Marjorie A. Kaplan, Ph.D.  Beat the Odds Institute Director

Dr. Kaplan joined the Center for the Future of Arizona in 2008 as its first Beat the Odds Institute director. Her responsibilities include developing and managing the Beat the Odds Institute programs, operations and community relationships. The institute’s primary focus is the statewide implementation of a research-based education initiative to improve K-12 student achievement in primarily Latino-intensive, low-income schools.

She brings to the position an exemplary record of leading schools and districts to educational excellence.

Previously, Dr. Kaplan was superintendent of schools for the Shawnee Mission School District, the second largest school district in Kansas. Despite socioeconomic changes in the student population and budget challenges, for 16 consecutive years Expansion Management magazine awarded Shawnee Mission School District a gold medal rating, ranking the district among the top four percent of school districts nationally.

Dr. Kaplan worked for 24 years in education in Phoenix prior to moving to Kansas City. She was superintendent of the Paradise Valley School District and the principal of Sunset School, a K-8 school in the Washington School District.

During her tenure in the metropolitan Phoenix area, she was named one of the Top 100 Educators in the United States by Executive Educator magazine. Dr. Kaplan also received the Arizona Superintendent of the Year award from the American Association of School Administrators, and the Outstanding Arizona Superintendent Award from the Arizona School Administrators Association.

Dr. Kaplan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in Northampton, Mass. She earned a master’s degree in education and a doctorate in educational administration from Arizona State University.