Before the ceremony, the winners sat down with eSchool News Editor-in-Chief Dennis Pierce to discuss the qualities they think are important for today’s superintendents, the initiatives they’re most proud of having led in their schools, and the advice they’d give to colleagues in piloting schools effectively in the Information Age.

To hear what these exemplary leaders had to say, click on the headlines below. 

Mark Evans: The ‘three Cs’ that ed tech can help address

For Mark Evans, being a tech-savvy superintendent means “always looking down the road,” with an eye toward how technology can help school districts achieve what he calls the “three Cs”: classroom engagement, cost efficiency, and communication.

Daniel Frazier: ‘Bold leadership’ is needed for today’s schools

Daniel Frazier, superintendent of Iowa’s Sioux Central Community School District, believes the most important thing school leaders need to do today is “show bold leadership.”

Nicholas Gledich on the importance of ‘pausing and planning’

Nicholas Gledich, superintendent of the Colorado Springs School District 11 in Colorado, says one of the things his district has learned is the value of “pausing, planning, and executing” when it comes to ed-tech implementation.

Michele Hancock: The key to ed-tech success is ‘constantly communicating’

Michele Hancock, superintendent of the Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin, attributes much of her district’s ed-tech success to constant communication with stakeholders.

Michael Hanson: How he’s taken his district from worst to first in ed tech

When Michael Hanson became superintendent of California’s Fresno Unified School District in 2005, the district was on the verge of a state takeover, and an audit revealed it was the worst in the state in terms of ed-tech use. That’s no longer the case.

C.J. Huff: Creating new possibilities from unspeakable tragedy

On May 22, 2011, the town of Joplin, Mo., lost six schools in an EF5 tornado that killed 160 people and displaced half the student body. Joplin currently has about 3,200 students living in temporary facilities. In spite of these challenges, the district is leading the way in using technology to transform instruction under the guidance of Superintendent C.J. Huff.

Jerri Kemble: Today’s superintendents must be ‘willing to take risks’

Jerri Kemble, superintendent of the Centre School District in Lost Springs, Kansas, knows first-hand the challenges of leading a small school district: She’s not only the superintendent, but also the K-12 principal and virtual school director for this one-school district located “in the middle of a wheat field.”

Brad Saron: Ed tech is not about devices, but ‘how you use them’

For Bradford Saron, being a tech-savvy superintendent “has less to do with the devices you have and more to do with how you use them. In my judgment, being able to leverage technology to help people grow and also to convene teams to solve problems are the most important parts of being a tech-savvy superintendent.”

William Skilling on moving from professional development to ‘professional learning’

The most important part of effective leadership “is not knowing how do to something, but knowing what to do”—and then turning it over to the people with the right expertise, said William Skilling, superintendent of the Oxford Community Schools in Michigan.

The winners were honored at a special awards ceremony Feb. 18. The ceremony—which featured a keynote speech from noted ed-tech consultant Alan November—was held in conjunction with the Century Club 100’s annual meeting during the American Association of School Administrators’ National Conference on Education in Houston.

Watch the full awards ceremony here:

“What is your plan for making every home a center of learning?” he asked those in attendance. “I’m concerned that we’re spending too much time fixing schools as the dominant focus in helping children succeed.”

South Korea is putting a 1-gigabit internet connection into every home in the country, he said, adding: “That’s more capacity than some states have for all their schools.”

Watch November’s thought-provoking keynote speech here:

Evans, the superintendent of Andover Public Schools in Andover, Kansas, a suburb of Wichita, is a 2012 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media. He recently sat down with eSchool News Editor Dennis Pierce to discuss his district’s ed-tech accomplishments and the keys to its success.

In the interview, Evans discussed how virtualizing its servers has allowed Andover to save at least $750,000 by not having to build a data center to contain them. He also described the growth of the district’s virtual school, which is providing new learning opportunities for more than 300 students—with more students enrolling every year.

Watch what Evans had to say:

“We’re talking about fundamentally changing the structure of the 21^st-century classroom. That’s a scary proposition that is going to alter the perceptions of our public as to what the classroom [environment] should be,” said Frazier, a 2012 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media.

Frazier recently sat down with eSchool News Editor Dennis Pierce to discuss his district’s ed-tech accomplishments and the keys to its success.

