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East Stroudsburg University alumnus, Dr. Shelton Jefferies ‘94, has been named to The Broad Academy’s new cohort of exceptional and diverse K-12 education leaders. The Broad Academy is the nation’s most prominent professional-development program for current and aspiring urban school-system leaders.

Dr. Jefferies believes that education is a vehicle for empowerment. As the superintendent of Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools, in North Carolina, he passionately advocates for both equity and excellence in all district initiatives. At NRMPS he focused on broadening integrated student supports to help schools identify risk factors early and implement appropriate interventions to address chronic absenteeism. Jefferies is best known for redesigning traditional settings such as CITI high school, the Center for Industry Technology and Innovation, which focuses on providing industry certifications or an Associate Degree in Automotive Systems Technology.

The two-year Broad Academy program — which is operated by The Broad Center — supports passionate, proven leaders who are deeply focused on excellence and equity for every student and family they serve. The cohort is comprised of aspiring urban and state superintendents as well as leaders already running high-performing public-school systems as they work to grow their organizations’ effectiveness and increase their impact.

Throughout its 17 years, The Broad Academy has developed a diverse network of alumni working towards the day that every student graduates ready for college, careers and life. While nearly half of all Academy fellows are women and over half identify as leaders of color, the Academy continues to work towards building a network of leaders that better represents the students and families they serve. This year’s cohort is 58 percent female and 74 percent leaders of color. The strong network includes 154 leaders who have served as superintendents or chief executives of local and state school systems; 74 are currently serving in these leadership roles.

“The Broad Academy fellows were selected based on many factors, one of the most important being the progress they have made in advancing educational equity for the students they serve.” said Hoa Truong, managing director of The Broad Academy. “Through the program, we hope to inspire our fellows to do more than what they previously thought was possible to further that progress, because we believe that it is not possible to achieve educational excellence without equity.”

Learn more about the Broad Academy.