Dr. Anna Stubblefield, Superintendent of KCKPS, Named 2026 ERDI Resilient Leader Award Recipient

ERDI honors Dr. Anna Stubblefield with the 2026 Resilient Leader Award for principled leadership, resilience, and advancing opportunity for students.

HIGHWOOD, IL, UNITED STATES, January 30, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Education Research & Development Institute (ERDI) is proud to announce Dr. Anna Stubblefield, Superintendent of Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, as the 2026 recipient of the ERDI Resilient Leader Award, recognizing her principled leadership, resilience, and sustained commitment to advancing opportunity for students and families.

Established in 2024, the ERDI Resilient Leader Award honors TK–12 education leaders who demonstrate exceptional integrity, steadiness, and effectiveness while navigating an increasingly complex and polarized public education environment. The award recognizes leaders who remain focused on student success, inclusive systems, and continuous improvement, even amid heightened scrutiny and challenge.

As Superintendent of Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, Dr. Stubblefield leads one of the most diverse districts in Kansas, serving more than 21,000 students across a comprehensive PK–12 system. Her leadership emphasizes clarity of purpose, consistency of practice, and a commitment to incremental progress, guided by the belief that small, sustained improvements can drive meaningful, long-term impact.

Under Dr. Stubblefield’s leadership, Kansas City Kansas Public Schools has strengthened academic pathways, expanded postsecondary opportunities, improved graduation rate postsecondary success to historic highs, decreased chronic absenteeism, and increased recognition for both academic achievement and social-emotional growth. District efforts have focused on coherence across instruction, student services, and family engagement, ensuring that schools create environments where students feel supported and positioned to succeed.

Dr. Stubblefield is also recognized for her thoughtful approach to leadership sustainability and governance, contributing to broader conversations about how superintendents can lead with clarity and resilience while maintaining focus on students and communities. Her perspective, shared with education leaders nationally, underscores the importance of values-driven leadership paired with disciplined execution.

In recognition of her selection as the 2026 Resilient Leader Award recipient, ERDI will also award a full-tuition, master’s-level scholarship, sponsored by American College of Education (ACE), to an emerging leader within Kansas City Kansas Public Schools. Awarded through an application process, the scholarship is intended to support leadership development and strengthen the future education pipeline.

“Dr. Anna Stubblefield exemplifies resilient leadership in action,” said Dr. Jennifer Ferrari, CEO of ERDI. “Her clarity of purpose, commitment to continuous improvement, and focus on students reflect the very qualities this award was created to honor. Her leadership has made a meaningful impact both within her district and across the broader education community.”

ERDI is honored to recognize Anna Stubblefield as the 2026 Resilient Leader Award recipient and to celebrate her example of principled, student-centered leadership in public education.

Jaime Barraza
Education Research and Development Institute (ERDI)
email us here

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.