T.J. Farler, superintendent of Pine Tree Independent School District, is one of 39 school leaders chosen for a leadership program, which according to the Texas Association of School Administration (TASA), could help define the future of public education in the state. Farler, who was selected from 1,037 districts in Texas eligible to apply, expressed pride in being selected for the inaugural year of the program.

"I look forward to examining, defining and implementing what it will take to transform our education system into future-ready learning environments," said Farler. "The mission we are charged with as leaders in education is to innovate and to create environments for learning that look very different from when we, or our parents were in school."
 

The program is designed to develop and sustain leaders who are willing to expand their leadership beyond the local level and work together to define the future of public education in our state. TASA’s Future-Ready Superintendents Leadership Institute is designed to create a cadre of superintendents who will help develop and initiate innovative, systemic changes, both locally and statewide, that support the mission of the original Public Education Visioning Institute and the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium.
 

The 39 Future-Ready superintendents and senior-level district administrators in the early stages of their careers will work together in the spirit of student-centered learning. The design of the institute is modeled after elements of project-based learning, action research, the flipped classroom and design thinking.

There are five Institute sessions, with the first session beginning on November 8 and the remaining sessions continuing through September 2013. Institute participants will gain enhanced capabilities to lead in times of change; increased capacity to transform the system, including a sustained collaborative network among the participants; and clarity of vision as the participants create models of student-centered schools across the state.
 

From the East Texas region, Texarkana ISD Superintendent Paul Norton and Nacogdoches ISD Superintendent, Fred Hayes, will also participate in the five-session program, which will start Nov. 8.

“These are considered your sort of up and coming superintendents that are engaged, that are looking for change in the way that we educate students,” TASA spokeswoman Suzanne Marchman said.

For more information about the Future-Ready Superintendents Leadership Institute, go to http://www.tasanet.org/future-ready-superintendents-leadership-institute.