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LEADS

Current cohort
About LEADS

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LEADS cohort 1

Every two years SRN LEADS develops a new cohort. These districts work together for the next three years. Below are members of SRN LEADS' pioneer cohort, which convened in 2007:

~ Albuquerque Public Schools (NM)

~ Austin Independent School District (TX)

~ Indianapolis Public Schools (IN)

~ Knox County Schools (TN)

~ Mapleton Public Schools (CO)

~ Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL)

~ Milwaukee Public Schools (WI)

~ New Haven Unified School District (CA)

~ North East Independent School District (TX)

~ San Diego City Schools (CA)

~ San Francisco Unified (CA)

 

Leadership for Equity and Accountability in Districts and Schools

LEADS was founded in 2006 to bring together district leaders, education and business researchers and practitioners to create sustainable reform that fosters excellent education for all students.

Initiative partners participate in cohorts of four-to-six districts over three years (with optional participation in the fourth year and beyond). The expected outcomes and benefits of participation include:

  • Support for developing and implementing secondary educational innovations and approaches.
  • Building and sharing new knowledge and understanding of district and secondary reform through cross-site collaboration with district leaders, Stanford business and education faculty, and other national experts.
  • Professional development on administrative, organizational, and instructional best practices from across the nation.
  • Case documentation and analysis of key district reform initiatives, improvements and challenges over time.
  • Access to additional resources, services, and technical assistance offered by Stanford University and its partners at a discounted rate.

Participation is through teams of district leaders that are selected to reflect the content and focus of each particular learning event. Each district will create multiple four-to-six member teams that are stable enough so that members get to know each other well, become knowledgeable about each other's work, and can collaborate easily with individual members and teams from other districts. Because leaders at the executive, central office, intermediary, and school levels are critical agents for transforming schools and school systems, each are targeted by complementary and interconnected learning events.

"LEADS focuses on a critical arena in school reform, and it is founded on operating principles that promote high quality practice and effective outcomes. First, all arrows point to instruction. The implicit, sometimes explicit theory guiding the work is that districts are there to support effective teaching, and every practice and policy needs to be assessed in that light. Second, it emphasizes the importance of evidence - decisions informed by careful analyses of information - which is so critical and all too rare at both district and school levels. Finally, LEADS stresses the importance of documenting knowledge that can be shared among participants and beyond. We spend too much time re-inventing the wheel in education. Learning about best practices is just as important at the district level as it is at the classroom level, and LEADS participants contribute to as well as benefit from that knowledge base."

— Deborah Stipek, Dean, Stanford University School of Education

 

 

© 2007 SRN LEADS