In education management matters

I talked to a friend who is President of the Emeryville School district. This is a rare case of a district having only one high school, a very high tax base because the City has so much commerce relative to children and a nearly all minority school population.

This high school has gotten significantly higher test scores from 2003 to 2007, roughly a 30% improvement on the Academic Performance Index.

What accounts for this unique success with the same school population over five years?  A male principal was brought in from a private Catholic school who had superb management skills.

That simple explanation makes sense to me.

I can readily understand that management is a major issue in school success.  Most public schools were founded in the 19th Century or modeled on earlier schools and use 19th Century management structure without metrics, rewards, constant feedback, delegated responsibility or meritocracy.

Just an observation that makes sense to me. 

(I also note a separate problem, that there are few minority male teachers to serve as examples for male minority students. My anecdotal evidence suggests that males are terrified of teaching because sexual harassment laws will likely destroy their careers, regardless of how saintly they are.)