Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney Appointed to Chiefs for Change Board

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The Aldine ISD superintendent is among the national organization’s four newly appointed Board members.

Aldine ISD Superintendent Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney looks over a student’s work.

Chiefs for Change, a bipartisan network of state and district education leaders, today announced four new members of its Board of Directors:

• Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney, Superintendent, Aldine Independent School District, Texas
• Mohammed Choudhury, State Superintendent of Schools, Maryland
• Chad Gestson, Superintendent, Phoenix Union High School District, Arizona
• Christina Grant, State Superintendent, District of Columbia

The chiefs join Chair Pedro Martínez, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee, and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson in their service on the board.

“These extraordinary chiefs have deep expertise. They are leading critical work in their own systems and join our board at an especially important time in public education,” said Chair Martínez. “America’s students have been through a lot over these past couple of years. Everyone in our network is laser-focused on helping children recover and ensuring they have what they need to succeed now and in the future. At Chiefs for Change, we do this on multiple fronts: through our newly enhanced technical assistance, collective advocacy, and robust leadership development initiatives. This is how we will help the nation build excellent school systems that serve all students well. I look forward to partnering with my colleagues on the board and know that together, with all of our members, we will seize this moment to drive real change.”

Dr. Goffney is honored to have been selected to serve on the organization’s board.

Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney

“I was born in poverty,” Goffney said. “I never knew my father. My grandparents — Bigmama and Papa — raised me. Bigmama worked as a maid cleaning homes, and my Papa couldn’t read or write his name. They instilled in me the importance of getting an education and a love of reading. As my Papa would say, ‘Tonya if you can read, you can go anywhere.’ I know there are many Tonyas in our schools. I understand the challenges of poverty. My story is similar to that of many of my students in Aldine and many students around the country. That is why I work with a sense of urgency. We must do everything we can to give all children opportunities to succeed in school and life. The members of Chiefs for Change not only share that goal but are doing the difficult and essential work needed to achieve it. It is an honor to be appointed to the board and to serve with my distinguished colleagues.”

There are currently 54 members of Chiefs for Change, 40 of whom are actively serving as chiefs. Of that group, 34 lead districts, and six lead state education departments. 72% of members are leaders of color, and 54% are women.

Chiefs for Change is one of a dozen partners in the Coalition to Advance Future Student Success. The coalition was created to help ensure that the $190 billion in federal covid relief aid for K-12 education is spent effectively and efficiently. To support projects aligned to the coalition’s 10-point framework, Chiefs for Change is dramatically expanding its technical assistance operations. A new internal team is working with the network’s chiefs in residence, who are former superintendents) and high-quality external partners to provide targeted technical assistance to school districts and state education departments. The team engages with system leaders and others to understand a system’s needs and examine relevant issues. Based on that information, the technical assistance team helps the system develop and implement programs, evaluate their impact, and scale those shown to make a difference.

Through this technical assistance work, Chiefs for Change also produces toolkits and resources that any system can use to learn about promising ways to address common problems. The resources are free and publicly available. Materials to date include:

• A guidebook for creating high-dosage tutoring programs in partnership with community organizations
• Tools to help states and districts address and meet students’ well-being needs
• Resources (here and here) that outline promising practices for retaining and attracting district mental health support staff.
• Resources (here and here) describe promising practices for creating strong partnerships with community mental health providers.
• A brief to help systems tell the story of how federal pandemic recovery funds support students.
• A resource that explains how Registered Apprenticeship programs can help to address a teacher shortage.
• A guidebook to help systems implement large-scale initiatives
• A report outlining recommendations for effective and efficient procurement operations

These resources are part of the curriculum for the Chiefs for Change Future Chiefs leadership development program that prepares talented, diverse emerging leaders to become superintendents.

The Chiefs for Change Board of Directors is composed of experienced K-12 leaders who work with the entire membership to identify priorities and set the strategic direction for the organization. To read the network’s core beliefs, click here.