Vol. 20, No. 2 - Spring 2004

Ken Dragseth: Not your stereotypical suburban superintendent

by Mary Beth Leone-Getten

In some respects, being superintendent in Edina, Minn., the tony upper-middle class suburb just outside of Minneapolis, could have been a straightforward proposition. Because of its affluence, stable population, and community commitment to educational excellence, the district has avoided many challenges that plague public schools with more diverse student populations.

And yet, against the backdrop of suburban prosperity, Edina Public Schools Superintendent Ken Dragseth has become a vocal advocate for all who are underserved in public education, stepping up to take the heat while leading the district to make some bold educational choices.

In recognition of his efforts, Dragseth has received many honors. Most recently he was named National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators.

Dragseth admits that, while tremendously rewarding, his approach hasn’t made life easy. But Edina’s superintendent has navigated the complicated world of public education with a surprisingly simple philosophy: Do what’s best for kids.

This rule of thumb has taken Edina schools to the leading edge of educational research and practice in the U.S., and, by some measures, the world.

“There are so many complicated decisions you have to make in education —about budgets, staff, programs—but when you ask the question, ‘Is this right for kids?’ it becomes much easier to make those decisions,” says Dragseth.

“As much as we value the success of every student, because of individual differences—languages, family situation, learning abilities—it is not realistic to expect every single child to pass the same test.”

Dragseth grew up on a farm in South Dakota and attended a K–12 school of 250 students. There was never any doubt that the Dragseth children would go on to college. His mother had been a teacher and Dragseth remembers the presence of aunts and uncles who were educators as well. His father, the first to attend college in his family, became a vocal member of the school board as a way to make sure that local kids had educational opportunities and choices beyond high school. After earning a degree at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., where he met his future wife Mari (now a media specialist in the nearby Hopkins district), Dragseth came to Edina in 1967 as a middle-school math teacher, a job he loved and might have kept indefinitely if circumstances had been different.

But with the Vietnam War in full swing, after only two years on the job, Dragseth was drafted. After finishing Navy Officer Candidate School, the 24-year-old was assigned to a job as a supply officer, supervising 30 men—a crash course in leadership that changed the direction of his career.

Back in Minnesota, he used the G.I. Bill to study at the University of Minnesota, earning a master’s degree in educational administration in 1972 and a doctorate in education in 1980. Dragseth likes to say he “grew up” in the district, methodically working through the administrative ranks before being named superintendent in 1992.

Leading by serving

Dragseth classifies the life of a superintendent as, “the best and worst of education jobs, rolled into one.” He acknowledges long days and countless meetings, but relishes the challenge of working with his many constituents—who all need to be heard and responded to. “In spite of strong opinions on both sides,” Dragseth says, “a successful superintendent can get the board to work as a team to take action on issues.”

To guide the staff that supports Edina’s 7,000 students, Dragseth practices “servant leadership,” a philosophy where leadership begins by serving others first, then leading in a way that creates more leaders.

He believes this is the best leadership style for public schools because it takes the view that the opinions and actions of every single person matter. Chace Anderson, another alumnus of the college and assistant superintendent of Edina Public Schools, says, “Even when he may have preferred a different approach or outcome, I always knew that Ken understood the complexities of the job and has respected my decisions.”

Welcoming diversity

“The next five to 10 years will be crucial to determine whether America will support our public education system, or abandon it to the point where it is only for the poor and disenfranchised.”

Dragseth is passionate about giving students, staff, and the community more exposure to the diversity that exists outside the city’s borders. “Edina students are going to live in a world that is much different from what they see here and we are remiss if we don’t prepare them for life in that world,” Dragseth says.

In 1989, Dragseth became a founding member of the West Metro Education Program (WMEP), a voluntary consortium of urban and suburban school districts formed to address issues of school integration and promote community acceptance of differences. This landmark group brought about the first voluntary school desegregation effort in the country through a program that gives 2,000 low-income Minneapolis students the opportunity to attend suburban schools. Through the program, Edina schools educate about 200 urban students.

