Social Impact Authors: How & Why Author Dr Tiffany Anderson of Topeka Public Schools Is Helping To Change Our World
As leaders, parents, and community members, our children count on us, and they expect great things, so we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer. With the urgency our children’s education demands, use the tools in this book as a resource for your momentum in building parent capacity in schools. Those who came before us gave us a running start so that we could take the baton and run our race, creating a new path for those who follow.
As part of my series about “authors who are making an important social impact,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Tiffany Anderson.
Dr. Tiffany Anderson is the first Black female superintendent of Topeka Public Schools and has been a public school educator for 28 years, the majority of that time as superintendent. In addition to her role as superintendent, Dr. Anderson advises Kansas officials on postsecondary and equity policies. During Dr. Anderson’s tenure, literacy rates have increased at multiple schools, universal preschool has expanded, a school district daycare was opened in 2022, and graduation rates have increased above the state and national average at multiple high schools.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
In the first chapter of my book, I share that I am a product of parents whose capacity was built through the school system over time, so I have a deeply rooted passion for this work. I was raised by two educators who grew up and were in school during the 1940s and 1950s, the years in which Brown v. Board of Education occurred. Following the court decision, my mother and her sister became two of the first Black women to integrate Soldan High School in St. Louis, Missouri. My mother’s parents, Edna and Obia Montgomery wanted my mother and her sister to have equal access and opportunities to the educational resources their white neighbors had in St. Louis. Their advocacy for their children and willingness to remain engaged with public schools changed the future of my mother’s life and later mine. Therefore, I attended diverse schools and colleges in St. Louis, and began my career in leadership, advocating for the marginalized communities in the city.
When you were younger, was there a book that you read that inspired you to take action or changed your life? Can you share a story about that?
Dr. King’s autobiography and the book “A Knock at Midnight” impacted me as a child and continue to impact me today.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The funniest mistake I made as a teacher was expecting everyone to enter just as excited to see me as I was to meet them. The colorful stations and the countless hours and resources spent to make the classroom perfect were met with students who cared more about recess and lunch than what I had planned. However, that also helped me grow into a teacher who made learning fun and tailored to meet the needs of students as they all entered with such a wide array of experiences.
Can you describe how you aim to make a significant social impact with your book?
Schools are the center of the community, and this book shows how they can transform communities through parental engagement, which will improve outcomes.
When parents engage in creating experiences (in some cases, first experiences) for students or are the first to volunteer to partner and develop new systems and build them into ones that truly work, it creates sustainable schools and neighborhood communities engineered by those who live there. Witnessing my parents’ efforts to galvanize communities as educators and later as local pastors set the example for me to build bridges with parents and schools in communities as the key lever to making schools work well for children. When parents have a strong capacity as the blueprint from which to build outcomes, their children have a solid framework and foundation to be the architects of their own destiny, crafting a future of hope for the generations that follow. Parental engagement today changes the future of education for the students and parents of tomorrow. Building parent capacity is about something bigger than us. It is about building a future of hope.
Schools have a tremendous capacity to shape the future. However, to do so, the relationships and connections that create systems must be built, reinforced, and supported. This resource serves as one tool for educators, parents, and community members to gain new strategies that inspire, educate, and train others to make the dreams of our parents and those who came before us a reality.
Can you share with us the most interesting story that you shared in your book?
All the stories are interesting, and depending on the reader’s experience, some may resonate more than others. However, one that shaped me and that most will find interesting is a story that addresses the urgency of engaging parents by sharing what happens when they are not engaged. The story is perhaps the most impactful one, addressing what many schools in poverty experience. It addresses a student tragedy and the social determinants of health that impact the family.
What was the “aha moment” or series of events that made you decide to bring your message to the greater world? Can you share a story about that?
As poverty in public schools has increased above 50% and parents sending children to school address challenges in all areas of the social determinants of health, it was clear that educators, principals, parents, and policymakers needed a resource that shared systems that are research-based and proven in schools that work. The collective capacity to learn, grow, and replicate is tremendous when we share with others what works so it can be replicated. As a young teacher and leader almost 30 years ago, I would have benefited from a resource guide that helped me develop systems to serve the whole family. This book brings together research and lived experiences to share practical tools, methods, and ideas that school leaders and educators can use to engage parents and build their capacity.
