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The 2010 Education Leadership Case Competition

Pittsburgh Public Schools:
The Pathway to the Promise Starts Here

2010 Logo

The Haas School of Business at UC-Berkeley is pleased to announce that it has selected Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) as its partner for the 4th annual Education Leadership Case Competition. The competition will once again take place at UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business on February 12 and 13, 2010. The competition is for MBAs and other graduate students from across the country. The purpose of the case competition is to bring attention to a critical, real-time issue in education, and to provide an opportunity for talented and dedicated graduate students to create potential solutions for the issue. If you are interested in sending a team to compete please see our application section.

This year's competition focuses on Pittsburgh Public Schools and the nationally recognized work of Superintendent Mark Roosevelt. On November 18, Pittsburgh Public Schools was awarded $40M from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the single largest donation ever to the school system. The grant will help fund a sweeping set of reforms focused on maximizing teacher effectiveness. Pittsburgh is one of only five districts nationally to be awarded the grant from the Gates Foundation. The grant is a testament to the reform work that the district has already been engaged in and the district's potential to become a national model for urban education reform. For the full above-the-fold headline in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, click here.

Superintendent Roosevelt has been at the helm since 2005, leading a set of reforms called "Excellence for All." Superintendent Roosevelt and other district leaders have generated significant attention for their efforts in Pittsburgh. In addition to its emerging partnership with the Gates Foundation, PPS has generated significant attention for the Pittsburgh Promise ®, an innovative $135M partnership between PPS and several local foundations and corporations that aims to remove financial barriers for Pittsburgh students to attend post-secondary institutions while also ensuring that all students are "promise ready" - ready for success in college and beyond. These and other initiatives have generated significant media attention, from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the New York Times and the Pittsburgh Quarterly. In a true sign of commitment to the long term nature of this work and trust in his leadership, the PPS Board recently extended Superintendent Roosevelt's contract through 2014.

We are also very pleased to announce that Superintendent Mark Roosevelt will be attending the Case Competition as a judge, marking the first time in the history of the competition that the head of an urban school district has attended as a judge. Superintendent Roosevelt is a graduate of the Broad Superintendents Academy and was previously a state representative in Massachusetts, serving as chairman of the legislature's committee on education and co-authoring the landmark $40M Education Reform Act of 1993 in Massachusetts. In 1994, he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Massachusetts. He has also served as the Managing Director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. We look forward to welcoming him and members of his team to Berkeley in February.

 

CASH PRIZES

1st Place: $3,000 cash + $2,000 Donor's Choose donation

2nd Place: $1,500 cash + $1,000 Donor's Choose donation

JUDGES

  • Mark Roosevelt, Superintendent, Pittsburgh Public Schools
  • Amy Malen, Pittsburgh Public Schools
  • Holly O'Donnell, Pittsburgh Public Schools
  • Jeff Kutash, Managing Director, FSG Social Impact Advisors
  • Suzanne Anthony, Fellowship Manager, The Mind Trust
  • 1-2 additional judges will be named in the coming weeks

2010 SPONSORS

Thank you to our lead sponsor, the Broad Foundation. We are actively seeking other sponsors. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of being a sponsor, please contact Jason Hirschhorn at Jason_Hirschhorn@mba.berkeley.edu. Our sponsors enable us to continue another great year of delivering the nation's only education case competition for business and public policy students.

Lead Sponsor

HISTORY

Our previous case competitions made a difference for DC Public Schools in 2009, New Orleans Public Schools in 2008 and Oakland Unified School District in 2007. But there are more schools, education nonprofits, and districts that need our help. Thanks to all who made this possible.

Learn more about our previous competitions:

2009 ELCC: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Nation's Capital (DC Public Schools)

2008 ELCC: Rebuilding New Orleans Public Schools

2007 ELCC: Results-Based Budgeting with Oakland Unified School District

 

 

The ELCC is brought to you by the Haas Education Leadership Club