We Know What Works: Dr. Sandy Husk’s Optimism for Continuous Improvement in K-12 Schools

By: Otus Team

Sandy-Husk The new Otus Advisory Board brings together nationally recognized education leaders to help shape the future of the platform. This profile is part of a series introducing each board member and highlighting their insights around edtech innovation and the future of teaching and learning.

Dr. Sandy Husk has served in wide-ranging K-12 education roles including classroom teacher, principal, executive director, and superintendent in Oregon, Tennessee, and Colorado. She was the CEO for AVID.org for eight years and interim CEO for ASCD (the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development).

Dr. Husk continues to focus on improving student achievement through support for educators. She serves as a board member and advisor for organizations and companies including BranchED, Otus, Wayfinder, and Learning.com.

The relentless drive that pushed Dr. Sandy Husk to graduate from high school at age 17 and start her master’s degree at age 21 continues to motivate her to explore the boundless possibilities for improving K-12 education—and to bring everyone she encounters along with her.

Husk benefitted from the good fortune of attending innovative schools early on. Her high school in Georgia participated in a joint enrollment program with a local community college—a rarity in the 1970s—and her undergraduate university had set up a reading lab where education majors could gain hands-on experience early in their studies rather than waiting to student teach during their final term.

By the time she reached the University of Colorado with the goal of earning a master’s degree in counseling, Husk had developed confidence that she had valuable knowledge and skills to contribute even while she continued to soak up information from others. This balance between teaching and learning has been a constant throughout her professional career, including her membership on the inaugural Otus Advisory Board.

“I’ve learned that edtech companies value the things I’m good at and the experiences I’ve had,” Husk reflected. “I’m able to learn more about for-profit business and contribute things they want to know and understand. It’s a win-win for the mission and vision of schools, which I’ve always been committed to.”

An action-oriented helper with a passion for quality improvement

Husk describes herself as a naturally optimistic person who is action-oriented. She was drawn to the education field because it offered her a place where she could be a helper and a leader rather than waiting for others to come up with solutions. This was just as true when she was a fourth-grade student writing on the chalkboard as it is today in high-level meetings about the future of education.

“We know what works with teaching students. We also know what the distractions are at the school district level that keeps good instruction from happening. Now it's a matter of supporting people in the right way so that everybody's on a continuous improvement journey, from students to parents to employees to community leaders.”

Dr. Sandy Husk

Former school Superintendent and CEO
,
AVID

Husk advocates for a long-term focus on changing adult behaviors, which was the topic of her doctoral dissertation. “Teachers need support and quality time to interact with each other in order to show that the systems are helping them find pockets of success,” she said.

She believes this extends this to other adults in the education ecosystem as well, and during her superintendent roles, she encouraged interaction among everyone within the district ecosystem. “I learned about process management and standardization, so not only were we working with the instructional side of the house, but the staff with noninstructional backgrounds in the district as well, because they make up almost half of a school district.”

“When the bus drivers, accountants, support staff, aides, groundspeople, and tech support all understand that their work impacts student achievement because they can see how using data in their departments drives results, you have a cohesive system of continuous improvement,” Husk explained. “In the Salem-Kaiser School District in Oregon, around 98 or 99 percent of our employees said they knew how their work drove student achievement. I loved that.”

Technology’s role in a human-centered system

Husk joined the Otus Advisory Board because she respects the company’s commitment to improving student achievement and well-being through stronger, more effective data systems. She is likewise motivated by student-centered advancement.

“I'm very concerned that some folks think that making education more competitive can fix our system just because business functions well that way in a capitalistic culture,” she said.

And while Husk is enthusiastic about tools such as predictive AI that can help educators in some facets of their work, she is also wary of over-reliance on technology without human oversight taking into account all a student’s circumstances and learning characteristics.

Understanding built on a foundation of shared data

Husk was drawn to be an advisor for the company MindPrint Learning, now a part of Otus, because she sees value in having a complete profile—including cognitive, social-emotional, behavior, and other characteristics—to help parents and teachers understand how each child learns best. Data systems that do not include a holistic view of each child risk missing important factors that contribute to their long-term academic success.

A personalized focus was also central to Husk’s leadership at AVID (which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination). Its career and college readiness framework prioritizes students’ needs for agency, rigorous academic preparedness, and knowledge of opportunities.

As a goal-oriented person herself, Husk recognizes that everyone needs mile markers for improvement, whether personally or professionally. “If you don’t have a target, and you don’t know the soundness of the target you have designed, then you don’t know if you are going to reach it,” Husk pointed out. “But when you have somebody who understands the data and what they’re measuring, that is so much more impactful.”

Husk believes Otus is that “somebody” for school leaders who are committed to innovation and to changing adult behaviors toward improving the quality of their students’ education. Using Otus’ comprehensive data management platform to consolidate all the different factors impacting students, school leaders and teachers can then better communicate with families and students about their strengths, challenges, accomplishments, and next steps.

For Husk, the endless possibilities for collaboration available to Otus’ customers fuel even more optimism about the future of education.