WCPSS: Superintendent's Office

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Bio

Superintendent Tata After a 28-year career in the United States Army, retired Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata began his second career in public school administration as the chief operating officer of the D.C. Public Schools before becoming the superintendent of the Wake County Public School System. (Click here for more background information.)

The Wake County Board of Education named Anthony J. Tata superintendent of the Wake County Public School System on December 23, 2010. As the chief executive officer of the school system, Mr. Tata oversees its administration and implements school board policies. He began his service to Wake County's students and schools on January 31, 2011.

Anthony J. Tata graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1981 and retired after 28 years of uniformed service on June 1, 2009 as a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army. Among his many assignments, Mr. Tata commanded a paratrooper battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division and an air assault brigade in the 101st Airborne Division. In 2006-07 he served as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division and Combined/Joint Task Force-76 in Afghanistan. BG Tata deployed on combat missions and operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Panama and the Philippines. He was awarded the Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star, served as a Master Parachutist and graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School.

Mr. Tata also served as a National Security Fellow at Harvard University's JFK School of Government, earned an M.A. in International Relations from the Catholic University of America, and has a Master's of Military Art and Science from the Army's School of Advanced Military Studies. He is listed as a distinguished member of the 502nd, 504th, and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments.

A graduate of the 2009 Broad Superintendent's Academy, which focuses on preparing executives around the country for service as senior leaders in large urban school districts, General Tata served as the Chief Operating Officer of Washington, DC, Public Schools. He was a member of the Management Team that brought transformative change to DC Public Schools. In May 2010, Jane Pauley and NBC's Today Show highlighted General Tata's transition from military service to education leadership.

The author of critically acclaimed fiction novels (Sudden Threat, Rogue Threat and Hidden Threat), Mr. Tata donates 100 percent of his book proceeds to the USO Metro DC Hospital Services fund for Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda National Naval Medical Center.

Major media outlets such as CBS, NBC, Fox News, and scores of other nationally syndicated and local radio and television stations seek General Tata's reliable, balanced commentary on foreign policy, with an emphasis on Afghanistan.

(Formal bio.)

Virtual Town Halls

External Audits

The Broad Superintendents Academy provided Superintendent Tata the following independent audits free of charge to WCPSS:

The Wake County Board of Education named Anthony J. Tata superintendent of the Wake County Public School System on December 23, 2010. As the chief executive officer of the school system, Tony Tata oversees its administration and implements school board policies. He began his service to Wake County's students and schools on January 31, 2011.