In the interview, Frazier discussed how a one-to-one laptop program for students in grades 3-12 is facilitating an inquiry-based approach to learning in his district. He also described how he has been able to get “100-percent commitment” to implementing technology from his district’s staff by sending them out to other schools to see what successful innovations others were doing.

Watch what Frazier had to say:

“There’s nothing wrong with pausing. There’s nothing wrong with planning, because you won’t have a good execution if you don’t do that,” said Gledich, a 2012 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media.

Gledich, who came to Colorado Springs after serving as the chief operating officer for Florida’s Orange County Public Schools, recently sat down with eSchool News Editor Dennis Pierce to discuss his district’s ed-tech accomplishments and the keys to its success.

In the interview, Gledich described how Colorado Springs’ wireless initiative “is allowing us to live our vision, which is preparing students for a world yet to be imagined.” He also discussed the importance of having a dashboard, or a “weekly scorecard that tells you how things are going” so you can identify ed-tech problems early on.

Watch what Gledich had to say:

“Even when you’re getting pushback, you have to keep plowing through—and you [do this] by constantly communicating and being consistent with your message,” she said. “If you have a passion for the work that you’re doing, other people will join you. And they will become your leaders beside you, not just your followers.”

Hancock is a 2012 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media. She recently sat down with eSchool News Editor Dennis Pierce to discuss her district’s ed-tech accomplishments and the keys to its success.

In the interview, Hancock said she is constantly using various channels to educate the community about the importance of technology, so they understand that “they way you experienced education was great for you back then, but this is what our children need today and in the future.” She also discussed how getting the district’s leaders on board and helping them understand the importance of technology as a tool for instruction also has been key.

Watch what Hancock had to say:

Under Hanson’s leadership, Fresno used the results of the audit as a guide for rebuilding its staffing and infrastructure. Using eRate discounts “wisely and systematically,” he said, has allowed the district to deliver a fiber-optic network to its more than 100 buildings.

For guiding a turnaround that has seen Fresno progress from worst in the state to a leader in ed-tech use, Hanson was recognized as a 2012 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media. He recently sat down with eSchool News Editor Dennis Pierce to discuss his district’s experience and the keys to its success.

Being tech-savvy “is now a requirement of the job” for today’s superintendents, Hanson said, adding that the concept has different meanings for different people.

“I would define a tech-savvy superintendent as doing my job,” he said. “I think my staff would define it as me having information before they do. From a student’s perspective, being tech savvy is simply trying to create opportunities for them. For teachers and principals, it’s putting tools in their hands to [help them] do their jobs in an increasingly difficult set of circumstances. From a parent’s perspective, it means getting access to student information more quickly.”

Watch the full interview with Hanson here:

Before the tornado struck, Joplin already had made a significant investment in ed tech, said Huff, a 2012 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media. Now, in rebuilding Joplin’s educational infrastructure, Huff has taken advantage of the opportunity to reinvent learning.

Joplin received $1 million from the United Arab Emirates to help it rebuild, including a $500,000 challenge grant that it used to roll out a one-to-one computing program at the district’s high school. Instead of replacing textbooks, Joplin High is using all-digital texts.

Huff recently sat down with eSchool News Editor Dennis Pierce to discuss his district’s experience and the keys to its success. One benefit to using digital textbooks is that teachers have seen a 30-percent reduction in disciplinary referrals, he said—not what you’d expect to see after such a traumatic experience for students.

Watch what Huff had to say:

Kemble, a 2012 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media, sought to overcome the geographical hurdles created by having just one school building in a 400-square-mile area by establishing a virtual school, which now educates 88 of the district’s 350 students.

But establishing the virtual school led to further challenges, as she explained in a recent video interview with eSchool News Editor Dennis Pierce.

“Sometimes a leader has to [be willing to take a risk], and in our district, we had to do that with our virtual school,” Kemble said. “There was not buy-in when we started the virtual school. People were afraid: Was this going to take my job away? How was this going to affect me?”

But those fears proved unfounded, she explained: “Now, we employ seven [of our regular teachers to teach in our virtual school] part time, so they’re adding to their income. While the rest of the economy and school districts are losing income, we’re actually adding students and more income for our teachers.”

Watch the interview with Kemble, in which she also describes how her district has taken a creative approach to training teachers in ed-tech use: