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Award-winning superintendents tout the tools in their kits for reaching low-income students

In 2022, at Bristol City Schools in Tennessee, a problem and solution presented themselves at about the same time to superintendent Annette Tudor.

At the time, just 80.5 percent of economically disadvantaged students in the district鈥檚 traditional high school were graduating, almost 10 points below the schoolwide average. What鈥檚 more, many of those students were leaving school with plans to stay in the community but without the skills required to be productive in the local workforce.

Then came a state grant designed to fund education innovation and, separately, a local businessman who was having trouble finding entry-level workers for his car dealerships. He also had a vacant dealership, complete with automotive bays, that he was willing to donate to the 4,000-student district.

The result became Viking Academy, a high school option that now provides students with individualized academic support, daily intervention, mental health counseling, career coaching and programs that prepare them for jobs in the community. Since its launch, graduation rates for the district鈥檚 economically disadvantaged students have climbed from 83.5 percent in 2023 to 95 percent in 2025, according to Tudor, effectively closing the gap with their peers.

鈥淚t was like the missing link,鈥� Tudor says. 鈥淲e were successful with lots of pockets of students, and now we鈥檝e closed that gap.鈥�

Raising Prospects

School districts long have grappled with a deep socioeconomic achievement gap in K鈥�12 education, which only worsened during the pandemic. Data from Stanford and Harvard show that as of 2024, the highest-income districts are recovering nearly four times faster than the poorest ones, leaving low-income students even further behind.

But some communities are finding ways to elevate the prospects of economically disadvantaged students. Among them are eight 2026 state superintendents of the year, including Tudor, who have made closing achievement gaps a priority in their leadership work.

What sets them apart, says Thomas Gentzel, retired executive director of the National School Boards Association and a longtime judge in the superintendent of the year competition, is a willingness to look honestly at their own districts, the smart use of data, community partnerships and a student-centered focus.

Adds Gentzel: 鈥淚 admire districts that are willing to hold the mirror up in front of themselves and say, 鈥榃hat is it that we need to do to help them?鈥欌��

Turnaround Efforts

The number of students eligible for subsidized school lunches is growing, reaching about 53.3 percent in the 2022鈥�23 school year, according to USA Facts, citing National Center for Education Statistics data.

Today鈥檚 low-income students, however, are facing challenges beyond poverty, including a lack of social and community connections, serious mental health struggles and substance abuse. Those personal challenges mean students need more focused attention.

In Bristol, Tudor remembers a high school junior whose father was disabled and whose stepmother was grappling with cancer. He鈥檇 been kicked off the bus in middle school for behavioral issues. With no transportation, he was missing school and needed to work and care for his family.

He started failing classes in the district鈥檚 alternative online school. But at Viking Academy, the schedule was flexible. He could work mornings and attend classes in the afternoon. Getting a job was a priority for him, so he worked with the academy鈥檚 career coach, who helped him take an aptitude assessment and practice his interview skills. He landed on auto mechanics.

鈥淚t turned his life around,鈥� Tudor says. 鈥淏ut he鈥檚 just one example.鈥�

Flipping Scripts

While leading another district, Peter Gretz, now superintendent of Fluvanna County Public Schools in rural Palmyra, Va., remembers the two teenagers dubbed 鈥減erennial discipline nightmares鈥� who were sent, unaccompanied, to deliver materials to a local museum. The high school principal was alarmed they鈥檇 be trusted to go alone, but the museum director later sent a glowing note praising 鈥渢hese two wonderful boys,鈥� unaware of their reputations.

The two students had been part of Compass Academy in Middlesex County Public Schools in rural Saluda, Va., where Gretz previously was superintendent. The program is designed for students with chronic attendance issues, discipline histories or who sit far off track on credits.

Through the academy, students get a more personalized, relationship-driven environment that blends online and in-person classes, hands-on projects and community service. Students even help design their learning spaces.

鈥淭he notion of agency is an important one,鈥� Gretz says. Students in the program have long felt marginalized, he explains. They believe nobody expects them to succeed, so they don鈥檛.

Letting them design their classrooms sends the message to students that their opinion is valued and what they want matters, he says. In the last four years, the program has achieved a 100 percent on-time graduation rate, up from 75 percent in 2018. 鈥淪ome of these kids just need to be believed in,鈥� Gretz says.

Accommodating Students

In rural Windber, Pa., because of the region鈥檚 poverty level, every student can receive a free breakfast or lunch. That reality, says Michael Vuckovich, superintendent of Windber Area School District, demands a different kind of school. 鈥淥ur system needs to meet with kids where they鈥檙e at, not the kids meeting [the] system where it鈥檚 at,鈥� he explains.

When Vuckovich landed in Windber in 2023, just 43 percent of students in 3rd to 8th grade were proficient in English language arts. For economically disadvantaged students, it was 32 percent. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a teacher issue, it was a systems issue,鈥� he says.

