Leadership Lessons Learned from the Front Lines

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Leadership Lessons Learned from the Front Lines

• Carl Cohn

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COHN ERA REFORMS IN LONG BEACH

• K-8 School Uniform Policy
• Standards Based Instructional Reform
• K-16 Partnership with Higher Education
• Ending Social Promotion

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Reforms, continued

• 3rd Grade Reading Requirement
• Board Governance Workshop structure
• Visiting Schools with the Teachers Union
  President
• Cookies with Carl

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Federal Court Monitor in Los Angeles

• What does the data tell us about the performance
  of students with disabilities?
• To what extent are parents of students with
  disabilities participating in their childs IEP?
• Which schools in the district are suspending
  students with disabilities at higher rates?
  
• To what extent are students with disabilities
  participating in the statewide assessment
  program?

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Federal Court Monitor in Los Angeles,continued

• To what extent are parent complaints responded to
  in a timely fashion?
• To what extent are IEPs translated in a timely
  way?
• To what extent are African-American students
  over-identified as emotionally disturbed?

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Office of the Independent MonitorAdditional
responsibilities and activities include

• Monitoring the Districts commitment to improve
  facility accessibility for students with special
  needs.
• Approval of the Districts Annual Plan which
  outlines short-term objectives and action steps
  designed to achieve the outcomes by June 30,
  2006.
• Conducting an Annual Hearing to hear from parents
  and other interested persons about the Districts
  compliance with special education laws.

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Additional responsibilities and activities,
continued

• Providing a written report to the Superintendent
  and Board of Education concerning the progress
  and effectiveness of the Modified Consent Decree.

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San Diego Experience
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San Diegos Blueprint for Student Success in a
Standards Based System(Focus on prevention,
intervention, retention)

• Literacy Peer Coaches/Staff Developers/Ongoing
  Professional Development
• Comprehensive Literacy and Mathematics Frameworks
• Extended Day Programs
• Intersession Classes
• Genre Studies
• Literacy and Mathematics Block Courses

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Carl Cohns 5 Goals for San Diego

• Accelerate Gains in Student Performance
• Provide Safe, Orderly, and Well Maintained
  Schools
• Strengthen Parent, Community, Business and Higher
  Education Support
• Boost Employee Morale
• Secure Adequate Funding for Schools

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San Diego Pluses

• Powerful focus on teaching and learning in
  classrooms
• A clearly articulated theory of action
• A resource rich community
• A cadre of strong instructional leaders
• A significant amount of soft money support

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San Diego Challenges

• Not a single person of color reporting directly
  to the Superintendent
• Employee morale in the dumpster
• Declining enrollment coupled with a robust
  charter movement
• A school board that is not operating effectively
  as a governance team
• No coherent communication strategy

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What to do next

• Recruit outstanding new leaders to supervise the
  principals
• Put in place a new organizational structure that
  reflects political reality
• Design new instructional strategies that alter
  the one size fits all approach to the Blueprint
• Implement Baldrige continuous improvement process

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What to do next continued.

• Recruit new leaders in the areas of
  communication, government relations, HR and
  parent, community and student engagement
• Engage the teachers union in a new conversation
  about thinner contracts and a commitment to
  student achievement as the primary focus of both
  the district and the union

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Other

• Unions
• Media
• Parents and Community
• Interest Group Politics

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School Boards

• Stability
• Micro-management beyond constituent service
• Big picture/total district

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Superintendents

• Careerism
• Constituent Services
• Team Building

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Trustee Board Culture

• Board Workshop
• In-depth discussion of issues
• Superintendent Evaluation
• Committee Structure
• Consent Calendar
• Developing Listening Skills
• Risk-taking

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Central Pillars of Support for Schools

• Curriculum and Instruction
• Professional Development
• Data, Assessment and Evaluation

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LESSONS LEARNED

• Trust is the glue that holds it all together
• Reform is both bottom-up and top-down
• Take some risks when it comes to initiatives that
  are focused on student safety

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• A unified school board is a huge plus in
  promoting major policy change
• Be willing to fight for the change policies that
  you have adopted
• Meaningful partnerships with higher education can
  have a big payoff
• Minority parents are big supporters of high
  dress, behavior and achievement standards

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• Teacher unions are most often driven by local
  issues and concerns
• Recruit the best and brightest for your executive
  staff. Dont let the morale of passed-over
  insiders dictate your critical personnel
  decisions.
• In urban areas, superintendents and board members
  must be seen as change agents. Defending the
  status quo is always a big loser.

urbanschoolimagineers.com 562.233.1748
562.896.9260
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• There is nothing more difficult, more perilous,
  or more uncertain of success, then to take the
  lead in introducing a new order of things.
  Machiavelli
• GOOD LUCK!