Marlana Turner
Marlana Turner is a dedicated educational leader and servant leader with more than 18 years of experience committed to improving student outcomes and expanding opportunities for underserved communities. Inspired by her firsthand experiences working with families facing economic hardship, Marlana pursued a career in education to create lasting change for students, particularly African American children who were too often underserved by traditional systems. Her passion for education is deeply rooted in the belief that every child can learn, thrive, and succeed when given the right support, leadership, and opportunities.
Throughout her career, Marlana has served in a variety of leadership roles across public and charter school systems, including KIPP Delta Public Schools, KIPP Texas Public Schools, and Compass Rose Public Schools, where she currently serves as Principal. Known for her hands-on leadership style, she leads instructional rounds, coaches teachers and assistant principals, supports operational strategy, and remains actively engaged in direct student instruction. Her leadership has contributed to measurable academic growth, including helping students achieve dramatic improvements in grade-level proficiency. Marlana is recognized for building strong school cultures grounded in accountability, high expectations, and genuine care for both students and staff.
Marlana’s leadership philosophy centers on service, growth, and continuous improvement. She believes the most meaningful professional development comes from working directly with students and seeing transformational outcomes firsthand. In addition to leading school communities, she is currently pursuing superintendent certification to further expand her impact in education. Passionate about equity, instructional excellence, and empowering the next generation, Marlana remains committed to creating learning environments where all students are seen, supported, and equipped to succeed.
• Certified 5th-8th Mathematics Missouri 2004
• Certified 5th-12th Mathematics Arkansas 2008
• Arkansas State University
What do you attribute your success to?
To be honest right now, I have a wonderful team that is my family. I truly believe in team and family. We're here probably more than we're at home, and the culture that we have here is so loving. You want to be at work, you want to show up for your kids, you want to show up for your team, and we just have great relationships here. We show up for each other every single day. If someone needs something, even me, if you need help with lesson plans, I'll do two and you do three. I co-teach, whatever we need, we're truly a team and family, and we just try to support each other as best we can because we know this work is hard. If we're divided in our home, then it's gonna make it even harder. For me, it's just building that culture of respect, building that culture of growth mindset, and then just of true family. If you're part of our team, it truly feels like we're family.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think it is to start each day with gratitude. Because in this field, especially, you give feedback all day, and even with my teachers, I had to learn how to not only give critique, but also give them glows. For me, it's not just focusing on what we can fix or what's going wrong, but really being intentional and being grateful about the things that are going well. Just that gratitude and being grateful for all the things that we are doing right, because there's always going to be opportunities to grow and to get better, but never lose sight of what you're doing well, because it's hard work. That helps you continue to stay focused on the important things.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Remember your why. Remember why you got into education in the first place, and keep remembering it, because it helps you show up each day. Literally, remember why you got into education, because education is one of those fields where everybody can't do it. Most of us that's in education got into it because of something meaningful. When you remember that why, it's gonna always bring you back to reality when it's hard and when it's tough. When you remember that why, it's worth it.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge, I could speak for my school, is just parent engagement in the academics. They're really well in supporting us in events and sports and anything that we need, but then when it comes to academics, it seems as if they care, but I don't know if they just don't know how to help academically. A lot of our parents, because I work in a Title I school, maybe didn't go to college, or they'll tell you, I don't know how to help my child with this homework. So it's like, how do we get parents to either just be able to help us academically with the students? I don't know the answer to that yet. We've tried several different things. Sometimes it's that they can't because they don't know how. Sometimes it's because a lot of them are working two and three jobs, and so they can't because they don't have time. There's so many different factors that's preventing them from actually assisting in that way. It's just hard to do it at school and do it at school alone.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honestly, integrity, respect, and honesty are the values most important to me.