So they took a harder look at the district鈥檚 core programs and made changes. He ultimately built a program that combines a research-based structured literacy approach, along with a support system that includes behavioral and social-emotional interventions.

The goal is to match higher expectations for kids with equally high levels of support and, as Vuckovich puts it, 鈥減rovide hope and opportunity鈥� for every student. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e ever going to get the academic gains we want until we help kids feel safe, respected, loved and cared for,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o we had to do that.鈥�

Systemic Intervention

Other superintendents of the year are finding creative ways to keep low-income students on track.

In suburban Oklahoma鈥檚 Sand Springs Public Schools, about two-thirds of students qualify for subsidized school lunch, and the district serves a sizable population of students who are homeless, says Sherry Durkee, Sand Springs superintendent.

In 2023, district data revealed increased absenteeism among economically disadvantaged students and lagging graduation rates, Durkee wrote in her superintendent of the year application. Those findings uncovered an urgent need for 鈥渟ystemic intervention.鈥�

In response, the district provides services centered around keeping students, especially those from low-income or high-needs backgrounds, engaged in school long enough to graduate with real options for their future.

That includes providing after-school enrichment through federal 21st Century grants, clothing swap shops and two school-based family specialists who connect families with community resources for housing, food and mental health services. A suspension reduction initiative includes targeted behavioral support and academic help.

As a result, long-term suspensions have decreased significantly and the district鈥檚 graduation rate rose to 90 percent, a 4 percent increase from the 2023鈥�24 school year. 鈥淚f you can take care of the needs and the little stuff,鈥� Durkee says, 鈥渟ometimes you can keep them engaged.鈥�

In Tavares, Fla., Diane Kornegay, superintendent of Lake County Schools, re-engineered high school around students鈥� real lives after learning more than one-third were working to support their families post-COVID, impacting attendance. She鈥檚 expanded night school across all eight high schools 鈥� an effort principals credit with helping boost the district graduation rate from 77 percent to 96 percent.

The district also opened a flexible-day high school. This month, through a post-secondary charter school, Lake County will begin offering a workforce dual enrollment program on site.

鈥淚n the world of education right now, there鈥檚 so many options for families and kids,鈥� Kornegay says. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 think differently and think outside the box, there鈥檚 a lot of needs that would go unmet.鈥�

Flattening Barriers

In the rural Wilton Public Schools in North Dakota, superintendent Andrew Jordan has used federal full-service community schools funding and local partnerships to support students with wraparound services that connect families with basic needs and mental health care.

The district also runs a care closet with food and clothes, brought in reading and math tutors and organized family STEM nights.

Even after some original funding ended, the district has sustained many of the programs. Today, essentially 100 percent of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch in the district are benefiting from at least one service, Jordan says.

鈥淜ids love coming to school because they know they鈥檙e cared for,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t takes away those gaps and those barriers so they can really focus on learning when they鈥檙e in school.鈥�

In Colorado, Chris Gdowski, now superintendent of Adams 12 Five Star Schools, interviewed for the job in 2009 while serving as the district鈥檚 legal counsel. At the time, he found that the Hispanic four-year graduation rate was just 50.8 percent. Rather than assign blame, he framed the gap as a moral imperative and used the data to galvanize the entire system when he became superintendent.

Gdowski redirected resources to the less-affluent southern part of the district, where most Hispanic students attended. Resources included full-time assistant principals in elementary schools, social-emotional learning specialists and extra instructional coaching, and building out career and technical pathways.

Now the district holds signing ceremonies for students heading into trade careers, modeled on college sports commitment days. While the four-year graduation rate for Hispanic students fluctuates, it has climbed past 80 percent.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just another step to say this isn鈥檛 a second-best option,鈥� Gdowski says of the signing ceremonies. 鈥淲e fully support you as one of our graduates taking this next step into this career.鈥�

And in Minneapolis, Minn., superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams replaced more than 15 elementary reading programs with a single, research-based early literacy curriculum from the University of Florida Literacy Institute, paired with intensive, ongoing training for teachers and principals. The move is already showing promising gains for low-income students, she says.

The consistency in instruction is also paying off in unexpected ways. When the district faced disruption during federal immigration enforcement operations during the past year, sending some students home for online learning, having one aligned curriculum made it far easier to catch up students.

鈥淭o be able to rally around that one single source of curriculum and to have the aligned professional development,鈥� Sayles-Adams says, 鈥渋s a game changer for us.鈥�

A Path for All

Ultimately, superintendents say, supporting low-income students requires an honest look at the challenges facing today鈥檚 students and families, an understanding that the traditional school environment no longer works for some and the courage to act so kids can launch into successful futures.

Says Tudor: 鈥淭here should be a path for success for every one of our students.鈥� 

Sarah Hall is a freelance education writer in Raleigh, N.C.