Without sharing specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
Stories are so important to share for others to see possibilities. My book, “Building Parent Capacity in High-Poverty Schools,” has a ‘lessons learned’ section with examples of leadership stories to inspire and encourage educators. One story is about implementing the Hope House, a homeless shelter and foster home for children in the Jennings School District that we opened to tackle the issues of generational poverty that homeless students often face. By thinking creatively and really adjusting mindsets to focus on ways we could remove barriers, we opened our own shelter in partnership with the Missouri Baptist Foster Home, and they provided a house mother who supervised the children residing there.
Changing mindsets to examine the problem of unsheltered children and using an asset-based approach to seek solution-based ways to remove barriers changed the trajectory of countless children and provided new hope to the next generation of families in the community. This Washington Post article and the docuseries “Don’t Count Me Out” share stories of inspiring educators across the nation.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
There are so many well-intended politicians and others outside of education who share ideas and present new legislation that are not always as impactful as they hope. This is because the farther people are from the classroom experience directly, the less they know about current challenges and practical solutions. Support and investment in public schools are vital to the success of all public schools as teacher shortages are addressed and achievement gaps are closed.
- Seeking to understand by collaborating and being present, available, and willing to learn is one way to build collective capacity in addressing issues together that impact families in schools and communities.
- Support schools with time, talent, and resources that fully fund and direct resources to special education mandates and other areas of public education.
- Schools are the center of the community, and the community/society/politicians can promote and invest in public education by listening to learn and supporting teachers to ensure public schools continue to serve as the great equalizer for all students.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
I would define leadership as an action word and build from Doug Reeves’s definition, “Leaders are the architects of individual and organizational improvement.” Leadership is the act of collaborating and cultivating relationships effectively to teach, guide, and empower others to follow a vision of building a system for organizational improvement. The degree to which leadership is effective may vary, but the act of collaborating, cultivating, teaching, guiding, and empowering others to build systems that others will follow is leadership.
An example of leadership outlined in my book, “Building Parent Capacity in High-Poverty Schools,” is a story where we sought solution-based ways to address the issues of mental health support. Through the leadership of an administrator, we developed a system serving countless children across the district. In chapter 5 of the book, I shared, “When I started in Topeka in 2016, the district did not have an alternative school for students who were suspended or for students who were transitioning from incarceration but were not ready to return to a traditional school environment. There was not a fully functional virtual school, and there was not one person overseeing mental health partnerships. In assessing the interests and experiences of staff, an exceptional school administrator, Dr. Joy Grimes, who had a background in counseling and alternative schools and was an assistant principal at one of the high schools, was selected to assist me with opening the first alternative school serving suspended middle- and high-school students. Through her role, oversight for virtual school, alternative school, the juvenile detention center, and mental health is now aligned, which allows our mental health and wraparound services to meet critical needs more efficiently.” Dr. Grimes demonstrated effective leadership, resulting in a support system for staff, students, and parents.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
I wish someone told me:
1 . I would be serving in the district that changed the nation and integrated schools through the landmark Brown v. Board of Education legislation. In the conclusion of my book, “Building Parent Capacity in High Poverty Schools,” I shared, “Shortly after being announced as the superintendent of Topeka Public Schools in 2016, I attended a service at St. Mark’s AME Church in North Topeka, where Rev. Oliver Brown (Linda Brown’s father) served as pastor during the 1950s. After the service, the first person I met was the organ player, Ms. Linda Brown-Thompson. I was in awe to actually meet someone so pivotal to my life’s trajectory and to the lives of so many like me, but to those in the church, she was simply Linda Brown.
Her quiet demeanor was unassuming, but everyone around her knew she was a force to be reckoned with. And I will never forget the words she said to me. She told me that she and her grandchildren, who attended school in Topeka, expected great things from me. She also said that the community had waited a long time, having paved the way for me more than sixty years ago. She died in 2018, just two years after I met her.
As leaders, parents, and community members, our children count on us, and they expect great things, so we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer. With the urgency our children’s education demands, use the tools in this book as a resource for your momentum in building parent capacity in schools. Those who came before us gave us a running start so that we could take the baton and run our race, creating a new path for those who follow.
2 . I wish someone told me the importance of building parent capacity. We all have the capacity to learn and grow. The amount we are willing to grow depends largely on our experience, mindset, and preparation. In visiting schools across the country, school leaders often cite lack of parental involvement as a challenge area, which was my challenge as a teacher and leader. The more time I spend discussing this challenge, the clearer it becomes that parent capacity is the key lever that impacts student success. Once capacity is developed in ongoing ways, parents and the school can do more as partners in education. Without parents, schools are limited because teachers and staff can only impact students during the confines of the actual school day.
Thus, as we consider how to best partner with parents and increase their collective capacity, we must examine how to lessen or alleviate the barriers that prevent parents from being engaged in their children’s lives and schooling. We must walk alongside our parents to listen to them, build their capacity, and help them see that their voices matter.
3 . I wish someone told me the importance of mindset. Many focus on the deficits in schools, communities, and children, which must be changed to fully build from an asset-based perspective to uplift, support, and develop students and staff in schools who will transform the community.
To build capacity, educators must embrace an asset-based mindset where we seek first to understand, focus on the strengths, and look at the challenges as opportunities for growth and change. Simply put, asset-based thinking unlocks potential while deficit mindset highlights inadequacies.
4 . I wish I had known when I started the power of partnerships that are non-traditional. Many leaders begin feeling the pressure of the challenges they face, and while leadership can be a lonely profession, leaders are truly never alone. As I began asking for support, collaboration, and using a business model to partner, which showed a return on investment (ROI), many new systems were built and implemented as a result. For example, school districts I have led implemented hospitals in schools for health care needs with access to an onsite facility, food deserts have been eliminated through partnerships with local food banks that place pantry sites at schools, and staffing expenses for health classes have been eliminated after a hospital agreed to fund nursing staff to teach CAN students in exchange for employment opportunities for them creating a health care pipeline in the community.
The collective energy from those who are invested in the community and who depend on the success of the school is critical to building the capacity of parents. Leaders need the perspective, feedback, and support of school/district staff, teachers, parents, and community organizations to effect positive change, remove barriers, and meet the needs of the families they serve. The collective efficacy of the members that make up the school community will transform it as they see themselves as vital to the health and success of the organization.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite life lesson quote is a scripture from Philippians 4:6–7, which I summarize by stating, be anxious for nothing and grateful for everything. The full scripture verse is, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (NKJ)
In leadership, there are many challenges that will arise. Patience, thoughtful reflection, and gratitude need to be part of a team to problem-solve difficult matters impacting people, which is important to remember. I am grateful to serve alongside incredible educators, for the many examples through public schools across the nation of systems that work, and to be entrusted with advocating for the marginalized and elevating voices through this venue and many others. The gratitude has helped me invite other partners who willingly come to the table to support public education. I have learned over the years to have patience and confidence that all things will work out in support of children and staff serving them.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
I am the first Black woman superintendent in Topeka, Kansas, leading in a place that has such history while making history. I would enjoy having lunch with women who were the first in their fields to gain wisdom from them about their journey and lessons learned. We must lift as we climb and hearing the stories of other Black women in leadership helps me open doors for those who will follow me. These women include Supreme Court Judge Ketanji Brown — Jackson and Vice President Harris.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Readers can follow the work in schools through the district web page. The Topeka Public School District website is www.topekapublicschools.net and has my bio, our social media, our videos and many of our publications on leadership. To follow the work in schools, the Topeka Public School district social media sites include:
- Facebook: @TopekaPublicSchools
- Twitter: @TPS_501
- Instagram: @tps_501
To gain information on my books, the Corwin publisher’s web page for my book is: us.corwin.com/books/building-parent-capacity-289219.
The Corwin social media is:
- Instagram: @Corwin_Press
- Facebook: @CorwinPress
My personal YouTube page highlighting some of the present and past news stories is located at: www.youtube.com/@tiffanyanderson1500
Readers can also look up the book on Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/
