Joe Hairston

When Joe Hairston, Ed.D., took over as Superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools in 2000, the county was in the midst of economic and demographic turbulence that has persisted until the present day. While overall enrollment has declined slightly, the percentage of minority students has increased past the 50% mark. In addition, the recession hit Baltimore County hard, and the number of students eligible for subsidized lunches has skyrocketed from about a fourth to nearly half of all students. Conventional wisdom insists that academic achievement will suffer in the face of such socioeconomic trends, but Dr. Joe Hairston shattered the conventional wisdom with his performance-based approach to managing a system of 105,000+ students.

Among the initiatives Dr. Joe Hairston implemented was the establishment of a public-private partnership that included military contractors, colleges and universities, and area software developers, who worked together to create new ways for students to learn. Another of Dr. Joe Hairston's successes is the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) initiative. Currently in place in more than half the county's high schools, AVID successfully places underachieving students from low-income families on educational tracks leading to college. These and other of Dr. Joe Hairston's initiatives, combined with the replacement of low-level courses with academically rigorous alternatives, promulgated a culture of high expectations and opportunity for all students.

Due to Dr. Joe Hairston's initiatives, students are outperforming their forebears in Baltimore and their peers nationwide. In 2003, just over 10% of Baltimore County students performed at an advanced level in math, and about 20% in reading. Today, more than 30% of students are advanced in math, and 40% are advanced in reading. Maryland School Assessment scores for Elementary and middle school reading and mathematics have risen to a 10-year high. Of those eligible for subsidized lunches, the percentage that ranked as advanced climbed from 10% in 2003 to 29% in 2011. Likewise, each of the four major racial groups in the county at least doubled its percentage of advanced students in math and reading.