh, that's a great question. I haven't reached 100% yet. You know, I've got about 8% to go and then we'll see what happens. But until every kid crosses that stage, my mission is not complete.
Eric Price:Lori, thank you so much. So many things. Like Bo said, it is really a masterclass. There are so many boulders that you really addressed in here that a leader could chew on really for months just thinking about one of those things. So, thank you again. Lots of great things to think about.
Erich Bolz:So fantastic to have you on the show, and thanks to all of you for listening in today. You can find this episode and more anywhere you listen to your favorite podcast or visit us online at effectivenessorg. Until next time. This has been Outliers in Education.
Ad:If you'd like to find out how to gather the data you need to help drive positive change in your school or district, take a moment to visit CEE, the Center for Educational Effectiveness, at effectivenessorg. Better data, better decisions, better schools effectivenessorg.
