The founding principal of Century Academy is Dr. Giselle Edman who spearheaded the development of the school. Since execution of the original Charter Petition, the school operates from the notion of Transformative Curriculum Leadership (Henderson and Hawthorne, 2000).

Transformative Curriculum Leadership brings about fundamental change through collaborative efforts of reform-minded teams of students, teachers, parents, administrators, and community leaders who systematically address collective goals for school improvement. It is a demanding approach to bring about educational change. Through said process, the actively engaged participants take ownership of the school’s development.

At Century Academy, Dr. Edman led the staff through a democratic process wherein each staff member is responsible for developing, sharing, and articulating the state’s Common Core curriculum. The support staff consists of leaders in the areas of attendance, enrollment, student information systems, and school operations. Under Dr. Edman’s initial leadership, teachers use data to drive curriculum and operate effective professional learning community teams (PLC’s).