Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy

At Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy, leadership is built on the clear conviction that it is the school culture that produces strong outcomes, not the other way around. Schools are, first and foremost, a people business. So, when culture is strong and the environment is healthy, academic results follow. When it is not, improvement rarely lasts.

That conviction is what differentiates Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy. Staff development, leadership development, retention and academic performance are all outcomes of the environment people experience every day. Leadership decisions consistently trace back to one governing question: what kind of place are we asking people to show up to, and does it allow them to do their best work?

It is this disciplined, culture-first approach that led Education Insider to recognize Edward DeShazer, Executive Director of Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy, as its Top School Executive Director of 2026. His leadership stems from his drive to create an environment where staff and students feel safe, supported, cared for and consistently positioned to succeed. That standard continues to shape how the academy operates and why its results endure.

An Unorthodox Path that Shaped a Leadership Philosophy

DeShazer did not arrive at this philosophy through theory or traditional success. His professional journey into education was somewhat unorthodox. He was expelled from both middle school and high school and did not imagine pursuing a career in education with the intention of becoming a teacher. Circumstances, as he explains, brought him into the profession.

That experience fundamentally shaped how he views schools and leadership. Having lived on the margins of traditional academic environments, DeShazer developed a deep sensitivity to how school culture affects students who struggle and staff who feel unsupported. Over time, those experiences crystallized into a governing belief on how outcomes improve when people feel seen, safe and supported.

Rather than distancing leadership from lived experience, DeShazer built his approach around it. His background became the lens through which he evaluates how schools should function, how expectations should be set and how leaders should show up for the people they serve.

This emphasis on culture extends across all areas of the school. Academic planning, professional development and operational design are aligned to reinforce stability rather than disruption. The goal is to build systems that allow good work to continue without reliance on individual heroics.

Faith as a Guiding Lens for Leadership

As a Christian academy, Greater Holy Temple does not separate faith from execution. Spiritual formation and academic rigor are treated as interconnected rather than competing priorities. The values guiding faith formation also shape how leadership, instruction and accountability are practiced throughout the school.

DeShazer emphasizes that what a school claims to believe must align with what staff and students experience in practice. Character, accountability and high expectations are reinforced through consistent leadership behavior. When people feel secure, respected and supported, performance improves.

Faith, here, functions as the academy’s North Star, guiding educators in how they connect with students, how correction is handled and how decisions are made. Academic instruction is delivered through the same lens, ensuring alignment between belief and action.

Putting Teachers First to Sustain Student Outcomes

When reflecting on today’s education landscape, DeShazer consistently identifies staff burnout as one of the most immediate threats to long-term school performance. In his view, teachers are often asked to take on additional responsibilities beyond instruction, and these added demands can accumulate without being removed elsewhere.

That strain shows up directly in classrooms. When teachers are overloaded or unclear on expectations, it becomes harder to teach predictably from day to day. Instructional consistency becomes difficult to sustain. For DeShazer, student outcomes cannot be separated from how teachers experience their work.

Rather than layering on additional programs or oversight, Greater Holy Temple focuses on simplification. Each process is evaluated through a straightforward operational lens: Does this help teachers teach? If a requirement increases the workload without improving learning, it is reconsidered. The goal is to remove unnecessary steps.

Teacher development is approached as support, not surveillance. Leaders work alongside educators, model expectations and prioritize clarity. Over time, that consistency creates a more stable learning experience for students.

“I truly believe that the best way to put students first is by putting teachers first,” DeShazer explains.

That principle applies to recruitment and retention, too. The academy prioritizes hiring educators who align with its mission and believe all students can succeed. By fostering an environment where teachers feel respected and trusted, the school strengthens morale, instructional quality and long-term stability.

Consistency as an Executive Responsibility

Consistency is treated as an executive responsibility rather than an informal expectation. Leadership is deliberate about what is modeled, reinforced and sustained across classrooms and teams. That predictability reduces uncertainty for staff and students, allowing routine work to operate with stability.

“For me, culture comes first. Clarity matters, and so does consistency. If those are not in place, improvement does not last long,” says DeShazer.

This focus on consistency is evident in instructional leadership. After appointing a dedicated foundational literacy director, expectations were clarified and applied more uniformly across classrooms. With shared routines in place, teachers spent less time adjusting approaches and more time focused on instruction.

For DeShazer, consistency is not about rigidity. It is about creating stability so staff and students can operate with confidence and focus.

When Technology Reduces Friction

Technology plays a role in modern education, but DeShazer is deliberate about how it is adopted. While digital tools and artificial intelligence continue to reshape classrooms, he is equally aware of the strain poorly implemented technology can place on educators.

At Greater Holy Temple, tools are evaluated using two questions: Will this increase student learning, and will it reduce teacher workload? If the answer to both is no, the tool is not introduced.

“We always ensure that technology is not adopted for novelty,” says DeShazer. “Its role should be to streamline routines, reduce friction and support instruction.”

In practice, this means avoiding tools that add steps, increase stress or distract from daily teaching. The guiding principle is simple. The most effective tools make teaching lighter, not louder.

Literacy as the Instructional Anchor

Academically, the most deliberate investment made has been in foundational literacy. DeShazer recognized early that without strong reading skills, students struggle to access learning across all subjects.

Rather than positioning literacy as one initiative among many, the school anchored its instructional strategy around it. A structured, multi-year rollout of science-based reading instruction established shared routines and expectations across classrooms.

The first phase focused on kindergarten through third grade, aligning instructional cadence early. Subsequent phases expanded into upper grades, with plans to extend through eighth grade. This sequencing provided clarity for teachers and predictability for students, reinforcing consistency across the system.

Building Leaders through Systems, Not Heroics

DeShazer explains that leadership at Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy is designed around repeatability rather than individual effort. He believes that when a school’s daily operations depend on specific people stepping in to solve problems or carry extra responsibility, the system becomes fragile. Progress can stall when those individuals are unavailable or burned out, and expectations can shift depending on who is present.

“Asking staff to do what leaders will not do themselves is the fastest way to lose trust,” DeShazer says.

That’s why, rather than positioning himself as the central driver of change, he focuses on developing leaders throughout the organization. By building a leadership team aligned with the school’s mission and trusting individuals to operate within clear systems, he ensures continuity and resilience. When systems are stable and expectations are shared, the school is better positioned to operate reliably over time.