Meet Baylor’s nationally recognized expert on school leadership
Dr. Jon Eckert believes that he and his team in the Baylor Center for School Leadership have the best jobs in education. The Center, whose goal is to be “the most effective Christian leadership catalyst for educators worldwide,” steers Eckert and his colleagues toward the positive in an ever-changing field that presents its share of challenges for those who teach.
“We’re looking for people doing great work, to connect that work and try to accelerate it,” Eckert explained on a recent episode of the Baylor Connections podcast. “I always say there’s never been a better time to be an educator, because we have more tools than we’ve ever had to help kids learn, and we know more about how people learn than we ever have. So now it’s just figuring out how to deploy those, not for some kids or even all kids, but for each kid.”
Eckert came to Baylor in 2019 after more than two decades in education to serve as the Copple Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership and director of the Baylor Center for School Leadership. A veteran teacher, he taught at both the intermediate and middle school levels before shifting to leadership. Eckert served as a Teaching Ambassador Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education, serving in both the Bush and Obama administrations. Since then, he’s written three books, including The Happiness Crisis: How Adversity Can Build a Resilient and Joyful Next Generation — currently the #1 new release in popular adolescent psychology on Amazon.
Within the Baylor Center for School Leadership, Eckert and his team both lead their own research projects and closely study other research in the field, along with observations and insights from school leaders around the country who participate in the work taking place there. This process, Eckert says, allows them to get past “one-size-fits-all” answers and advance what’s working in the field for the betterment of teachers and their students.
They both gather and disseminate their work through relationships with educators in all 50 states and an additional 50 countries, who serve in the Center’s Catalyst program. Both on and off campus, they host a variety of sessions across the country, distribute a podcast and put on larger-scale events like Catalyze and the new Culture of Joy 2026 event, held last week at Foster Pavilion, that welcomed thousands of teachers to campus for encouragement and development to make this “the most joyful year in education yet.”
Sic ’em, Dr. Eckert and the Baylor Center for School Leadership!