Pedro Martinez: Meet the Superintendent Leading America's Most Innovative School Integration Effort

When Pedro Martinez took the top job overseeing the San Antonio Independent School District, he knew he had to confront the pervasive poverty affecting 93 percent of his student body. So he launched an intricate plan to go block by block in his district, measuring household income, and developing trauma supports. He then launched one of America's most radical school integration experiments, balancing students from different rungs of poverty with more affluent kids that he wooed back into the district via innovative school designs. As his classrooms have become more socioeconomically diverse, student achievement has rebounded. Here, he tells The 74 more about his unique approach to lifting all boats