It takes strong leadership skills to successfully run an entity as large and complex as an urban school district, much less turn around one that is low-performing. Most people don't realize that many urban school systems are as large as the biggest companies in America. Yet, most school district leaders and school board members have no specific experience or training in managing an organization of this size. Believing that effective leadership at the district level is essential to ensure student achievement, business leader and philanthropist Eli Broad created the Broad Superintendents Academy in 2001. It is a rigorous 10-month executive management program designed to prepare CEOs and senior executives from business, non-profit, military, government and education backgrounds to lead urban public school systems. The Broad Academy is the only superintendent preparation program in the country that actively recruits and trains outstanding, proven leaders, both inside and outside of the education field, to be superintendents of the nation's largest districts. The goal of the academy is to prepare strong, effective leaders to raise student achievement in the largest urban school districts.