Darden/Curry Partnership

While poverty and lack of educational resources are certainly factors in poor student performance, mismanaged districts and poor leadership also impact a student's ability to learn and achieve. The University of Virginia Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education (PLE)'s mission is to restructure the way that education is managed by the state and by the district so that students have better access to talented teachers and improved resources. The program uses a four-lever model to help school districts improve school performance. It addresses improvement in the following areas: organizational leadership, talent management, support and accountability, and data-driven instruction. As recently reported in this article, the PLE worked with districts in Oklahoma and Louisiana and the participating districts saw significant gains in student performance.