When the WMEP proposed opening a school in Edina, Dragseth became the center of a political firestorm that culminated in what he called, “the most controversial and angry board meeting in my tenure,” with people polarized on issues of race and local autonomy.

In the end, the state government withdrew funding, and the community abandoned the project. Dragseth has no regrets about pushing the issue. “I still strongly believe we have an obligation to make sure all kids have the opportunity to be successful, no matter where they live.”

Honoring adolescent sleep patterns

In 1994, the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) contacted Minnesota superintendents to ask them to consider later start times for high school students based on research that adolescents have natural sleep patterns that lead to later bedtimes, causing teens to be in a constant state of “sleep debt,” which interferes with learning, can lead to depression, drug and alcohol use, and difficulty dealing with others.

As a result, in August 1996, Edina Public Schools become the first district in the United States to adopt a later start time. Making the change was a big logistical undertaking, including more than 20 attempts to find a bus schedule that worked. Scores of parents were upset about its impact on family schedules.

Dragseth’s leadership has prompted the district to make many decisions based on cutting-edge research, often substantiating its choices by conducting studies in partnership with the college.

“I feel very fortunate to have such an excellent resource to help us validate and expand our educational practices with sound research,” Dragseth says. He enlisted the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) to do a study comparing students in Edina to students in early-start schools over the first year.

By year’s end, parents, students, and teachers were all pleased with the change and Edina students had performed better academically, with fewer attendance problems and less tardiness. Minneapolis, which followed Edina’s lead to become a late-start district, has shown a significant reduction in school dropout rates and less depression.

Uncovering gender bias

Sometimes underserved students show up in unlikely places. After attending a series of year-end student award ceremonies, Dragseth noticed a surprising trend when looking at the programs: the students most likely to achieve academically were almost all girls.

To verify that there was indeed a gender difference in student achievement, Dragseth formed a committee to take a historical look at things that could be used to measure success or failure in the district—like tardiness, awards, participation in sports, or behavioral problems.

The findings were eye-opening: beginning in late elementary school, girls do better than boys in most every positive category, while more boys receive suspensions, are diagnosed as learning disabled, and are represented in greater numbers in remedial, intervention, and special education programs. “Left unchecked, more and more boys will simply not attend college,” Dragseth says. “This is a crucial educational issue that really affects how successful boys will be in life—not just school.” Some predict that by 2015 only 35 percent of students attending college will be males.

Based on these findings, Edina has implemented changes to create a learning environment that works for both male and female students, including continued research on the topic, a more diverse staff, and more positive ways to discipline and counsel students.

Thoughts on public education

His tenure as National Superintendent of the Year has given Dragseth the opportunity to explain the intricacies of American public schools to educators and administrators around the world and to reflect on the successes and challenges in public schools today.

One of our biggest mistakes, he says, is incessant testing of our students, which he fears sends the wrong message about learning—teaching kids to study in order to do well on a test, but not for the value of the information itself.

“Tests are only one measure of student success and there are hundreds of important things we teach in our schools that can’t be tested or measured.”

On a recent trip to China, Dragseth asked a school principal about China’s testing practices and liked her answer: In China, she said, students are rarely tested before ninth grade, because they don’t want to destroy their love of learning.

Dragseth is equally concerned and puzzled about the push for more government control over public education from politicians who ran on promises of small governments. He views No Child Left Behind as a law that sets everyone up to fail, even in high-achieving districts like Edina.

“As much as we value the success of every student, because of individual differences—languages, family situation, learning abilities—it is not realistic to expect every single child to pass the same test.” It is, he says, unfair to decide whether a school has failed its students on that basis.

During his international travels, he found that most of the schools he visited were respectful of American education, praising our broad curriculum, strong parent involvement, and especially the fact that students with special needs are educated in the same schools.

As for the future of American public education, Dragseth sums it up this way: “The next five to 10 years will be crucial to determine whether America will support our public education system, or abandon it to the point where it is only for the poor and disenfranchised.”