Kurt A. Schneider, Ph.D. is in his ninth year as Superintendent of TrueNorth Educational Cooperative 804, in Highland Park, Illinois. Under his direction, the educational cooperative works in partnership with 18 local school districts to meet the needs of diverse learners through a lens of equity and inclusive schooling practices. Dr. Schneider believes school, family, and community partnerships must together focus on establishing a rigorous core curriculum for all students and aligning human resources, policies, and financial and facility resources at all organizational levels if greater academic, social, and post-school outcomes are to be truly achieved for ALL learners.
Prior to his work at TrueNorth, Dr. Schneider was the Assistant Superintendent of Learning for the Community Consolidated School District 181 in Hinsdale, Illinois, and co-led the Department of Learning. While serving as Director of Learning for the Stoughton Area School District, he was nationally recognized by both the National Center for Educational Outcomes and the National TASH organization for his work around systems change and the raising of achievement for all students, through inclusive service delivery approaches. He co-authored a book chapter on bilingual students within integrated comprehensive services. He was elected to the national The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's Leadership Council and was recognized by them as an Emerging Leader. Dr. Schneider served on the Wisconsin ASCD chapter as a board member as well as their program planning committee.
In addition to his administrative work, Dr. Schneider also has an extensive teaching background. He has served as a part-time adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison teaching doctorate courses in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis Department, as well as pre-service student-teacher methods courses in the Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education Department. He also partnered with university faculty to establish a National Integrated Comprehensive Systems Equity Institute, held virtually.
He is a former special education teacher at elementary, middle, and high school levels in the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wisconsin, and served as a teacher, Volunteer Executive, in Alexandria, Egypt.
In addition to his doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, he has undergraduate and masters’ degrees in Special Education, all from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He maintains superintendent, curriculum/instruction, principal, and special education administrative endorsements in two states; and has earned multiple certificates from the Harvard Graduate School of Education for studying the Achievement Gap and Critical Issues in Urban Special Education.
Dr. Schneider authored the recent article
Assessment of Inclusive Practices published in the August 2023 issue of School Administrator, a national publication for superintendents and executive leaders from across the country. In October, he also recently shared his systems change work nationally on the superintendent's podcast, An Imperfect Leader.
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