Longtime Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) educator Dr. Marco Muñoz has been named the new leader of the Accountability, Research, and Systems Improvement (ARSI) Department effective April 1.
Muñoz currently works as the assistant director of employee retention and engagement in the district’s Human Resources Department.
“I feel humbled to serve in this role as I know it will directly impact our success with academic excellence and growth for all students,” Muñoz said. “Without a doubt, I have been preparing myself to lead in this role throughout my years of service in our school system. Having a systemwide perspective will allow me to understand the needs and address them in collaboration with other divisions, but with a continuous improvement mindset.”
Muñoz replaces outgoing interim Chief Tamara Lewis, who will retire from the district in April. As part of the district’s realignment, the chief position will be eliminated and Muñoz will step into the newly created Executive Officer role.
Superintendent Dr. Brian Yearwood called Muñoz a proven leader whose career reflects a deep commitment to continuous improvement, data-informed decision-making and equity for all students.
“His extensive experience in research, program evaluation, priority schools, and most recently employee retention and engagement, uniquely positions him to lead ARSI,” Yearwood said. “Dr. Muñoz understands our system, our schools and our community, and I am confident he will strengthen our efforts to ensure every decision we make is grounded in evidence and focused on student success.”
As ARSI’s leader, Muñoz will oversee the district’s accountability and testing, research and systems improvement, and resource development departments:
The Accountability and Testing department oversees administration of state-required assessments and provides support services to all JCPS schools.
The Research and Systems Improvement department supports schools and the district in advancing research and applying evaluation knowledge to inspire learning as well as supports district/schools improvement plans (with progress monitoring using data systems).
The Resource Development department offers guidance and assistance in securing financial resources for schools and departments, including grants and donations.
Muñoz joined JCPS in 1999 as an evaluation specialist II and was promoted to an evaluation specialist III in 2005, a role in which he led a team of 12 to serve the data needs of 172 school buildings. In 2015, Muñoz became the director of priority schools, where he established a new office to improve low-performing schools while proactively supporting schools trending toward priority status. Since 2019, Munoz has led employee retention and engagement efforts in the Human Resources Department using improvement science as a framework.
Muñoz holds a master’s degree in education and a doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of Louisville.
In ARSI, Muñoz said his goals are to:
Organize work around academic excellence and growth, school safety and belonging, and supporting and caring of the whole child
Continue ARSI’s work to provide data for assessing needs, creating plans, monitoring progress and measuring outcomes while following professional standards
Involve stakeholders in transforming data into information through transparent processes
Muñoz said the district must be clear about three important guiding questions in everything it does:
What are we trying to accomplish? (aim/goal)
What change will result in improvement? (action)
How will we know that a change is an improvement? (measurement)
“W. Edwards Deming said that ‘without data, you are just another person with an opinion,’” Muñoz said. “I believe in the power of bringing data to the table when decisions are made, particularly high-stakes decisions associated with the wellbeing of our over 94,000 students.”