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community partners, including Strive Together,
a Cincinnati-based organization focused on
improving educational outcomes for children.
“I fell in love with continuous improvement, and
I understood it, so when I learned about the
Clemson Ed.D. program, I thought this must be
divine,” Clark said. “The program really emphasized
how systems are designed to get the results that
they’re getting; it’s the old architectural principle
that form follows function. In academia, when
you don’t shift programming to fit your changing
audience, things stop functioning as well, so many
of the ills we see in school systems are selfimposed.”
Over the last six years, innovative approaches in
science, reading and math have proven themselves
through data. Science achievement has gone from
7% to 55% of students mastering grade-level
concepts. The reading achievement has gone from
21% to 53%. Math achievement went from 19% to
58%. Meanwhile, the school has seen a precipitous
decline in behavioral issues and behavior referrals.
Recently, the South Carolina Education Oversight
Committee named Cleveland Academy a South
Carolina “Beating the Odds” school, which are
schools with a poverty index above 90% that still
achieve strong academic results.
Clark prioritizes his relationship with teachers
and staff, hoping that will be mimicked
between teachers and students. Slowly but
surely, he has seen the changes happen that
he hoped for. He feels extremely loyal to
Cleveland and the 89 adults who work in the
building because they all took a chance on
him as an assistant principal and then principal
when they could have chosen from dozens
across the district for the job.
He feels compelled to give it his all inside and
outside the school for a goal beyond his career.
“My objective, quite honestly, is to die empty,”
Clark said. “I don’t want to meet my maker
with anything left in the tank. I want to have
explored it all and have helped as many
people as possible. So, when that day does
come, I can welcome it knowing that I gave it
everything I had.”
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