Moody Grant Recipient: The Holdsworth Center

The Holdsworth Center is an education leadership development center focused on improving the quality of public schools for Texas students.

Can you tell us more about the origins of The Holdsworth Center?

In 2015, Charles Butt, Chairman of H-E-B, convened a group of national and statewide experts to advise him on the most effective way to develop leaders to strengthen public schools. The group traveled the globe to study innovative approaches and identify best practices and proven methods for developing leaders. Their findings and recommendations became the blueprint for The Holdsworth Center’s creation in 2017.

Charles named the nonprofit organization for his mother, a former schoolteacher and lifelong advocate for justice. Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth believed deeply that “one solitary life can make a difference” and showed it with her extraordinary actions.

As a young woman in the 1920s, Mary Elizabeth became a schoolteacher in Kerrville and Center Point in the Hill Country. She spoke often of how much she cared for her students and how much difference a free, public education could make in people’s lives. That made a deep impression on her youngest son, Charles.

Inspired by his mother, Charles has directed much of his personal and corporate giving toward education. With that legacy as part of our DNA, our work is driven by the belief that every student—no matter their gender, race, or socioeconomic status—deserves high-quality, public education and that strong, well-prepared leaders—from teachers to principals to superintendents—are critical to their success.

 

Why and how does the Holdsworth Center offer a new approach to education leadership development?

Countless alumni have shared that Holdsworth sparked a transformation in them, not just as leaders but as human beings. Many also tell us they were on the verge of leaving education and felt reinvigorated after Holdsworth.

That’s not something you often hear from educators coming out of a professional development workshop, conference, or even degree program. It tells us that what we’re offering goes above and beyond anything that exists in the field. What makes the Holdsworth experience special? A few things:

1. Our programs are rigorous, and the learning is deep. Cohorts of leaders from across the state form bonds that last long after they graduate and provide an ongoing network of support.
2. The quality is world-class. Leaders are exposed to top experts—practitioners and scholars from across the country.
3. Coaching—most leaders have never had an executive coach before they come to Holdsworth. After getting past their initial skepticism, most will tell you it’s the best thing that ever happened to them.
4. A focus on practice, not just theory. We make sure leaders can use what they’re learning immediately in their day-to-day because we know learning is most effective when it’s connected to real, relevant challenges.

The need for leadership development for teachers, principals, and superintendents is big. We see that in the demand for our programs. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to expand our offerings and create a strong base of supporters who can help us do that.

 

In what way does design and the campus play a role?

Our founder, Charles Butt, built the Campus on Lake Austin as a gift to hardworking educators. From the food to the service and the well-appointed rooms, the experience is what you might expect of a retreat center serving Fortune 500 CEOs. Charles wanted to send the message that educators deserve our respect, admiration and gratitude.

That message is received loud and clear by every educator who steps foot on the Campus. It means the world to them to be treated like a valued professional who deserves the best. Every element of the Campus is designed to foster deep learning, reflection and community. Though the days are often long and packed with learning, there’s always time for bonding and physical relaxation – leaders can walk the trail around campus, exercise in the gym or just sit and listen to the water lapping the shore. Each floor of the residential buildings has a lounge area and screened-in porch where leaders can get together and talk, trade notes or share a cup of coffee in the morning.  Leaders tell us that as they drive through the gates, they feel a weight lifted from their shoulders. In this protected space, they can step back from the hectic day-to-day pace, connect with other leaders who understand their struggles, get perspective and go back with renewed energy for the work.

 

Tell us about how the center improves the quality of public schools for Texas students.

When you boil it down, a quality education is not about the books, the pencils, the paper or the building. It is driven by the people.

If you’re close to public education, you’ve probably heard that teachers are the biggest school-level influence on individual students’ outcomes, followed by the principal. But recent research has argued that if you look at the performance of the school as a whole, the principal is actually the biggest lever in improving student outcomes across the entire school. That’s because an excellent principal attracts, retains, and develops great teachers and creates conditions for them to succeed at scale.

This is an important reminder about the power of leadership: its impacts are profound and wide-reaching, even though they can be hard to trace. This is true of principals, superintendents and every leader in between. Strong leadership is essential to attracting and retaining great educators. And it is essential to delivering a quality education to every child in Texas.