Superintendent's Leadership Team

Superintendent's 90-day Plan of Entry

Goal 1: Develop a Unified Governance Team that inspires confidence with all stakeholders
1. Establish the Board and Superintendent as a cohesive leadership team with an agenda focused on improving the achievement of all students.
2. Adopt and implement a Theory of Action, Core Beliefs, and a Strategic Plan that effectively implements board policies.
3. Develop and implement appropriate communication protocols between the Board and Superintendent.
4. Review and/or create and adjust as appropriate current mission, objectives, and core beliefs.
5. Take steps to demonstrate teamwork and stability to external stakeholders in order to attract stakeholder support and other investments.
Goal 2: Focus district resources and staff efforts on teaching and learning
1. Raise expectations for all students and develop an ethos of excellence.
2. Analyze patterns in student achievement data and the gap in achievement between various student populations, in order to determine an appropriate course of action for the improvement of teaching and learning.
3. Analyze and evaluate high performing instructional programs to determine what can be modeled and replicated throughout the district to enhance student achievement.
4. Analyze and evaluate the conditions of chronically under-performing students and schools and determine a course of corrective action aimed at improving student achievement.
5. Initiate systemic improvement of personnel quality through targeted and intense professional development of staff and a focused improvement on teaching and learning for all members of the learning community.
Goal 3: Recruit, retain and train high quality employees, onboard them properly, and hold them accountable
1. Review and upgrade recruiting systems so that they operate in a timely fashion and are geared to recruit internationally, nationally, and locally, targeting institutions and communities that can provide the diversity necessary to ensure a diverse work force that represents the community and provides proper modeling for students.
2. Understand and ensure proper alignment and implementation of teacher and principal evaluation systems to ensure that we a) hold teachers and principals accountable for student achievement; and b) provide targeted professional development for our professional teaching corps.
3. Seek private funding for professional development systems and create a professional development architecture that divides development responsibilities between institutional (central office), organizational (school or central office department), and self (employee). Provide reading lists and a menu of professional development services that can cater to the three categories.
4. Ensure employee reception systems are both informational and rigorous, imparting to all employees a sense of pride and the high expectations for Wake County Public School System employees.
5. Review plans for Renaissance program and pilot as a strategic model.
Goal 4: Ensure fiscal and organizational accountability that enhances development and implementations of systems and structures that support schools
1. Implement key performance measures and routine reviews of these measures to ensure the central office staff is supporting schools, teachers, students and the community.
2. Establish baselines for each division, department, and direct report within the organization to ensure a student achievement focused agenda and cut programs that do not fit within this agenda.
3. Structure, consolidate and streamline similar functions and positions in order to maximize support for our schools.
4. Review all contracts over $100k to determine if WCPSS is getting fair market value given economic recession. Re-compete expiring contracts on more favorable terms.
5. Transform central office to one that is leaner and more entrepreneurial, more responsive, and highly attuned with the needs of schools and the community.
6. Conduct an organizational audit to provide recommendations for optimal organization.
Goal 5: Establish a supportive, positive and effective district climate and culture singularly focused on the improvement of student achievement, using a continuous improvement model
1. Develop and then communicate an understanding and ownership of the District’s Vision, Mission, Core Beliefs, and Theory of Action as an organization dedicated to raising student achievement for every child.
2. Increase personal knowledge and understanding of the Wake County Schools and community, its culture, traditions, and history.
3. Establish positive relationships with all direct reports, principals, and key District leadership. Meet, evaluate, and establish all of these as important and critical to the District’s success.
4. Effectively communicate with parents and facilitate active partnerships on behalf of students.
5. Establish a positive, professional, and collaborative relationship with the North Carolina Association of Educators leadership to ensure all decisions are made in the best interest of students and the improvement of the conditions for teaching and learning.
6. Establish strong collaborative relationships with the political leadership in the Cities, County, and State in order to establish clear lines of communication, advocacy, and support for the District’s students.
7. Establish positive working relationships with the County Manager and Commissioners.
8. Establish positive and productive working relationships with key leadership and members of business, faith-based, service, not for profit, philanthropic, and political organizations within the Wake County community and their national representative organizations.
9. Develop an external fundraising arm, or work with those that exist, to compete on the national stage for major donations from national education foundations to support proven and future innovation that enhances student achievement.
10. Increase opportunities to promote Wake County Public School System’s image inside and outside of the community and to develop advocacy for what is effective and working well.
11. Conduct an intensive media and community relations audit and establish a positive and open working relationship with the members of the media.
Implementation
- Phase 1 (Complete)
  1. Conduct Outreach with community to diffuse public controversy of selection as superintendent
  2. Meet with board members to discuss any outstanding issues from hiring
  3. Meet with staff and request Chief Academic Officer to stay in order to ensure continuity
  4. Request and review relevant data on student achievement, budget, assignment, hiring, and all operations
  5. Conduct Plan of Entry development and discussion with mentor and Broad Academy officials
  6. Attend Raleigh Chamber of Commerce reception on Jan 14, 2011 to further broaden community outreach
  7. Prioritize Research Tasks
- Phase 2: Jan 31-Mar 1 (Listen, Learn, Budget)
  1. Continue listening and learning tour of all key stakeholders
  2. Begin external audits in the following areas:
    1. Achievement gap analysis of all student populations (In Progress)
    2. Organizational efficiency of Central Services (In Progress)
    3. Public Relations and Community Outreach (Complete)
  3. Begin intensive review of the budget and develop options that protect school based personnel to the maximum extent possible (In Progress)
  4. Schedule individual days with each board member for a half day visit with schools, teachers, administrators, students, and families in their district (Complete)
  5. Conduct Board Offsite Feb 25 to establish expectations and operating procedures with external facilitator. Establish clear understandings of roles, responsibilities, expectations, and systems for mutual accountability (Complete)
  6. Submit a student achievement focused budget to the board NLT March 15 2011 (Complete)
- Phase 3: Mar 1-Apr 1 (Listen, Learn, Organizational Reform)
  1. Continue listening and learning tour of all key stakeholders
  2. Continue and review external audits and establish improvement action plan with metrics and timelines
  3. Begin a series of school statistics reviews focused on measuring accountability of central office support for schools. These reviews will be by department focusing on key performance indicators:
    1. Chief Academic Officer
    2. Chief Business Officer
    3. Communications
    4. Evaluation and research
    5. Facilities and Operations
  4. Begin a series of weekly press meetings and community outreach events to improve public trust and confidence in WCPSS
  5. Work closely with WakeEd Partnership to broaden national fundraising and link to reform initiatives in the district
  6. Begin to align onboarding and recruitment efforts with our vision and mission, establishing Cohorts and targeting Teach for America, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and other appropriate venues to recruit top talent
  7. Submit to the board for approval a transformed Central Services organizational chart
  8. Assemble student assignment task force and begin plan development
- Phase 4: Apr 1-May 1 (Listen, Learn, Assignment Policy)
  1. Continue listening and learning tour of all key stakeholders
  2. Review data generated by the achievement gap audit team and discern how to increase achievement for all students
  3. Similarly, review the data generated by the audit team and determine best methods for promoting diversity within the context of existing policy 6200
  4. Review actions of first 60 days and begin development of a strategic plan that deliberately incorporates all facets of Wake County stakeholder input. Target completion of the Strategic Plan by June 30 for implementation in SY 11-12
  5. Effect appropriate organizational change based upon approval of the Board
  6. Meet with Broad sponsored Superintendent’s Strategy Team (SST) no later than May 1 to review first 90 days in position
  7. Review assignment plan and offer recommendations to enhance choice, proximity, stability, and more effectively ensure student achievement and diversity through better resourced programs and more complete demographic data
  8. Report out after 90 days with lessons learned and plan of action that lays the foundation for the strategic plan
  9. Seek community input on student assignment concept

A PDF of the Superintendent's 90-day Plan of Entry is available.

School STAT Presentations

School STAT measures key performance and fidelity indicators to ensure that Central Office staff is effectively supporting schools, teachers, students and the community. Implementing School STAT was an objective in Superintendent Tata’s 90-day plan and officially began on March 24, 2011. So far, the departments that have been measured include: