William Hite, Inaugural Superintendent in Residence at The Broad Center, Talks Mentorship and Educational Equity
In a fireside chat, Hite reflected on his career in public education and work with The Broad Center, which co-hosted the event with the Dean’s Office.
William Hite, the inaugural superintendent in residence at The Broad Center (TBC) at Yale SOM, relies on one central philosophy as an educator: “How a child learns determines who they become.”
Hite described how that philosophy guided a decades-long career in public education during an April 14 fireside chat at Evans Hall honoring his four years of service as superintendent in residence. He was joined by Natasha Trivers, assistant dean and the Anita and Joshua Bekenstein ’80 B.A. Executive Director of The Broad Center, and Reggie McNeil, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. Both Trivers and McNeil participated in the 2022-23 Fellowship for Public Education Leadership cohort during Hite’s first year at SOM.
Hite came to SOM after serving as superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia for a decade. In 2025, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises joined The Broad Center as the incoming superintendent in residence in order to collaborate with and learn from Hite in the final year of his term. Hite currently leads the education nonprofit KnowledgeWorks and will become president of the Bezos Family Foundation, an education-oriented philanthropic organization, in July.
During the talk, which drew Fellows from The Broad Fellowship, alumni from The Broad Center, and students from SOM and other Yale programs, Hite reflected on how systems shape individual access to opportunity. He pointed to an initiative from his tenure in Philadelphia that changed how public schools identified gifted students. Rather than relying on referrals, Hite said, the district began screening all students using a nonverbal cognitive assessment. The new approach surfaced students who might have otherwise been overlooked, including one who had recently immigrated to the United States.
For Hite, this success underscored the need to address bias within systems that support students. He described several other equity initiatives he led in the district, including changing the policies of Philadelphia’s special-admission schools that previously favored affluent elementary schools and creating a superintendent’s advisory group to solicit student input for district policies.
Hite described his career path as “organic” and shaped by mentors who recognized his potential before he did. Early in his career, a boss pushed him to pursue a master’s degree instead of a football coaching role, which led Hite to work in education administration. Later, mentors at The Broad Center encouraged Hite to apply for his first superintendent position.
Reflecting on mentorship, Hite posed a question to the audience: “What if we were evaluated not by how smart we are but how smart we make others?”
Hite also discussed the evolution of The Broad Center. When he attended The Broad Academy—the initial program developed by The Broad Center when it was run in Los Angeles—the curriculum was grounded in practitioner experience. TBC’s move to Yale SOM, he said, provided greater access to research and faculty expertise. Now, Hite said, one of the center’s defining strengths is its integration of research and real-world public education challenges.
During a Q&A segment, Hite addressed challenges in education, including AI and eroding trust in public institutions. Asked by Dean Kerwin Charles how leaders might measure student success beyond college enrollment rates, Hite suggested placing a greater emphasis on skills mastery.
He added that while persistence and resilience are essential qualities for education leaders, so is humility and a willingness to engage in difficult conversations.
“This work is more than the authority of the title,” Hite said. “It’s not just who you are or what you do. It’s also how you show up.”
Trivers commended Hite for serving as a leader who “meets the moment by inviting the best practitioner voices to speak to Broad students, centering the most pressing topics which are top of mind for senior public education leaders, and answering every leader’s call.” She added that “when you do this very complex work in public schools, it can feel extremely lonely and daunting. But it is made significantly less so when you have the world’s best mentor readily available on the other end of the line.”