Since 2017, we have served more than 1,900 leaders in 89 districts across Texas. Here are a few snapshots of the outcomes we are seeing:

• Of the 68 schools that completed our Campus Leadership Program in 2024, 82 percent made progress toward an ambitious student achievement goal they set and worked to achieve for their most underserved students. For example, an elementary school in the Houston area focused on kindergarten reading readiness. When they started the program, 36 percent of kindergarten students were reading on grade-level. When they graduated 87 percent were reading on grade-level. (Read Story: Words in Sight)
• We also have consistent evidence that leaders who attend our programs are stronger because of Holdsworth. For example: 100 percent of principals increased their overall leadership effectiveness, according to their colleagues.
• The leaders that we serve are more likely to stay in public education and take on greater leadership responsibilities. Since 2017, 343 alumni have stepped into new leadership roles after completing one of our programs. According to a recent program evaluation, principals were more likely to stay in their school, district and region because of Holdsworth.

 

It is a pivotal time for education in Texas at the moment. What are your hopes for 2025 and beyond in the public education space? How can both our government and local-funders/philanthropy support these efforts?

Public education has deep roots in both our national and state history. The founders knew we needed a strong system of public education to have an educated citizenry—the cornerstone of a thriving democracy. And they recognized its irreplaceable role in providing individuals with the skills and opportunities they need to fulfill their potential, provide for their families and contribute to our economy.

A lot has changed since then, but not the importance of strong public schools. To ensure the long-term success and stability of our state, we must equip all of Texas’ 5.5 million public school students with the skills they need to contribute and thrive throughout their lifetimes.

It’s clear we have work to do to support our public schools to meet the needs of every student in Texas. The work of recovering from the impacts of the pandemic—academic, social, emotional—is ongoing. The education profession is under significant stress. So, yes, this is a critical time to work together to strengthen our public schools.

Ultimately, our hope for 2025 and beyond is to see a renewed commitment across all sectors to public education, and to see that work happening in a spirit of collaboration and with students at the center. This is important work, but it is also hard, long-term work. This is not the time to give up or become impatient.

 

Tell us more about your relationship with the Moody Foundation.

We are incredibly grateful to the Moody Foundation for its support of our work. In 2024, the Foundation awarded The Holdsworth Center a grant to support our inaugural program: the Holdsworth Partnership. Among the Foundation’s many priorities is a focus on strengthening education outcomes for students in the Austin, Dallas, and Galveston areas. We are proud to have several school districts from those areas enrolled in our programs. Our grant from the Foundation supports Cedar Hill, Dallas, Duncanville, Garland, and Texas City ISDs’ participation in the Holdsworth Partnership—a multi-year program designed to grow stronger leaders within districts and help superintendents and central office staff build their own best-in-class talent development systems. So far, we have served 322 superintendents, central office administrators, principals, assistant principals and instructional leaders from these school districts, helping them drive success for more than 210,000 students in their districts. As our programs impact these districts in the near term, we are fortunate to have the Moody Foundation as a key partner in our work, and Texas public schools are lucky to have them in their corner.

Upcoming events or key milestones we should highlight?

We believe our work building strong education leaders for Texas public schools is as urgent and relevant as ever. Over the past seven years, we’ve helped strengthen school leadership at every level, from superintendents to teachers.

With generous support from partners, we’ve:

• Helped 57 districts strengthen their bench of principals who are ready to lead through the Holdsworth Partnership and the Holdsworth Collaborative (since 2017).
• Launched new efforts to identify, develop, and support current and future superintendents (Superintendent Leadership Program + Aspiring Superintendent Leadership Program).
• Answered the call to develop custom programs in the Permian Basin to strengthen school leadership (Read Story: The Permian’s greatest resource: Students and their teachers).

As a learning organization, our work is never static. We are always working to improve and adapt to our rapidly changing context. One of the biggest challenges facing public schools right now is providing the level of coaching, mentorship, and support that new teachers need to succeed and stay in the profession. Schools need more than a great principal – they need an excellent team of leaders. (Read story: Students and teachers in Lockhart ISD flourish under new school leadership architecture).

We believe we have an important role to play in solving this challenge. And so, we’re building on what we’ve learned and preparing for what’s next. But we won’t do that work alone. We’ll be listening and working closely with educators and other supporters to inform our thinking and strategy.

In the summer of 2025, we’ll be sharing the next evolution of the Holdsworth Partnership, with plans to select new districts for the program by spring 2026.